“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue” Andrew Davis said. Content is the backbone of any successful business, and content marketing is an effective way to drive traffic, build relationships, and increase conversions for any brand. In order to draw in a particular audience and encourage profitable customer action, content marketing entails producing and disseminating valuable, pertinent, and consistent information.
“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say: This was written specifically for me.” Your content marketing strategy must be audience-centred where you need to connect with them and make yourself their best friend in the first interaction. That’s why it’s rightly said by David Beebe “Content Marketing is like a first date. If you only talk about yourself, there won’t be a second one”.
While content marketing is the most popular and important marketing strategy for your business, you must be aware of some of the common mistakes which marketers commonly make. Learning from other’s mistakes is undoubtedly a great way to pace up your success journey. Let’s look at some of the worst content and content marketing mistakes which you must avoid at all costs.
1. Starting without a Clear Goal or Purpose: Your goal should be to own quality time in your customer’s inbox.
One of the worst content marketing mistakes you can make is to start writing without any clear goal or purpose in mind. Before you start creating content, it’s essential to understand why you are creating that content, who is the target audience, what are the key messages you want to communicate and how success will be measured.
As Stephen Covey famously said, “Begin with the end in mind.” By setting a goal and understanding why you are creating content, it will be easier to create content that is appropriate and resonates with your audience.
2. Not Knowing Your Audience: Avoid Effective Targeting
Content marketing will not be successful if you do not understand the needs and wants of your target audience. In order to craft content that resonates, you must identify and understand who the content is created for.
This involves carrying out extensive research to understand your audience’s interests and needs, which can then be leveraged in content creation. When the target audience is identified, effective targeting can be applied using the right channels of communication.
3. Not Being Consistent in Your Content: The Need for Regular Updates
Even when you know your target audience and have strong content, you need to be consistent in delivering the right information. Regular updates are essential as they can help build trust and grow relationships with customers.
When creating content, make sure you are consistent in the quality, frequency and topic of the content. As Dale Carnegie said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” If your content is not enjoyable and informative, no one will come back for more.
4. Underestimating the Power of Images and Visuals: Show, don’t Tell
People process visuals faster than text. Therefore, incorporating images and visuals into your content can have a great impact on the reader. It also provides a way for you to tell stories, as every picture has a tale to tell.
Research has found that visuals can increase web traffic by 94%. Therefore, make sure you use relevant and eye-catching images and videos to capture the attention of your readers and make them stay for longer.
5. Not Making Use of Social Media Effectively: Missing out on an Effective Platform
Social media is a powerful marketing tool and should not be overlooked. It can help you reach wider audiences, increase engagement, build relationships and even boost your website’s SEO. It is also an effective platform for engaging in conversations, repurposing content and sharing valuable resources.
Therefore, make sure you make use of the various social media channels to reach out to your target audience. As it’s rightly said by Jay Baer, “Content is fire and social media is gasoline”.
6. Not Measuring or Tracking Your Content Performance: Analyze to Improve
To maximize the effectiveness of your content, it is important to track and measure its performance. This way you can understand what works best for your audience and what doesn’t.
Use analytics tools to track the user engagement, clicks, impressions and other metrics related to your content. This will help you improve your content over time and ensure maximum ROI. As Thomas Edison said, “If you want to master something, measure it.”
7. Ignoring SEO: Quality and Relevance is Key
Your content should be of high quality, relevant and optimized for search engine algorithms. Optimizing your content for SEO means that it will be more likely to show up higher in search engine results and bring in more views.
Make sure that your content is keyword-rich, contains relevant images and videos, and is linked to other relevant content. Quality and relevance are key when it comes to SEO – this means that you should avoid keyword stuffing and focus on providing fresh and engaging content.
8. Not Repurposing Your Content: Maximize Reach With Limited Resources
One of the most important things you can do to maximize your reach with limited resources is to repurpose content. “Content repurposing is about getting the maximum return from every single piece of content you create.”
You can turn an article into a podcast, an infographic or a webinar. You can also turn the content into a series of blog posts or create an ebook. Repurposing your content will help you reach new audiences and extend the life of your content.
9. Not Being Creative and Unique: Stand Out From the Crowd
Content should be creative, unique and tailored to your audience’s needs. Just as the popular quote suggests, “Don’t be afraid to be different and stand out from the crowd”. It is important to create content that will grab your reader’s attention and leave an impact.
Use quotes, statistics, stories and videos to make your content stand out. You can also bring in a personal touch to your content by incorporating anecdotes and feedback from past customers.
10. Not Carrying Out A/B Testing: Experiment and Tune Your Content for Maximum Impact
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to content marketing is not carrying out A/B testing. When it comes to content marketing, A/B testing can be used to compare different versions of a piece of content to determine which one resonates better with your target audience.
From the headline and tone of the content to the visuals used, A/B testing can help you hone in on what your audience responds best to. As the old saying goes, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure,” and by carrying out A/B testing, you’ll be able to measure the results of your content and make adjustments accordingly.
As legendary marketer David Ogilvy famously said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” To ensure your content is actually resonating with your audience, you’ll want to carry out A/B testing — otherwise you may be wasting time and resources creating something that won’t have any effect.
Final Takeaway
Content marketing is an effective way of connecting with your target audience and promoting your business. But it’s important to avoid the worst content marketing mistakes in order to make the most of your efforts. By avoiding these 10 worst mistakes, you can ensure that your content reaches its full potential.
As the famous quote by Mark Twain goes, “It’s not the things we don’t know that give us trouble, it’s the things we know that ain’t so.” By being aware of these mistakes and avoiding them, you can be sure you’re making the best content marketing decisions possible.
Also, don’t forget to use Content Repurposing to leverage your content marketing strategy. Repurposing content is often overlooked in today’s digital marketing arena, yet it provides immense potential for driving and engaging customers.
As Thomas Edison so famously said: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Content repurposing is all about taking content and creating something entirely new from it. Good luck and make sure you create content that resonates with your target audience!