The Problem with Inconsistent Content

When I ask my audience what they struggle with most when it comes to content creation (as any good marketer does!), one of the top answers is always: consistency.

Sometimes it’s a matter of not having enough time to create content consistently.

Sometimes it’s more about not having the right ideas, or feeling like you’ve said it all before.

And, very often it’s a sense that their content isn’t working anyway (and they don’t know what to do to fix it), so they prioritize other work (read: procrastinate) and struggle to remain consistent.

And believe me: I get it.

Even as a professional blog writer, I go through dry spells when I find it difficult to crank out yet another blog post about content marketing — I’ve been doing this for EIGHT YEARS, after all.

And, to be honest, missing a week with your content is NOT the end of the world. Slowing down your content production for a while probably isn’t going to wreck your business.

The problem is when one week becomes two, which becomes 4, which becomes six… Or when slowing down your content goes from a trickle, to a drip… to nothing at all.

And that can lead to some BIG problems.

Inconsistent content creates inconsistent leads

Where do you get most of your new leads from?

The answer usually falls into one of three categories:

• Advertising
• Referrals
• Organic traffic

Of these, advertising is the only one that isn’t necessarily that affected by a lack of or inconsistent content. If you’re running ads and it’s giving you all the leads you need, maybe content marketing isn’t a big part of your marketing strategy and that’s OK. Godspeed and good fortune.

If you rely mostly on referrals, you might not think that content has much to do with how you generate your leads, but consider this:

How do your referral partners remember that you exist? Maybe you have a strong networking game, but for most people, that will also extend to social media and/or an email newsletter.

Which means you’ve got to have content to share.

If you rely on organic traffic — people finding you either via search or social media — you are the most vulnerable to a big drop in leads when you stop producing content. Content is your most valuable resource, so it is most important for you to find consistency.

A second important consideration is this: Do you have enough leads from your existing sources?

Maybe your ad budget is drying up. Maybe referrals are great, but too unpredictable. Maybe you’re just not seeing enough organic traffic to provide the leads you need.

In any case, more consistent, strategic content could be the answer.

Consistency is an important part of deep work

So, this is maybe the part you don’t want to hear, but creating content consistently is a powerful part of doing good work.

I was chatting with someone the other day who is super smart and well known for her insightful content, and she mentioned that creating content is how she works out ideas for herself.

In other words, the act of creation is how she comes up with new ideas, how she works out the kinks in her thinking and her processes, how she tests new concepts with her audience.

It’s an important part of how she does the deep, insightful work that she’s known for.

Now, in theory, she doesn’t have to publish this work that she’s working out on the page. She could do all of this in a journal or somewhere private. But she’s found an audience hungry for her thought leadership because she posts this insightful content consistently.

The same has been true, in large part, for me.

My best ideas all started as blog posts. My book started as a series of blog posts. My Leadership Marketing model started as a blog post.

And here’s the part you maybe don’t want to hear: If we hadn’t been committed to creating consistent content, would we still have come up with those ideas?

Or would our business have run the risk of stagnation?

Inconsistency begets inconsistency

It is, unfortunately, just a fact of nature: an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an outside force.

And a business owner procrastinating on content will continue to procrastinate on content, until they face an emergency.

What constitutes a content emergency, you might ask?

A sudden drop in sales and revenue.
Not enough leads to support your goals for your next launch.
An algorithm change that tanks your traffic.
An algorithm change that skyrockets your ad costs.
A new product or offer that your existing content no longer supports.
A pivot in your business.

Really, any number of things.

Once you start to slide down the slippery slope of inconsistency with your content, it’s tough to change directions. And if you’ve never been consistent with creating content, it could be seriously holding back your business.

So, while it can seem like a small thing at first — a missed post here, a forgotten deadline there — not prioritizing consistency with your content could be a bigger problem than you realize.