Let’s face it, you probably encounter either time or budget constraints when it comes to marketing your business.
Therefore, it is really important to focus your energy and resources on those activities that are going to yield the greatest long-term results.
Enter the “Set It and Forget It” Marketing Strategy
“Set It and Forget It” marketing strategies are a great way to build passive income and generate more referrals for your business without requiring an ongoing time/dollar investment on your part.
I first learned about this concept from Lynn Terry’s Elite mastermind group back in 2009 – and have leveraged it in my own business many times since then.
The main idea behind this concept is to identify activities you only need to perform once in order for them to work for you indefinitely. These projects take more time to implement on the front end (compared to publishing a blog post or writing an article). However, the long-term results are more than worth it.
One great thing about Content Marketing is it is the ONLY form of marketing/advertising I know of that will continue to drive potential new customers to your business indefinitely. In many cases, the longer your content is “out there,” the better it will perform in the search engines.
Think About That For a Second
If you purchase a display ad in the yellow pages or invest in on-air advertising (radio or TV) – you have a limited window of opportunity for that particular marketing message to drive new customers to your business. Once that window closes, the dollars you invested to get it out there are truly “spent.”
If you happen to miss the mark with that particular ad or campaign… better luck next time.
However, with Content Marketing once you invest the time or dollars into content creation – that material will continue to function as a “sales agent” for your business indefinitely. The more content or copy you put out there – the bigger your “sales force” will be.
What’s more, you can always go back and “retrain” those sales agents by better optimizing them for specific keywords, building more backlinks to them, or retooling them all together into another unique piece of content.
Add “Set It and Forget It” Marketing Strategies
to Your Content Marketing Mix
Some forms of content are better suited for the “Set It and Forget It” concept than others. For example, autoresponder (email) series, ebooks and short reports work really well because once in place, each of these items can be used to drive traffic, build your mailing list, and generate revenue for your business for years.
One of my main business goals for 2011 is to create and launch at least one “Set It and Forget It” marketing strategy each quarter. To accomplish this, I decided to break down each project (from concept to implementation) into manageable bite-size pieces that can be accomplished in (relatively) small blocks of time. (Detailed checklists have helped a lot, too!) 
Over the next several weeks, I’ll walk through this process with you step-by-step – so be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed at the top of this page to get the latest installment.
Til Next Time,
PS Need help developing and executing an effective Content Marketing strategy for your business? I can help – contact me for details!
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