Digital Marketing & Chili

Pretty ridiculous title but I think I have a point.

I’m always seeing weird recipes on Instagram that use no ingredients or take 30 seconds to make — two-ingredient cakes in a mug, no-bake bread, and things like that. To each their own, but I highly doubt those are satisfying in any way. Yes, the final product may look similar to a more in-depth recipe, but they are not equal in terms of quality.

This led me to think about Digital Marketing and how so many business owners and strategists come up with minimal plans where the final product looks fine, but the results do not. I’ve worked with lots of websites where the stakeholders are mad they aren’t seeing results even though they have a website and published content.

We recently made my favorite chili (besides Skyline), which has a ton of ingredients. It’s a crockpot recipe so that makes it easier, but still so many cans and stuff on the counter. To me, this is the same as creating a great piece of content on your website. We took the time to make this great when we easily could have just chosen a 4 ingredient chili that would look the same.

Ingredients vs. Digital Marketing Strategy

I will cover the best chili out there and a 4 ingredient chili. No knock on the 4 ingredient version, I’m sure it’s fine, but it is not the quality chili I am looking for. Similar to searchers looking for a product or service. They are looking for quality where it is obvious the result took time, and consideration, achieved by someone with experience that can be trusted.

The more you put into your recipe, the more likely it is to be high-quality. This is the same with your website and digital marketing strategy. Take time to consider what you want, what the final product should look like, what it should accomplish, and what you consider a success. Build towards that as you would with a recipe, and you will see success.

At the end of the day crafting any strategy is just like putting together a recipe. If you add too much of one thing or too little of another it can be completely thrown off. Also sometimes you find adding your own spin to recipes results in something that works best for you, but not everyone (spicy vs. non-spicy). This is finding out what works and what doesn’t and riding with that.

Digital Marketing Ingredients – Quality

There is so much in this chili recipe, that it takes time before you even start cooking it. That is the research phase and consideration phase. Before you even put pen to paper there are multiple steps to work on to develop a quality strategy or piece of content.

Below isn’t the most exhaustive list of how to create a digital marketing strategy, but it should get you started. Even trying to accomplish this much when creating content or strategy shows you are doing the work and will likely accomplish some of your goals.

• Research customer friction point
• Research search terms
• Determine POV (Who, What, Why, How)
• Determine CTA
• Create first draft
• Research different perspectives (competitive content, alternate opinions)
• Determine compeititve advantage
• Research authoritative sources
• Reference Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trust (EEAT)
• Create second draft
• Create unique images with alt text
• Share with trusted reviewer (if possible)
• Publish content
• Share in all relevant channels
• Monitor results and adjust accordingly

Digital Marketing Ingredients – Quick

Just a few bullets from above. I see this so much on websites where it is obvious very little research or consideration took place before hitting publish. Just going off of vibes I guess. Someone told them content is king and they took it very literally. Kings aren’t made overnight.

• Research search terms
• Create first draft
• Publish content
• Share in all relevant channels

There is a massive difference between these two recipes. This is the same as digital marketing strategies. Those who take the time and invest typically see the results they want. They are satisfied and happy with the outcome. The ones who cut corners may be temporarily satisfied that the job is done, but are they happy with the outcome?

Be Digital, Be Where Your Customers Are, Be Patient

With the rise in LLMs/AI there is a lot up in the air in terms of strategy and where to invest in. Everyone wants quick wins. Just do ‘xyz’ and you’ll get business. Unfortunately, this isn’t the real world anymore. Lots of business owners just think having a website is enough. Or they tried SEO or Google Ads once and it didn’t work so they won’t do it again.

My advice for anyone looking to beef up their digital presence is to be everywhere and be patient. Where your customers are, depends. But invest in getting your name out there digitally. Be consistent with the info, create content with the process above, learn how to measure and adapt. You need to put time in if you want to get results. You may fail from time to time, but that is where you learn. Adapt from that and grow.

Things are going to change fast for the digital marketing world, keep up or it will get rough quickly.