The Difference Between Playing It Small and Going All-In

How realistic are your expectations when it comes to your content strategy?

You might dream about your content making you a leader in your industry…with thousands of loyal followers hanging on your every word…and a booming business to boot…

While these goals are ambitious (but certainly possible), they don’t come easy.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll become a recognized industry leader after sharing one video. Or get a thousand followers with the odd social media post. And the chances are you won’t see any noticeable business improvements with low-quality content.

If you really want your content to achieve more then there’s one thing you absolutely must do.

Invest in it properly.

In this video and podcast episode, I’m talking all about the right ways to invest in your content strategy so you can get on track to achieving your content dreams.

Hit play to watch the video…

Or listen to the podcast episode…

Or read on to learn more…

The GaryVee content strategy

Often when I’m on a sales call for Content 10x, I’ll hear the other person say something like this…

“I want to be the Gary Vaynerchuck of my industry!”

If you don’t know who Gary Vaynerchuck (or GaryVee) is, allow me to introduce you. Gary is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and author. He’s founded several companies, the most successful of which is his digital marketing agency VaynerMedia.

But he’s also everywhere on every platform.

At the time of writing, GaryVee has 2+ million followers on Twitter, just over 3 million on YouTube, more than 4.5 million on LinkedIn and nearly 9 million on Instagram.

He’s done this by creating content. Lots and lots of content. He’s famously known for saying, “you need to create 100 pieces of content a day.” Yes, A DAY!

So how does he do this? Is he a content machine? Does he just not sleep? No…he has a team of people working behind the scenes to create all his content.

It reminds me of that saying, "if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together."

Gary hasn’t got to where he is today by producing all of this content by himself. He’s got specialists and experts working to fulfil a tireless content strategy. It’s not something that happens by accident or overnight. This content strategy stuff is hard work!

But it’s got him to a position in his industry where people recognize him as a leading authority. Now, others from different industries are starting to create content in the hopes that they’ll have that GaryVee effect.

However, after some attempts at creating and sharing content people can be disappointed that they’re not getting the results that they hoped for.

The reason is obvious. They’re playing it too small.

GaryVee doesn’t play it small. He makes big investments in his content. He’s put lots of money into it (hiring a team of experts) and time (years of consistent hard work). He’s gone all-in, and that’s what’s driven his results.

Investing time and/or money in your content strategy

I’m a big believer that you get out what you put in. So, if you invest in something properly and give it your time, attention, and financial investment then you will see progress. But if you’re not dedicated to giving your all to something, it won’t give you the return you’re hoping for.

Like anything in business, your content needs you to invest either time or money in it, if it’s going to meet your expectations.

Say your goal is to become “known” in your industry through your content. You might choose to invest your time, but how long will that take you? Presuming you already have the skills to edit videos/record podcasts/understand social media/write compelling copy/etc., it could still take you many months of consistent hard work before you start to see results.

Now consider what else you could be doing with that time. Will you have to sacrifice your time from elsewhere to create your content? How will this impact your business? Or will you enlist some of your team to help…what other responsibilities will they have to give up to do this?

So, what if you want to invest your money instead? You could hire experts to help you create your content. This will be less of a drain on your time, but if you’re not creating at least some of the core content yourself, then can you be sure that your audience are really getting to know you? Or are they just consuming generic material that anyone could post?

The other big problem with investing is your expectations.

When we have big hopes and dreams for our content we can start to get carried away. If, 6 months down the line, you don’t see the results you’d hoped for, you may feel frustrated that reality isn’t lining up with your expectations, and give up entirely.

I see this a lot at Content 10x. People say they’ve tried creating content before either by themselves or with support, and it just hasn’t worked – most of the time it’s down to underinvestment.

Why you shouldn’t underinvest in your content strategy

If you play it too small, your experience can taint future content attempts. You might feel that you’ve tried and failed too many times or that a content marketing strategy just isn’t for you.

But this isn’t a good way to be. First, you need to reframe your expectations for your content. Secondly, you need to invest in a new way.

People often look at those like GaryVee and think, sure I could do that! But they don’t appreciate what really goes into it.

Think about it like this. You see a new home being built in your neighborhood. Teams of builders, contractors, architects, designers, surveyors, work on it over the course of months or even years. The end result is palatial, and you want something just like it.

So, you buy a plot of land, bring your toolkit and rope in some odd-job guys you found online to help…are you going to get the same results? Of course not!

This is what underinvesting really looks like. Expecting palatial results but wanting to invest minimal resources!

How to go all-in with your content strategy

Now, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big. I think it’s so important to have ambitious goals. But you also need to keep your feet on the ground too.

If you just can’t afford to invest your time or money in a content strategy right now, then put your content goals on the back burner. They’ll only frustrate you until you can do something about them.

But if you are motivated to invest in your content strategy and have the time, financial resources, or both, then explore your options. GaryVee invests in his content strategy by utilizing a team of experts to get his goals. Like I said before, if you want to go far, go together.

This is the service we provide at Content 10x. Our content repurposing services are designed to support your team and to help you execute your content strategy – especially if your goal is to become a leading authority in your industry. That’s right, we want to help you become the next GaryVee!

We do ask that you’re realistic about what it takes. Yes, you will still need to invest some time (for onboarding and to create content) and expert work requires financial investment too. After all, you can’t build a palace with a sandcastle budget.

So, if you see your content as an investment and not a cost, then it’s time for you to stop playing it small and go ALL-IN!

To find out more about our expert content repurposing services and how we can help you reach your business goals, check out our services page here.