What Happens When You Walk Away From Content Marketing?

Too often a client or prospect wants to measure the ROI of working with VOX based on their sales. That’s a fair proposition provided their service is competitive, their reputation is untarnished, and their sales team is well trained. But on some occasions a client is expecting big results out of the gate. When they don’t see them quickly or they fail to take advantage of opportunities to convert the ones that do come through then they may cancel the relationship.

At VOX our job is to tell your story. We do that by researching the leading sources, identifying trending topics, writing about them, optimizing them for search, and then measuring engagement. This is how content marketing works. But if the client decides that they want to use the platform and the process we bring to the table to “toot their own horn” and target their story to people that already know about them, then performance suffers.

Recently, convinced by employees that they could do just as good a job in house with the “Facebook thing”, a CEO decided not to renew. Here’s what happened next. First, the content focus became promotional, predictable, and directed toward an existing audience. This is not a bad approach for a small business with local clients, but a business with $10-$20 million in annual billing needs a less “homey” approach. Decision makers are looking for expertise in a discipline rather than photos and posts celebrating office parties and birthdays. They likely will be investing seven figures in a project. They want to feel good about it. Second, the content frequency dried up and with less posts there was less engagement, less reach, and ultimately less website traffic.

This screenshot of website traffic shows the client disengaging in October with 1,083 visitors, November saw 940, and by December visitors had dwindled to 614 visitors through the door. A breakdown by week shows an even more frightening picture with the first week December hosting more than 350 visitors and the last week only 32.

Ultimately, VOX is a partner for our clients. We provide business intelligence, content, overall website and social media management, digital PR, and consulting. But it is the client’s responsibility to take ownership of their product and service, to qualify and educate the prospect, and to close the deal. And when you walk away from data that shows engagement with your brand you’re walking away from more than website visitors. You’re walking away from business.


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