When TV became mainstream, many comedians saw their careers wiped out. That’s because they had just one act, a GREAT act, which they delivered to different audiences every week. Back then, that live act could be repeated for years and years, as they toured the country and earned their living.
Then came TV, with it’s ability to show their act to millions of people at once. Very soon, everyone had heard their jokes. All of a sudden, performers needed another act and another act and another, if they wanted to get repeat TV bookings. Some thrived under the pressure of TV. Others floundered and went broke.
The Content marketing challenge
The content marketing challenge for business owners in the age of the Internet, is that if you are a one trick pony today, you have an even shorter shelf-life, than those comedians who were sunk by TV.
For example, bloggers who rely on the use of cussing to shock people into noticing them and sharing their posts, find it becomes less and less effective, as the shock value wears off. One of those bloggers emailed me for help earlier this year, because she is constantly having to shock new people; to replace those who stop reading her blog after a month or 2. She figured out that she needed something new to retain her readership, but couldn’t think of a second trick.
The bottom line: Content marketing today requires the ability to regularly deliver fresh, useful content. Why? Because as soon as people can predict our shtick, there’s little reason for them to keep coming back.
Photo: Meneer Zjeroen
Hey Jim,
Really liked your comparison of old school comedians and current content marketers. Interesting similarities. Great insights!
I think that many of the great modern day marketers (don’t want to name any names, but most people would know their names if I did) seem to have been teaching the same concepts for decades.
The “trick” seems to be that they’re great at repackaging and re-purposing their content, so that it seems new.
I think if someone is going to continue to be successful writing on the same topics, then they need to learn to do the same things.
[...] Or that they have hit a creative dip and are dry of ideas. [...]