Statistics show that content marketing is something that all industries can benefit from. For example:
- Year-over-year growth in unique website traffic is 7.8x higher for content marketing leaders compared to followers (19.7% vs 2.5%). (Source: Aberdeen)
- Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. (Source: DemandMetric)
- Content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
And this is all possible because content marketing builds the all-important know, like and trust factor needed to get your ideal clients to support and ultimately buy from you. The issue is, however, that you don’t get to enjoy these benefits without avoiding these 5 content marketing mistakes:
#1 Having no end game
A common mistake that people make when it comes to content marketing is making content for content’s sake. Yes, as the statistics above show, content marketing is “where the money resides” but making it profitable takes planning. Specifically, it takes starting with the end goal in mind (i.e. selling your products or services) and working backwards so that the natural progression for anybody who follows your content is to buy. This is known as a funnel. As such, it’s important to be clear about what your end game is with content marketing before you begin so that you know what you are aiming for in terms of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
#2 Believing that “if you build it, they will come”
Hollywood has sold us the lie that “if you build it, they will come” however people don’t flock to things if they don’t know that it exists. So, every day that you spend waiting for your ideal clients or customers to find your content is a day that you miss out on creating more impact, helping more people and ultimately making more money. If you want to rise above the sea of other experts in your oversaturated niche, you’ll need to attract more attention to you and your content by becoming more visible. This means that you’ll also need to have a plan in place for how to do this, whether it be Facebook ads, use of affiliate marketing or (my personal favourite) PR.
#3 Keeping up with the Joneses
The best way to develop your content marketing skills is to decide how you prefer to communicate and then lean into it. For example, if you prefer to communicate by writing, you could consider starting a blog. If you prefer to speak, you could start a YouTube channel or a podcast. Resist the urge to copy what you see other industry experts doing simply because it seems to be working for them. If what they are doing is not within your skillset or something that you actually enjoy doing, you’ll doom your content marketing strategy before it’s even begun for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses. To avoid this content marketing pitfall, it’s imperative (in the words of Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene), to “slay in your lane”.
#4 Not having a routine
Another common content marketing mistake is underestimating how much of it’s success relies on establishing a routine, leading to either ad hoc content creation (and therefore sharing) or panic-driven; last minute content creation and sharing. You can avoid this by committing to a schedule of work in terms of how often you will share your content (whether it be weekly, biweekly or monthly) and when you will create your content (whether it be every morning or on a particular day every week).
Other best practices include batching content, which is the process of reserving a particular date/time each week to create multiple pieces of content at once (e.g. 4 blog posts which will be released every week in a particular month). This helps to take the pressure off of the content creation process so that it’s more organised and less stressful.
#5 Being too promotional
A part from avoiding inconsistency, it’s also important to not spend each post simply promoting your products and services. As the definition says, content marketing involves “not explicitly [promoting] a brand but [stimulating] interest in its products or services”. You can achieve this by speaking to your ideal clients’/customers’ pain points, using storytelling, in order to position your products and services as the solution. In other words, lead with value in order to woo and attract your clients (rather than coerce them by simply saying “buy my stuff!”).
Content marketing is an art that, when done well, is a powerful way to attract the kind of clients that align with your core values (quality/qualified leads) and repel the ones that don’t. It is my hope that the points above will help you to do this by:
- Creating multiple touch points with new leads
- Building that all-important know, like and trust factor
- Persuading them (in a non-sleazy way) that you/your product or service are the solution to their problems, leading them to ultimately buy from you (helping you to achieve your KPIs).
One effective way to avoid common content marketing mistakes is by implementing content mapping into your strategy. Content mapping involves aligning your content with the specific needs and preferences of your target audience at each stage of their buyer’s journey. This ensures that your messaging is not only relevant but also engaging, helping to drive better engagement and conversion rates.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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