Shit! It's Tuesday

This Tuesday, I admit I am struggling. I have been developing an idea for this post for a few hours (don’t cry for me, it’s 30°C/90°F here and I was sitting in my garden), but we are having a difficult birth and I am quickly running out of Tuesday.

I have a choice, that so many marketers on the content hamster wheel face, I can publish something that is probably a bit shit, or don’t publish.

OK, OK, aside from the fact that if you are a regular reader, you may have a judgment on what path I usually follow.

We marketers are often conflicted.

One of the core tenets of content marketing is that you need to be consistent, to be there when people expect you to be.

My personal hamster wheel is a podcast on Saturday, a newsletter on Monday, this on Tuesday, and another podcast episode on Wednesday.

Of course, the current rand-o-feed-o-meter that seems to be the LinkedIn algorithm probably means you’ll see this in September or something, so maybe I should chill out.

Now, clearly, this is a pipeline problem.

I don’t have to be trying to wrestle an idea into a pithy 2 cents on an actual Tuesday, yes, it’s called Tuesday 2¢, but would you notice if I had spent a quiet Sunday nurturing a (probably shit) idea? Of course not.

But, this happens in big content teams too.

Shit happens.

Suddenly, we are scrambling to publish a blog post this Wednesday, because we always publish a blog post on Wednesday.

The one we intended to post this week is in the Kanban* project board, stuck in the column marked “Blocked, waiting approval”, because, at the last minute, an executive insists this needs C-suite sign-off.

And we create something else to fill the void.

It’s the same across all our channels, the world (and, okay, some data) tells us the optimum time to hit our audience’s inbox with an email is 4 pm UK time on a Thursday (it doesn’t, I made that up). Our social media ninja says we need to post and comment three times a week, etc. etc. etc.

The hamster wheel.

But, if what we have to say is.... a bit shit... OK... does not support our editorial standards, our brand messaging, is helpful to the audience, and furthers our overall masterplan of creating Awareness, Revenue and Trust - should we be a slave to the calendar?

Or a slave to our audience and not publish something that is... well.... as I said.. .. a bit shit?

*You use Kanban - right, you is an agile marketer now.