A lot of brands use content marketing to improve their digital footprint. But if it’s not implemented correctly it becomes an epic fail.
Here are some points which might explain why companies are behind in the arena of content marketing:
1. No Strategy No Game:
In 2017 the Content Marketing Institute conducted a Content Management & Strategy survey which revealed that 92% of brand marketers consider content a valuable business asset. However, of those, only 46% had an actual content strategy in place.
Content can be published on a regular basis, but if there is no strategy, there is no game. A business must design a content marketing strategy as per its defined goals, and target audience to ensure successful promotion.
2. Your Content Doesn’t Connect with the Audience:
Yes, it’s important to have relevant-high quality content. But, if it is not connecting with the audience and not business specific, then it’s not good content.
Good content combines the interests of customers as well as those of the business. For example, a short infomercial describing the features and benefits of a product will be engaging for customers and will help boost sales of that product.
3. No Investment in Content Distribution:
Content Marketing is not as simple as creating high-quality content and sticking it on your company blog. A brand must invest in content marketing strategies like social media, influence marketing campaigns, email newsletters, and other paid mechanisms. These strategies will help customers find your content with ease. Also remember to publish regular posts which are powered by relevant keywords. You can use Alexa to find keywords which suit your brand and product.
4. Not Measuring Anything:
In content marketing everything is measurable. Business objectives like market penetration and increasing brand awareness are evaluated with the help of Key Performance Indicators.
Before you launch any content marketing campaign, make sure you have set your benchmarks. For example, while posting content on your blog, you must measure the time visitors spend on a page and the website, how many pages are viewed, the number of clicks received, and the social media activity generated.
A content strategy cannot be improved without understanding the above indicators. So create a plan to measure your KPI’s on a regular basis. Doing so will improve your content’s performance and also assist you in choosing relevant topics to capture your target audience.
5. Having Unrealistic Expectations:
Content Marketing won’t bring you results overnight. It requires time and consistent posts to build a long lasting relationship with your customers. To be successful, a brand must have realistic expectations.
When you follow the right content strategy, it will result in improved SEO, more website traffic, great relationships with clients, and increased brand loyalty and awareness.
6. Not Knowing Your Audience:
Before you build a content strategy you must know your audience. During this process a lot of questions will pop up like:
– What doubts do your customers have?
– Who you are writing for?
– What engages the audience?
– Will customers buy your product?
– Will they spread the word about your product?
Learning the details of their age, income, gender and spending habits, will enable you to answer the above and also help you to understand your buyer’s persona.
7. Avoiding SEO All Together:
There is a common notion that SEO is dead. But that’s not true at all.
Good content marketing is not possible without SEO. It has been found that internet searches and direct referrals generate more leads than social media. So, if you want to succeed in content marketing, you must know the basics of SEO.
8. Being Impatient:
As they say, good things take time and content marketing is no different. Start with your first blog post and follow up with consistent content. Down the road, you will see your customer interest increasing, followed by increased product sales.
There are several reasons why content marketing can be unsuccessful, but it can be easily resolved with the right content strategy. You must also remember that high-quality content should be backed by consistent posts to ensure customer engagement at all times.
