It’s been 20 years since Smalls, Benny, Squints and the rest of the gang got into the biggest pickle any of them had ever seen in the classic, baseball film, The Sandlot.
As a content marketer, we’ve often faced with content creation pickles. We’re tasked with churning out eye-catching, engaging content with often little time or budget to do it. To help combat this, here are five lessons from that fateful summer in 1962 that every content marketer can put into action right now.
#1. Make content that can be used FOR-EV-ER
Squints told the gang about Mr. Mertle and his dog, Beast, the most perfect junkyard dog that ever lived – a true killing machine. According to Squints, because Beast was so dangerous, Mr. Mertle had to chain him up “for-ev-er.”
As content marketers, we are constantly faced with the task of updating content to keep it fresh and relevant. To make your content last forever, try putting it in online video format that can be easily updated. For example, Brainshark makes it easy to refresh your existing video content and use the same link forever. When you need to update images, stats or other information, all you have to do is swap out the old slides with new slides, and it keeps the audio and video link intact so the next time someone clicks on it, they see new content – no matter where they are viewing it from.
#2. Have fun with it
When Smalls dropped a fly ball, Benny told him, “You gotta stop thinking. Just have fun. I mean, if you were having fun you would’ve caught that ball.”
Similarly, in content marketing, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that making stuff can be a lot of fun – especially when we overthink content and jam pack it with industry jargon. Take a breather from the text-heavy content and try your hand at something light-hearted. Put together a survey that asks a mix of funny and serious industry questions and turn it into an infographic like this one. Or try your hand at a funny video like the ones from our If Only series.
#3. Have the guts to try something new
Squints was IN LOVE with the older lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn, but despite his efforts to get her attention, she wouldn’t give him the time of day. That is, until he tried something different – pretending to drown in the community pool so she could rescue him. While perhaps not the most honorable way to attract attention, it certainly worked.
Similarly, if you are not getting the results you want with the same old content, be like Squints and have the guts to try a different approach. Make a splash in social media by running a contest with prizes. Include an on-demand video in your next email campaign. Take the main points from your latest white paper and turn it into an infographic. Blog about your industry knowledge to increase inbound website traffic. You can check out tips on how to create this kind of content with these Helpful Resources.
Finally, as The Great Bambino famously said, “Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” By following the example of these sandlot kids, you too could be a content marketing legend.
