Felix Baumgartner’s space jump was nothing short of suspenseful. It was crazy, stupid, and dump, but millions couldn’t take their eyes off their TV screens as this event unfolded…myself included.

The part that amazed me the most was not the jump itself, but the act of personal commitment it took to open the hatch, unhook himself from everything, slide out onto the edge of a platform, and jump. No one made him jump. He had to do it himself and had plenty of opportunity to pull the “emergency plug” and call it quits. But he didn’t. And that’s why we admire this guy.

24 miles. 4 minutes. 834 MPH.

I think we can learn a few things about content marketing from Felix’s decision to jump.

  1. Content Marketing only works if we’re all in. There is no middle ground. You have to go all the way if you’re going to experience any measurable results.
  2. Content Marketing requires that we “unhook” from traditional marketing strategies. Instead of trying to think like the company or brand who wants to communicate with their target audience. We have to see the world through the eyes of our target audience. We have to share their language, problems, and questions. It’s our only hope to escape being ignored.
  3. Content Marketing demands creativity, courage, and living at the brink of failure. That’s what inspires us. The “David and Goliath” motif—the little guy encountering and defeating the giant—is what is woven into the fabric of the stories and brand messages that captivates us.
  4. Content Marketing only works if someone else is paying attention—and we have to earn the right to hold their attention. People do crazy things every day but very few become an event of this magnitude. Unless someone else is paying attention, what we do doesn’t matter. Even more challenging is no amount of money that can buy attention. It’s permission-based and ultimately determined by the person or group with whom you want to connect.

In the end, Felix knew the benefits of jumping far outweighed the consequences of not jumping. The same is true for content marketing. If we are going to harness its power to connect and engage an audience for the purpose of moving them toward some type of measurable action, we must “jump.” If we can’t, then we must wonder if we really believe what we say about ourselves and the products and brands we represent.

Content Marketing requires that we go “all in” and comes with little forgiveness for those who try to straddle the fence.

In what ways are you holding back on content marketing? Could it be that you haven’t seen the results you hoped for because you haven’t decided to go “all in” and jump?

Ben Stroup is a content activist in a post-paragraph world. He is chief broker of opportunity at Ben Stroup Enterprises. Connect with Ben via email, Twitter, and Google+. Subscribe via email to learn how to use content to move people to action.

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