Are You on a Path – or in a Rut?

mlns='> Is that well-worn path to success leading you astray? [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 11.12.21 Connect With CMI [How Brands Use Video Now: 7 Things Content Marketers Told Us [New Research]]( Video’s role in content marketing has grown over the past two years. Find out what research shows about which types deliver the best results, why you shouldn’t give up every other content format, and more. [Read more]( By Lisa Murton Beets More of this week's best stuff: - [How To Get Internal Linking Right (for Your Audience and for SEO)]( by Alina Benny - [Get the Most From Your Webinars With These 13 Repurposing Ideas]( by Alona Shalieieva - [3 Hot Takes: Putting Joy on Faces, Springs in Steps, and Butts in Bucket Seats]( by Content Marketing Institute Team - [[ICYMI]: Here’s How To Get More From Your Storytelling Investment]( Jodi Harris Want To Be Featured on the Content Marketing Institute Website? Fill out [this short form]( to share your opinion about any exciting, unique, puzzling, or eyebrow-raising content example, idea, or trend you’ve seen this week (including pieces you’ve created). We’ll credit you as the source (and include your commentary) if we include your submission in an upcoming Friday article.  Are You on a Path – or in a Rut? “The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.” My old boss used to throw this quote (from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ellen Glasgow) at me when he’d question our success. He used it to trigger a reflection on whether our goals – or our path to our goals – trapped us into a mindless drudge toward mediocrity (in other words, a rut). But wait – aren’t some ruts actually well-worn paths to success? Best practices are paths cleared by someone who has gone before us. And as more travel it, the path becomes clearer and deeper. This makes the road easier to follow. But it can become a trap. One marketing team I spoke with last month has been running the same event, in the same way, with the same content, and the same partners for ten years. It’s the team’s biggest yearly marketing expense. They keep doing it because it produces the expected results every year. What’s the problem? It turns out the number of new customers it produces (on average) has declined over time. The change was so gradual that no one noticed at first. But when they ran the numbers for the last ten years, they could see the trend line pointing distinctly (if ever so slightly) downhill. Their well-worn path to success had become a rut headed toward a grave. It’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of trying to repeat short-term success from an activity without any indication of the longer-term implications. Yes – that popular idea, topic, or format might be hot– and it might be a trend it makes sense to follow for now. But don’t forget to look for less worn paths and opportunities. The hard part is recognizing the rut. Successful habits and patterns lead people to say, “More of that, please.” But even successful paths eventually become so deep that they become ruts. But here's the point my boss wanted me to understand from the quote about ruts being like graves: Even when we believe we’re successful, we should occasionally stop, pop our heads up, and look around. Maybe you feel successful in your job, but when Friday arrives, you’re not sure what you did that week. You’ve habituated the process so much that you don’t even remember doing it. You’ve created the tenth piece of content for the month, but you can’t remember the difference between the fourth and fifth pieces. Creative work feels like an assembly line. Strategy work feels like a copy and paste from last month, quarter, and year. New paths have fewer ruts – but that doesn’t mean they’ll get you to your destination. Trying something different can help you see that your original path was the right one – or that you need to map a new one. Now may or may not be the time to change your path. But it’s definitely time to make sure your wheels aren’t so stuck in one path that you can’t get off it when the time is right. It’s your story. Tell it well. (And [tell us your thoughts](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com?subject=Feedback) about Robert’s note.) Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute You're getting this exclusive article from Robert Rose as a perk of your newsletter subscription. Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  Sponsored Content Did you know that 49% of businesses outsource content writing, and finding niche-experienced writers is a top challenge? Find more insightful data in the State of Content Ops & Outsourcing report! 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