I have had heated discussions with prospective clients who are adamant that content marketing is dead or on life support at best. Their ‘strategy’ is generally the same: write lots and lots of content, fill the posts with keywords and hope search engines pick up on it. When few people bother reading and comments are as rare as evidence that Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton actually have talent, they assume that content marketing is the problem rather than their methods.
Of course, there are a litany of other mistakes that ensures their content marketing efforts go unnoticed by the masses. With almost [60% of marketing professionals][1] pledging to increase their content marketing budget, strategy is key in order to avoid wasted time and resources. Below, we look at a few common content marketing blunders that you’re probably making and this is holding you back AND giving you a false impression of content marketing.Lack of Context
Are you sure that your content marketing efforts are even relevant to your target audience? Creating content that will educate and entertain your potential clientele requires much more than just stitching bits and pieces of news from your niche together. Did you know that HubSpot has developed a Content Optimisation System (COS) that helps marketers not only manage a website, it also allows them to deliver a personalised experience to visitors across various devices?
Now it is possible for you to live the marketer’s dream: you can actually speak directly to existing customers, leads and prospects with messages and offers that are tailored to their specific needs and desires. For example, you can tempt visitors with a special introductory offer whereas existing customers can benefit from loyalty bonuses. Try this out for a few months and see if content marketing is deceased!
Poor Research Skills
A surprising number of marketers admit to finding it hard to come up with sufficient information for their content marketing campaign. This explains the poorly written content I see on the websites of certain ‘big’ organisations. Perhaps these marketing teams should consider hiring writers that actually know how to conduct research rather than opting for the scribe that uses the most flowery words.
In the age of the Internet, there is no excuse for laziness yet we see it all the time; not only on corporate websites, but also on national news publications where truth and accuracy appear to be impediments to good spin. Try reading sports journalism in the UK to see what I mean. If your marketing team doesn’t have the time (or patience) to check reputable online sources for up to date information, hire content writers that can. When you provide news that is ‘hot off the press’, you provide visitors with data that is relevant and this also enhances your credibility.
Misleading Headlines
This is yet another bad habit picked up from tabloid newspapers. I’ve lost count of the number of articles that have sensationalist headlines only for the article to have little or no correlation with the title. While this may be a good way to get initial ‘clicks’, it will do little for your company’s reputation. Personally, when I click into an article that has nothing to do with the headline, not only do I leave the website, I generally pledge not to return.
The health and fitness industry seems to be the worst for this nonsense as a cavalcade of charlatans are allowed to run riot and tap into the general public’s desire to be slim and attractive but it is prevalent in every industry. So unless the article actually shows scientifically proven ways to ‘get ripped in 6 weeks’, save the lying headline and keep your credibility.
The above only really scratches the surface of where you may be going wrong in your content marketing efforts. Expect more posts on this particular topic from me in the future.