Everyone’s doing content marketing: 9 percent of small businesses, 93 percent of B2Bs, and 77 percent of B2Cs use content marketing. Basically, that’s everyone.
There’s a problem, though. Just because everyone is doing content marketing doesn’t mean that they are doing it well.
There’s a belief that “content is the present and future of marketing.” Marketing gurus like Seth Godin have long sung the praises of content. Others declare that “content marketing is dead because now it is simply marketing.” Well, that statement seems contradictory because it is not the content marketing that is dying but just the terminology. Personally, I look at content marketing as just part of the whole marketing plan but if it is not part of your plan at all than you are missing a big piece of the pie. Maybe you gave up because you do not think it works, or you are unsure of where to even begin.
Why isn’t content marketing working for you? Or, more importantly, how should you be using content marketing as part of your whole plan?
1.) You haven’t refined your strategy: Like any other form of marketing, you need a strategy if you expect to be successful.
I’ve been surprised at how many businesses lack a strategy for their content marketing. If there is a strategy, is it being implemented?
There is a reason why I put this point first on my list. In order to be successful at content marketing, you need a strategy. Any strategy, even a bad one, is better than no strategy. With a bad strategy, you can at least figure out that it’s bad and change it. With no strategy, you’ll just keep doing what you’re doing, wasting your time, losing money, and ruining your brand.
A strategy is crucial for success. A successful content marketing strategy starts with defining what numbers are important to you (e.g., views, shares, traffic, conversions, comments etc.) and tracking them.
Publishing content is not a strategy. Content marketing strategy takes in the big picture of marketing: audience, revenue, profit, and brand. Deciding to have a blog and write articles is not a strategy.
2.) You don’t spend much on content marketing.
Companies who spend a lot on marketing are able to grow their markets faster than companies who don’t spend as much. To put it another way, you get what you pay for. If you want results with content marketing, you need to spend enough money to make a difference.
Is content marketing expensive? It can be, but doesn’t have to be. You get what you pay for. In business terms, it’s called ROI.
Simply throwing more money at content doesn’t mean that you’ll be successful. Look carefully at which content marketing efforts have had the greatest ROI and spend more on them.
Consider spending more on a good content marketer than on content marketing. A successful marketer knows how and where to spend marketing dollars, and will give you more ROI than simply beefing up your tactics.
If budget is an issue, delay spending on the higher priced content efforts and focus on the less expensive methods.
3.) You aren’t promoting your content.
The quickest way to kill your content marketing is to do nothing after you create it.
Let me explain: Some marketers think that “content marketing” is simply creating content. Then what? Well, users will find the content, right? Organic traffic will increase, people will read it, convert, and we’ll get more customers, right? Wrong!
Creating content is only part of content marketing. The other half is promoting it. Hence the two words “content” and “marketing” – Create both! Let’s break apart content marketing into its two main components parts:
· Create content.
· Promote content.
Which of these two are you doing or not doing? If you do a lot of promoting, but just a little of creating, then you are probably more successful than a company who does a lot of creating, but very little promoting. Content promotion is just as important as content creation.
4.) Your content stinks.
I don’t mean to be rude, but it needs to be said. Sometimes, the content is just plain bad.
Content marketing means that you have to produce content, but the quality of that content is of utmost importance. Churning out shoddy content does have an impact on your brand, but it is a negative impact. It makes your brand look bad and perform poorly.
Let me point out a few of the reasons why some content is bad:
· You don’t know what kind of content to produce. Nearly every business struggles with how to produce engaging content. Coming up with a theme, topics, angles, and something new is challenging.
· You simply hired an inexpensive writer. This is a big one; I see it all the time. A business wants to do content marketing, so they go out and hire a writer for ten bucks an article. They give them a list of topics and let them have at it. Then, they post these articles on their blog. Content marketing, right? Wrong. Usually, this is a waste of money. Such efforts are not strategically guided. What’s worse is that the content itself is of very low quality. Many times, writers don’t know your industry well enough to be competent.
· You’re boring. A lot of content out there is mind-numbingly boring. To be truly engaging, content must be in-depth, valuable, focused, and well-written.
· Since everyone today is doing content marketing, it’s harder than ever to stand out in a crowded content marketing world.
If you want to succeed, you need to produce better content than the average content marketer. It’s not easy, it’s not cheap, and it won’t happen overnight.
5.) Are you in a tough niche? The content marketers who are struggling the most are those that are in really hard industries:
· Industries where people aren’t online.
· Industries that not many people know about, mostly B2B.
· Industries that are unsexy. “Stud welding” isn’t quite as viral as “how to get a million more Twitter followers.”
If you’re in a tough niche, there’s no magic key that will produce instant success in your content marketing. You’ve simply got to strategize regarding the most effective form of content and keep at it.
6.) You’re up against a giant competitor.
There are times when you’re simply facing a dominating competitive landscape. How can you compete with huge companies that produce huge amounts of awesome content? This is a serious issue, but it’s not insurmountable. Here are a few suggestions:
· Keep producing content. Don’t back down just because the competition is bigger than you are.
· Curate a small but devoted group of followers. Work harder to create an intense fan base than trying to draw audience away from the competitor. Often, the best audience isn’t the biggest audience, but the most devoted audience.
· Out content them. Spend time analyzing your competitor, not so you can copy them, but so you can ‘out-content’ them. Identify what forms of content they are missing or producing poorly. Use these holes as opportunities for your own content.
7.) You haven’t waited long enough. Content marketing takes time. Don’t expect results in a matter of a few weeks or even a few months. Content marketing isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon.
8.) You have horrible SEO.
There is no competition between SEO and content marketing. Instead, the two work together in a complementary relationship. If you’re doing content marketing, but have poor SEO, you might as well not even be creating content. No one is going to find it.
9.) Your expectations are too high.
I am a huge fan of content marketing. I can tell you stories of successful companies and even share statistics but maybe all this breathless excitement over content marketing has raised your expectations a bit too high. Step back, take a deep breath, and get realistic about content marketing. You probably won’t double your traffic (at least not overnight) or triple your revenue, but it is all worth it in the long run.
10.) You’re not having any fun with it. This is a big problem. You’re way too serious! Have some fun with content marketing. It’s not supposed to be a painful, dark journey through despondency. Lighten up.
If you can’t be light and humorous with your content now and then, you’re probably doing something wrong. Shift gears even a little bit and make content fun again.
Conclusion:
There are million reasons why content marketing might not be working for you, but chances are, you’re somewhere in one of these ten reasons.
I’m convinced that 90 percent of the businesses in the world can use content marketing and can use it better. Take your business where it is right now, put on your strategic mojo, and start to ramp it up.
And please…have fun.
* Maria L. Novak Dugan is president of Marketing Solutions & Business Development, a firm in West Chester, PA, offering creative marketing services and goal implementation for small & medium sized businesses. For more information, contact Maria at 610-405-0633 or MariaNovak001@yahoo.com or visit www.Maria-L-Novak.com
** The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of Chadds Ford Live. We welcome opposing viewpoints. Readers may comment in the comments section or they may submit a Letter to the Editor to: editor@chaddsfordlive.com
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