Gone are days when marketing was mostly focused on increasing sales with hard-selling sales pitches.
There were a lot of interruptions– marketers would place ads in newspapers, between TV shows and songs on the radio to catch potential customers’ attention.
Now, the game is all about engaging potential customers until they’re ready to buy. And to do that, you will need content.
Content marketing is the core of any digital marketing strategy. Whether it’s an informational article, tutorial or training video, or insightful infographic, content is what makes your audiences stick around. Interestingly, 90% of consumers expect content from brands.
It makes sense why 82% of marketers are investing in content marketing actively. Also, as many as 96% of all marketing decision-makers today say content marketing has been effective for their brand.
That all said, content marketing is so much more than creating content and making it available on the internet.
While doing it right can give all the benefits you’ve expected, poorly-executed content marketing can do more harm than good.
This article will break down some content marketing mistakes that can harm your overall campaign success.
What can poorly-executed content marketing do to your business?
We know that when executed poorly, content marketing can have a negative impact on your business.
It can damage your reputation, make it difficult to build trust with your audience, and hinder your ability to achieve your desired results.
In some cases, it can even lead to customers unsubscribing from your email list or opting out of future communications.
For instance, let’s say you’re a small business owner who writes a blog post about a new product or service you’re offering.
However, instead of providing valuable information about the product or service, you use the whole content to try to sell it to your audience.
You brag about how awesome your features are compared to your competitors and mention how miserable your audience is if they don’t buy it.
This approach is not only ineffective, but it can also turn potential customers away from your business.
8 Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Now that we understand why you should take content marketing seriously, we’ll break down some content marketing that can hinder your overall marketing campaign so you can dodge the bullet.
Mistake #1. Not defining your target audience
Great content is one that can appeal to your target audience and speak to their needs.
So, without defining who your target audience is in the first place, you will have a difficult time creating content that resonates with them.
As a result, your content marketing campaign will be irrelevant and will likely fall flat and fail to engage your target audience.
What to do instead?
Spend extra efforts to learn who will consume the content.
You can use data from surveys, interviews, and social media analytics to get a better understanding of your target audience.
Once you know who your target audience is, it’d be much easier to identify their problems and create content that offers a solution to solve the problem.
Mistake #2. Not knowing your goals
Imagine driving to an unknown destination without a map or GPS.
You’d have no idea if you’re going in the right direction, and eventually, you’ll get lost.
The same goes for content marketing. Without having a clear goal in mind, it’ll be difficult to measure your success and determine whether your campaign is on the right track.
In other words, having no goals for your content marketing campaign is a recipe for disaster.
Not only will you not be able to measure your success, but you’ll also likely end up wasting time and resources on irrelevant content that doesn’t help you achieve your business goals.
What to do instead?
Before starting any content marketing campaign, take the time to sit down and determine what you want to achieve with the content.
Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can create content that is aligned with those goals and measure your success accordingly.
Mistake #3. You’re creating content just for the sake of creating it
“Oh, everyone is creating content, so I guess I will too.”
Some marketers might jump into the content marketing bandwagon just because they don’t want to be left behind.
In fact, creating content just for the sake of creating it will only result in irrelevant and low-quality content that does more harm than good for your business.
Not only will it fail to engage your target audience, but it can also damage your brand’s reputation.
What to do instead?
Creating quality content takes time, effort, and planning.
So, take the time to plan and strategize your content marketing campaign before creating any content.
A solid content marketing plan will help ensure that your content is relevant, engaging, and valuable to your target audience.
Mistake #4. You aren’t measuring the success of your efforts
Creating marketing is not all about producing one content after another and hoping that something will work.
You need to measure the success of your content marketing campaign to determine whether it is effective or not.
Unfortunately, many marketers fail to do this and end up wasting time and resources on a campaign that isn’t yielding any results.
Without measuring the success of your content marketing campaign, you’ll never know what’s working and what’s not.
What to do instead?
There are a number of metrics that you can use to measure the success of your content marketing campaign.
Some important metrics include website traffic, leads generated, conversion rate, social media engagement, and so on.
Choose the most relevant metric to your business goals and track your progress over time.
Mistake #5. Your message is unclear and inconsistent
Your target audience should be able to understand your message within a few seconds.
If they can’t, then it’s likely that your message is unclear and inconsistent.
When your message is unclear, it’ll be difficult for your target audience to understand what you’re trying to say.
As a result, they’ll quickly lose interest and move on to something else.
On the other hand, if your message is inconsistent, it’ll be difficult for your target audience to trust your brand.
What to do instead?
Before creating any content, it’s crucial to focus on delivering clear and consistent messages.
You can do this by creating a content style guide that outlines your brand’s voice and tone.
This will help ensure that all your content is aligned with your brand messaging.
Mistake #6. Quantity over quality
When it comes to content marketing, quality trumps quantity and makes your business more trustworthy in the long run.
Flooding your target audience with too much content can actually do more harm than good.
Not only will they be overwhelmed, but they’ll also quickly lose interest in your brand.
Don’t content bomb. Your potential audiences are constantly bombarded with content, so if you want them to pay attention to your brand, you need to focus on creating quality content that is relevant and valuable.
What to do instead?
Instead of churning out low-quality content, focus on creating fewer pieces of high-quality content.
Focus on creating a conversation that educates or entertains, something that will make your target audience want to come back for more.
This will help ensure that your target audience is engaged and that your content is valuable to them.
It’s also important to note that not all content needs to be original. You can curate and share content from other sources as long as it’s relevant and valuable to your target audience.
Mistake #7. Your current strategy doesn’t take into account today’s customer behavior
Customer behavior is constantly changing, so it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends.
If your content marketing strategy doesn’t take into account today’s customer behavior, you’re likely to miss the mark.
What to do instead?
Pay attention to the latest trends that shape customer behavior. This will help you create content that resonates with your target audience.
You can also consider using marketing tools that allow you to personalize your content and deliver it to your target audience at the right time.
Being active on social media and creating a strong presence on mobile are also important factors to consider when crafting your content marketing strategy.
Mistake #8. Too hard-selling
Content marketing should make your promotion more subtle, so your target audience can get to know your product or service without feeling like they’re being sold to.
Of course, you want to use the content to promote your product or service, but it shouldn’t be the only focus.
What to do instead?
Your content should provide value to your target audience and build relationships with them. It should educate, entertain, or both.
Try to use story-driven content that showcases how your product or service can help solve a problem.
Over to you
Content marketing is not a one-time strategy. It’s an ongoing process that requires time, effort, and dedication.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you can set your content marketing strategy up for success.
Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t expect your content marketing campaign to be perfect from the start.
About the Author!
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video production company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order). You can find him on Twitter: @breadnbeyond or LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro
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