10 Things You Don’t Want to Hear About Content Marketing
As content marketing becomes more and more popular in the marketing world, it’s being touted as a cure-all. And while it’s true that content is critical in helping businesses not only widen their audience but build trust and engagement with their current audience, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.
Let’s take about the dark side of content marketing — the things you don’t want to hear but need to.
1. It doesn’t work overnight.
It takes time for your content to build momentum. Posting one blog won’t radically change your business. You need to develop a catalog of content, consistently, to start seeing real results. It’s true the more you post, the faster you’ll see results, but it still won’t be overnight. You need patience, but it’ll pay off in the end.
2. Consistency is key.
In that same vein, you need to stick to a regular schedule. Posting at random intervals will show you aren’t reliable. If you can’t be trusted to post on a regular schedule, can you be trusted to perform the service your company is offering or trusted to keep to what your product is promising?
3. You can’t just write it and forget it.
Once you build up your catalog of content, you need to do maintenance on the older material. Check to see if old links are working and update them if they aren’t. If a piece of content isn’t relevant anymore, remove it. Can you revise or breathe new life into an old article? Are the facts outdated? Update it. You don’t want a potential customer landing on an old piece that’s outdated with broken links and judging your brand negatively.
4. To be successful, you need a plan.
Writing without strategy is content doomed to fail. You need to plan your content around new product launches, company initiatives, holidays and more. Without a strategy, you’ll focus too much on one category and not enough on another. You’ll end up with too many fluff pieces that’ll rot your audience’s teeth or too many serious pieces that bore your audience to tears. Strategy ensures you have balanced content on a variety of topics in a variety of ways.
5. Content marketing means more than writing a few blog posts.
When you think content, don’t just think of blog posts. There’s so much more to it. Content marketing includes lead generation pieces that your audience can download in exchange for their email address, like white papers, guides, ebooks and checklists. It also includes social media, videos, infographics, case studies, podcasts, webinars and more.
6. Managing and creating a content strategy is difficult and time-consuming.
It’s a full-time job. Literally. Content strategists get paid a lot of money because planning, creating and maintaining content for a company is a hell of a lot of work. But done right, it’ll pay off in terms of leads, sales and customer satisfaction. A good strategist will ensure that your social media posts are working with your blog posts, which are working with your case studies and ebooks and webinars. There’s a lot of types of content out there, and your strategist makes sure they are all working together to get you the results you want and tweaking the strategy as needed if they aren’t.
7. The quality of your writing matters.
Yes, people will notice spelling and grammar errors. Yes, they will judge you for not editing before posting. You’ll look like you didn’t care enough about the article or your audience’s time to make it as perfect and error-free as possible. Hire an editor. They’ll not only ensure your work is error-free, but that the flow of the piece is right, that all research is correct, all the links work correctly and that it fits into the company’s overall content strategy.
8. People know when you’re faking it.
Today’s audiences have a high bullshit meter. They know when you aren’t being real — either about your product or your brand or both. Don’t try to be something you’re not in your content. Not only will it not resonate with your audience, but it could damage your reputation. Stay on brand and stay honest if you want to build the trust and relationships needed to grow leads and sales.
9. Content is no longer optional.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than those without. They’ve also found that content marketing rakes in conversion rates six times higher than other methods. Why? People want to trust you before they buy from you, and content is how they build that trust and relationship. No content = no trust = no sale. Still don’t believe me? One more stat: After reading recommendations on a blog, 61% of U.S. online consumers made a purchase.
10. You’re never done learning about content.
Content marketing is a rapidly changing industry. You’ll never know everything, you need to be always on your toes, and you need to stay on top of the latest trends and news in the content industry. Know the leaders in the industry. Read their blogs and study what they do. But always remember, the best teacher is experience. Experiment — see what works, what doesn’t and apply your knowledge appropriately.
There they are, the ten things you probably didn’t want to hear about content marketing but needed to. Content marketing is essential in building your business in today’s world. So long as you go in with your eyes open, it can be a game-changer for you.
Anastasia Voll is a content marketing strategist who specializes in helping women entrepreneurs find their voice and attract their ideal clients.
You can learn more about her and how to work with her at www.vollcontentmarketing.com.
