I really like the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s self-centered weatherman gets stuck on Groundhog Day, seemingly forever doomed to repeat the same gloomy winter day. If you haven’t seen it, it’s available streaming on Netflix.
[Spoiler alert] He finally gets his release (and true love) only when he becomes a more generous person, applies himself to building new skills (the piano), and participates fully in the community around him.
Wait, do those strategies sound familiar?
It strikes me that some marketing departments are stuck in a Groundhog Day of their own making:
- They keep putting out self-serving white papers and wonder why they don’t go viral or generate a lot of interest.
- They put up a Facebook page and push their news releases there, then despair at the lack of followers and community.
- Their social network interactions are always self-promotional.
It seems to me that the core concepts of content marketing are the same ones that Bill Murray used to release himself:
1. Solve other people’s problems, rather than just pushing your own agenda.
2. Apply yourself to the long, hard work of becoming expert at something and building a following.
3. Really engage in the community, rather than holding yourself above or apart.
If you don’t, your marketing efforts will just keep delivering the same results you’ve got today, and you’ll remain stuck in your bleak marketing winter.
Happy Groundhog Day!
Anne Janzer 