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Imperfect Content
Over the last eight years, I bet I have published more than 1000 pieces of content. Between my blog, columns I write for magazines, guest blog posts I write for other blog sites and magazines, I put out a lot of content.
Frankly, it’s one of the major advantages I’ve had in growing my business. A few years ago I quantified the impact of my blog alone and valued it to create more than $2 million of documented value for my company. On top of that I’ve won many awards and gotten quite a bit of press for the blogging and publishing that I’ve done.
I’ve done this while leading a growing company, speaking on a regular basis, coaching a college and youth baseball team, and spending quality time with my wife and two kids. I don’t work 80-hour workweeks, and I take the vast majority of weekends completely off.
While I am certainly comfortable writing, and admittedly I write pretty fast, the reality is that I have no special power when it comes to writing, creating or publishing content. What’s my secret? I’m completely comfortable putting out imperfect content.
Here’s what I don’t worry about:
- Is the idea fully, totally and accurately communicated.
- Is the article/post/paper too long? Too short?
- Are the pictures the best we can do?
- Is there 100% chance that there are no typos or problems with sentence structure?
- I could go on, but I think you get the point.
Several years ago I wrote a little book calling Building The Bridge. It was my first attempt at writing a parable. I wrote it, had it designed, edited, published and printed all in house. In hindsight the dimensions of the book were too small. There were some typos in the book. The design was rudimentary.
And, as it turned out, the biggest mistake was that I didn’t print enough of them. Sure some people complained about the style of the book. Others said they’d never buy from someone who would publish a book that has typos. While I certainly don’t celebrate those mistakes (and we work really hard to fix them and make sure they don’t happen again), I do celebrate the more than $500,000 of revenue that the book directly contributed to creating.
While others are fretting over what they’re saying and how they’re saying it, I was earning more than a half-a-million dollars.
The point here is that the value of your content builds over time. You readers (customers) are not experts, and in most cases have desire to become experts. The primary job for content is to put it forth consistently and ensure that it’s easy to consume (and even entertaining).
You’re not going to tell your story in one post. You’re not going to change your prospect’s worldview with one article. The job of your content is to tell your story and influence your market over time. Remember, perfection is the enemy of progress, and if you focus on making sure “it’s right” before it goes out, you’re going to get beat by someone who moves quicker.
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2 Responses to “Imperfect Content”
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I have worked in a manufacturing environment for over 25 years. There used to be a saying that went something like, “Quality, Delivery, Price; Pick Two.” The assumption was that you couldn’t do all three. When that was challenged by Deming, Juran, (Quality is free), and others, those that adhered to the old adage went away. Your content is great and I have no doubt that it has propelled your growth but the flawed premise, (although not stated explicitly), is “Content, Speed, Accuracy; Pick Two.” You chose content and speed.
We all know there are people out there who are sticklers for accuracy. Many of them reside in manufacturing and engineering and have undoubtedly become successful and may be running their own businesses now. Are these people disqualifying you because accuracy matters to them? I have no way of knowing. The cost of having someone proofread your material is cheap, (and fast). The cost of alienating a potential client is expensive. You can have all three.
I apologize if there are any typos in this comment. I typed it kind of fast.
Rob,
I’m just happy I got you to comment.
This post is not meant to excuse typos. For the record, the book I use in this example did go through an editing and proof reading process, but some typos did slip through. We’ve gotten better and continue to strive to get better at eliminating those type of simple mistakes.
My point here is that I don’t strive for perfection in my content – and it’s one of the reasons that I get very good response to that content. Interestingly, those posts and/or content where I’ve really worked to make sure the point I’m making is highly refined tends to perform much less effectively than when I strive to get the theme and sense across.
Now, I completely agree that audience is at play and different audiences require different levels of attention to detail. A technical paper must be refined and near perfection, a business case needs to clearly communicate the light motif, and if it loses some of the nuance that’s a good trade to keep in simple and approachable.
There’s also a philosophy in manufacturing and technology that goes, “Ship it.” In my experience the #1 reason that companies fail to stand out and deliver a powerful message (and the content that goes with it) is that they’re so focused on making it perfect, that it never gets published.
Thanks again for the comment and keep them coming.