Prohibition and Patience in Content Marketing
Grab your cocktail shaker, pop a cork or settle in by your favorite local beer tap: Today’s the day to celebrate the repeal of the 18th amendment and the end of Prohibition! Though the well-intended temperance movement tried for 13 years to make Prohibition—the illegal production, transport and sale of alcohol in the US—work, this unpopular amendment couldn’t last through the increase in black market production, political corruption and rise in organized crime.
Cheers to the states who ratified the 21st amendment in 1933!
As a craft beer enthusiast and Cicerone Certified Beer Server, I’ve had my nose to the books in between sips, studying the beer’s history, production and its trends. Surprisingly, that 81-year-old movement still has a significant impact on beer today: total breweries in the US have yet to surpass the pre-Prohibition stats. Many states, such as South Carolina, have only recently updated their post-Prohibition laws to improve limits on ABV, on-site consumption and sales.
I’ll stop geeking out, and get right to the point of spewing brew history on a content marketing blog: When it comes to seeing results, you need patience.
Prohibition altered the algorithm for alcohol production, similar to what we see when Google tosses adorable flightless birds into our strategies, and made the old ways of doing business punishable.
What do you do when your social media plans or content development schedule hits a roadblock? We all know the right answer to adapt: Try new strategies, build new relationships, seek professional advice and be patient.
But if you’re a small business wading into unfamiliar SEO waters, you may be tempted to hire an Al Capone or Bugs Moran to do your black hat bidding and get results faster or cheaper. In the face of search engine restrictions you don’t agree with, isn’t it tempting to step into a speakeasy situation for bootleg links, content and keywords?
But now is actually the time for temperance: as we’ve seen time and time again, those who react to change by cheating the system fall soon enough. Like a high-proof alcohol, you may be intoxicated quickly by the results, but you’ll have a nasty hangover to deal with the next day.
While it may feel like 81 years for your ROI to hit toast-worthy levels, you’ll enjoy longer lasting benefits when you take the honest, well-planned approach to improving your web rankings and brand identity.
At the very least, treat your content writers and social media strategists to a drink this Repeal Day (hint hint). Prost!
Enjoyed this post? Read more by Harvin!
Harvin Bedenbaugh – Content Writer
