How’s The Scattergun Approach Working Out For You?

Ever published a blog or posted a social media update and not seen the results you expected? The finger can often be pointed to poor content, but sometimes it’s lost all hope before the first word has even been typed. This is due to a lack of planning around the creation and execution: you’ve taken the ‘scattergun approach’.

Think you’re not guilty of this? We explain how you might have accidentally wound up being slapdash with your marketing, and the ways to steer clear of doing so in the future.

Signs you’ve adopted the scattergun approach

You know the benefits of social media and content marketing. But you also probably have an endless to-do list. When there’s tasks to be done that takes up most of your working day, blogs and tweets fall to the bottom of your priorities. And, if you find yourself with a minute or two to spare, the writing and distribution is rushed.

Or perhaps the inspiration for a great piece of content doesn’t spark all that often. Those fantastic ideas are few and far between, and you don’t want to publish anything that’s a bit lacklustre. When you finally feel you’re on to something, you try to get as many people as possible to see it – posting it everywhere you can.

If you recognise any of these scenarios, you’ve taken the scattergun approach. But you don’t have to stay trapped in it forever. It’s easy to move towards the exit sign – it just takes a little planning.

Steps to dig yourself out

Take a strategic approach to your marketing instead. Nothing should be done last minute, but prepared well in advance. Cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ before the writing has even begun… And we’re not just talking about the letters!

Firstly, ask yourself the following questions:

• What does your content need to achieve?
• What will your target audience want to see from your blog and social media?
• How often do you need to produce posts on these platforms?
• How often can you create content?
• What steps are required in the distribution?

When you begin answering these questions, your brain will likely start buzzing with content ideas. Look at your responses and channel them into a marketing strategy. To keep your business well ahead of the game and avoid the scattergun approach taking hold again, make this a quarterly plan.

But don’t just do this once a quarter: capture flashes of inspiration whenever they arise. To dig yourself out of an ideas rut and start thinking strategically, it’s all about recognising and putting these brainwaves into action on a daily basis.

How to stay on track with your new approach

The next step is to make sure you make good on the actions in your marketing plan. Set a quota of deliverables over the month, quarter or year, so that you can prioritise the time and resources needed to achieve them.

Remember to regularly review your strategy too. Take a look at your website analytics for the blog, and social media data from the necessary platforms. See what’s working, what’s not, and consider how you can improve the results.

You now have a clear method to put a stop to your old scattergun approach. But this doesn’t mean your business has the abilities to do so. Perhaps there simply isn’t enough time, or you don’t have the in-house creativity and skills needed to market the company correctly. If you’re struggling, there’s a simple solution.

Rather than letting the scattergun approach dominate, outsource. Our copywriting agency can come up with ideas, write the words and execute the roll-out of the content – turning a comprehensive strategy into successful results.

To find out how we’ll take content creation and distribution off your to-do list, give us a call on 0161 660 9206 or fire over an email to [email protected].