Content marketing continues to be a growing trend in the world of marketing. Recent studies by the Content Marketing Institute reveal that 77% of B2C marketers and a staggering 83% of B2B marketers employ some form of content marketing strategy. But let’s face it. Just as no baseball player hits the ball out of the park every time they step up to bat, not every marketing plan is going to be a success. If you’ve experimented with content marketing, and aren’t seeing the results you were hoping for, it’s probably the result of one of a number of common mistakes. Let’s examine a few of those.
- Not providing adequate value
It’s not enough to simply provide content. There’s an enormous amount of content available in the vast wilderness of the internet. But what is fundamental to content marketing is the strategy of providing informative and valuable content. And, the content should not appear to be just a sales pitch. Frankly, people have heard enough of those, and they tend to be jaded towards them. So rather than self-promotional content, put out engaging articles on topics of interest to those who might have a need for your offerings. Once you’ve established yourself as an authority on relevant subject matter, it will be an easier step for them to provide you with their contact information.
- Not posting a sufficient amount of content
After all my comments about the proper quality of content, we still can’t overlook the need for quantity as well. By quantity, I’m not referring in this case to long, verbose articles which people won’t likely take the time to read. I’m talking about frequency of posting. Essential to content marketing is establishing a high rank in Google searches, and that’s accomplished by having a large enough online “footprint” to be visible, and to score highly in Google’s rankings. Posting new content should be done at least once a week, though three times a week is generally considered optimal.
- Not having a content marketing strategy
It’s not enough to just put more and more content out there. You need to have an actual strategy, a marketing plan, with a goal. This goal could be as simple as getting more names for your email list, or as large as improved search engine ranking and traffic. But it’s essential to establish a goal, make a plan of how to achieve that goal, and make your content marketing a part of that plan.
- Focusing on your own perspective instead of the potential buyer’s perspective
This is a tricky one for business owners. You know the value of your products or services, and you know what you want your potential buyers to know about them. But you don’t want to push your perspective on the prospective clients. You need to try to see through their eyes, and provide content that’s engaging to their perspective. Then your content becomes truly educational, and engages visitors to keep coming back for more.
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