{"id":1591,"date":"2022-05-09T14:14:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T18:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2025-07-21T10:03:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:03:35","slug":"content-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/blog\/content-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Content is a long game. But if you want to win, play fast."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our most successful clients have one thing in common: they commit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They understand the value of content and are confident that it will work for their business, so they don\u2019t want to wait or dip their toes in the water. They want help with their strategy and execution, but they have no doubts about the viability of the channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many, however, want to test things out first. Dip their toes in the water slowly before diving into the deep end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a logical approach to most things. Probably not with content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can test messaging, tactics, and even strategies within content marketing. But you can\u2019t \u201ctest\u201d the channel – you\u2019re either in or out. And if you\u2019re in, your competitive advantage might just  be going all the way in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results compound, but you don\u2019t have to wait to see ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might hear the phrase, \u201ccontent is a long game.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might have even heard me say that phrase. After all, we named our podcast \u201cThe Long Game<\/a>\u201d after this ethos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, just because content is a long game doesn\u2019t mean you need to wait a long time for results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re early stage, spin the flywheel early and fast<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SEO, as a channel, compounds like a flywheel. The more you write, the more links you get, the more easily you rank, the more money you can put back into writing\u2026and on and on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start, it resembles the tip of an iceberg. But as your website gains authority, the flywheel spins faster, and seemingly overnight, your results come pouring in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so we all understand the concept of a flywheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that doesn\u2019t help the early stage startups who are just beginning to spin their flywheel. In fact, there\u2019s an inherent disadvantage to being a smaller player in content marketing. You have to spend *more* money to achieve the same results as the big guys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As your domain authority increases, you can typically produce content of lesser quality and still see it rank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to increase your audience and website authority to make it easier and cheaper for you to rank content, thus allowing you to produce more content. This is content economics 101<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The faster you can get to scale, the faster your ROI will become positive and you\u2019ll be able to reinvest it for further growth or channel expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everybody\u2019s free to focus on distribution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the SEO flywheel, you can get a ton of value from content without ever ranking in search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one phrase: content promotion.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a longer sentence: you can repurpose your content to multiple channels, promote it where your audience hangs out, and use it in creative ways like sales enablement<\/a> and ad creative. All of this brings your ROI window to 7-28 days, instead of the typical 3-6 months that it takes to see SEO results take hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A smart marketer is looking for leverage and arbitrage. If you can\u2019t compete right away on search, you can probably find a channel or method that lets you compete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, DataBox grew their blog from nothing to tons of traffic by basically running a HARO program for their content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because they didn\u2019t start out with a high DR (no one does), they included 30-50 expert quotes in every post. This way, everyone included in the post shares the link on Twitter or LinkedIn, and automatically provides the post with distribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Peep Laja has a large following on Twitter and LinkedIn, so before relying on SEO traffic to grow the Wynter blog<\/a>, he leveraged his personal social handles to promote the ideas, messaging, and value proposition of Wynter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, they\u2019re at a place where they can probably start to compete with larger competitors in the search landscape. But they didn\u2019t just accept zero ROI until that point; they got results in other ways, on other channels where the *could* compete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So even if you\u2019re just starting out on your content journey, realize this: if you create insanely high quality content and promote it like crazy, you can still get wins early on. Those wins start to compound and grant you the privilege of ranking for more and more keywords, and eventually, you\u2019re one of the big players in your space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it takes investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half-ass it, and you\u2019ll likely get less than half the results. Content, unlike other channels, often has increasing marginal utility – up to a point anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If in a year, you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n