Ask yourself this question: Can your brand exist solely from sales to the people on your current content marketing list?

If you answered yes, consider that the majority of people on your list are not going to lead to a sale. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Content marketing works, and today, it’s an essential part of marketing that all brands should have in their mix. I’m not saying you should abandon it.

But a recent study showed that while most B2B brands devote about 20% of their marketing budgets to content marketing (a pretty smart allocation, especially if your brand is not well known), there are a significant amount who have upped that amount to 40% or more.

That’s all well and good, as long as those brands are continually adding to their target list and have a steady flow of opt-ins coming in from shared information or from the website.

What about brands who are not known? The ones who don’t have endless contact lists? The brands that people are not searching for simply because the name is not out there?

Those brands have to drive people to their website. They have to (gasp) advertise. They have to do paid search, magazine ads, and direct mail. A brand cannot grow by simply existing. It needs to reach out. It needs to grab the attention of people who may not realize they need it. And sometimes, a marketing team may have to figure out new markets and verticals to go after that they’ve never considered before.

Is your brand standing still? Or is it moving and evolving as your industry changes, as technology changes?

If you don’t push, you will never be able to pull.