How to Save Your Marriage with Content Marketing Strategy (Yes, You Heard Me Right)

Imagine how much better our relationships would be if we all took the time to figure out who we are (truly, at the heart of it all), who we want to be, and how we can best represent our true selves to the world with honesty, consistency, and integrity. What if, armed with this new self-knowledge, we were all able to retain a focused approach to problem solving, think before we speak about who we are speaking to and how we should speak to them, and then communicate in a way that reflects forethought and consideration for listeners?

Happy couple giving the thumbs up in front of a laptop computer
Figure out who you are, communicate well, and be open to change and you’ll reap happiness in the day to day and the SERPs — like this couple.

What if we were actively self-reflective and made an effort not only to observe and be aware of the cause and effect that our participation in the world inspires, but also learn from what’s working and what’s not and take action to make changes that inspire more good things and fewer bad things?

We’d all be much better people and have better relationships to show for it.

OK. Now imagine how much stronger your content marketing and optimization could be if you applied the same principals?

If you’re thinking to yourself “OK, all that touchy-feely kumbaya hippie stuff is all fine and dandy, but how does getting in touch with my inner-self translate to improving my SERP rank and making me more money?” here’s the answer:

Conversions and making money are all an (important!) part of search marketing—but, lucky for us (in my opinion), we are in a “Content is King” age where creating purposeful content that truly matters to the end-user is the heart of search marketing, and thus, the heart of what improves SERP ranks and brings in the big bucks.

Where Relationships Meet Rankings

What if every article you wrote was part of a content strategy that focused on communicating with intent to an audience whose voice and preferences you knew well?

What if you took time to reflect on who you are as a brand and what it is you stand for to establish a brand voice that accurately represents the best you possible?

What if you knew the needs of your company and the needs of your demographic before you started writing so that you could deliver focused communication that helps to solve problems?

And, finally, what if you were able to try some new tactics without fear (all within the safe boundaries of your newly identified brand voice and parameters), keep track of and analyze how well those efforts are meeting your goals, and make adjustments to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t?

Do you see the dollar signs now?

With any relationship—whether it be between you and your wife, or you and your target market — it’s all about creating communication that is pointed, compelling and purposeful. When you’re all over the place, and you’re speaking as the yellow M&M when your audience is the green M&M, it shows.

Accordingly, when you put a little kumbaya into your content and approach your communication strategy and optimization from a focused place that takes into account audience voice, preferences and need, it also shows. And it pays.

Not Cutting Corners and Genuinely Giving a Hoot Will Get You Far In Life

People like to connect with other people who are consistent, honest, interesting, helpful, engaging, and fun to be around. People make connections when they identify with the person they are talking to, and relationships founded on ethical behavior and mindful communications tend to not only last but grow and prosper.

In a nutshell, improving your relationship with Google is a lot like improving any relationship you value and requires focus, reflection, solid communication, ethical behavior, the ability to learn from experience, and the willingness to make changes even when changes are hard.

Said another way — not cutting corners and genuinely giving a hoot will get you far in life. (If you don’t believe me, try lying to your wife and phoning in your communication for a week. Her wrath is probably much scarier than Google Panda and Penguin combined.)

Ready to get started? Read the next post in this series, 10 Steps to Improve your Content Marketing Strategy (and Your Marriage If You’re Into That), to get started creating  a content marketing and optimization strategy that is infused with best practices and kumbaya.

Chelsea Adams Brooks is a long-distance cyclist, aspiring cob house builder, schema/analytics/algorithm obsessor, and a former senior content writer at Bruce Clay Inc.

See Chelsea's author page for links to connect on social media.

Comments (7)
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7 Replies to “How to Save Your Marriage with Content Marketing Strategy (Yes, You Heard Me Right)”

Great article like the part about self-reflection, it is great to understand who you are and what you bring to the table of your relationship (with whoever it is). In this case were talking about the SERPs and really understanding what they want and giving them content that their readers actually want.

Not spun, or crap articles.. Ask yourself every time you’re about to put something on your blog. “Would I really want to spend 5 minutes reading this?” If no, then why the heck would anyone else want to read it??

Thanks for reading, Dolores. Optimization can only get you so far if your content isn’t engaging, focused, and worth reading. After all, if you do all of your SEO right and get a million visitors to your page, if a million of them bounce no one wins at the end of the day.

Your comment about avoiding spun crap content reminds me of a great article from Geoff Livingston that I recently read: The Content Quality Problem Here and There.

An excerpt:
More brands and people continue filling the channels with their blogs, infographics, white paper, etc. As a result, we’re experiencing a deluge of content, most of it suffering from over-messaged, self-important corporate sales talk, or worse, shoddy workmanship. There’s no better example of this issue than our own marketing space where the effort to produce consistent content creates an ever increasing level of drivel. In fact, there’s so much “me, too” content, getting beyond a headline skim requires some real shake-up in the social media marketplace or a dramatic post.

Love it!

Hi Chelsea,,… great head line. Truely helpful for serp , all indirectly but after all these were things that make that x-factor to being not just great but famous, in the content market, for the bucks!

I loved reading this article! Now if I can just get my boyfriend to read it… hmm ;)

But seriously, communication and self reflection is important for any marketing whether it be SEO or otherwise. You can’t grow until you know your own weaknesses!

So glad you enjoyed it, Heather! Sure puts a new spin on the idea of “taking your work home with you,” doesn’t it?

I’ve really enjoyed taking the time to think about my relationships as holistically as I think about my optimization and marketing strategy. Just tell your boyfriend that he has to start thinking before he speaks because you want your relationship to rank number one in the love SERPs– I’m sure that will go over well ;)

Thanks for the comment love!

Wow, what an interesting correlation you have made. Now this is some interesting fresh content! You have to have a broad marketing strategy to stay successful in my opinion, you have to count strong content marketing, email marketing, etc. Use the social media to your advantage!

Thanks for the compliment, Jerry! Glad the post resonated with you. I totally agree that a holistic approach to marketing is critical for success. I think what channels/mediums (email, social media, RSS, etc.) you use for communication are going to vary from brand to brand (depending on your consumer needs and your brand goals), but having a good mix of communication touch-points is a great way to stay active with your consumers throughout the buying cycle.

Keep your eyes peeled for the second entry in my using content marketing to save your marriage series, “10 Actionable Steps to Improve Your Content Strategy (and Your Marriage, if You’re Into That)” coming your way on Thursday!

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