12 Things Experts Have Said About Content Marketing
And What You Should Take Away From Them
While content marketing is still a relatively new industry, there are still plenty of experts who either helped pioneer the industry or who saw the incredible benefits of CM and jumped on the bandwagon right away.
These people are a font of wisdom—if you are willing to listen. Let’s break down what they have to say.
What separates good content from great content is a willingness to take risks and push the envelope.
– Brian Halligan, CEO & Co-founder, HubSpot
This is true of most everything in life, including content marketing. If you just write the same type of content in the same format and style you always have, your audience will eventually get bored, no matter how valuable the content itself is. You need to make sure you are always improving, always trying something new and taking risks.
Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world you are one.
– Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer, The Content Advisory
Catchy slogans can only go so far. If you want to really impress your audience, you need to show them that you are an expert in your industry—that you are the person they should go to when you have questions and need answers. It’s proving that you know what you’re talking about. If you have to tell people you are the best, then you’re not.
Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.
– David Beebe, Founder & CEO, Storified Hospitality Group
True thought leaders don’t push product, they understand their audience and share ideas to help them tackle issues.
– Mina Seetharaman, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Creative Officer, The Economist
This is one of the biggest issues I see with clients’ content, explained by both David Beebe and Mina Seetharaman. If your content is just a thinly veiled sales pitch, it’s not going to generate interest and you’ll lose the trust of your audience. You need to provide value to your audience, help them solve their problems, whether they can use your product as the solution or not. By helping educate people on the problems they’re facing that you are an expert in, you’re creating trust and a bond that will help when you start moving them down the sales funnel towards purchasing your product.
One of the best ways to sabotage your content is to not tie it to your goals. Know why you’re creating content.
– Ellen Gomes, Sr. Content Marketing Manager, Glint Inc.
If you create content just to create content, you are setting yourself up to fail. You need to have a strategy in place before you ever put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Are you trying to set yourself up to launch a new product? Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Are you trying to build trust? Are you trying to increase sales for an older product? Without a clear goal in mind, you’ll just flounder. Know your goals, create a plan, then get to work.
If you aren’t delivering consistently to your audience, you are not content marketing.
– Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute
You can’t just throw out a blog once every 4–5 months and expect a dedicated following. Without consistency, your audience won’t trust you, and an untrusting audience is a non-buying audience. Make a plan for what you are posting, where you are posting and when you are posting, then stick to it. After all, if you can’t be bothered to provide value to your audience on a routine basis, why should they trust you?
If your content is for everybody, it’s for nobody.
– Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute
If you don’t have a buyer persona yet, then you need to make one. Now. How are you supposed to write compelling, valuable content if you don’t know who you are writing for? Get yourself a target audience and write for them. You’ll be surprised at how much better your content will perform if it’s written for people who are actually interested.
Content marketing is a war of attrition. It’s a process. Success does not happen overnight.
– Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute
Content Marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.
– Jon Buscall, Head of Moondog Marketing
Don’t think you can write a single blog article or case study or white paper to make it big. Content marketing takes time and effort. It takes consistent persistence to gain an audience and even longer to gain an audience who actually cares. Don’t give up after a month. Commit to at least a year for your content strategy to really shine and gain momentum.
Remember, the greatest enemy our business faces is the same enemy that good stories face: noise.
– Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.
– Seth Godin, author, entrepreneur, teacher
Are your content pieces full of fluff? Stretching your content by adding in fluff or unnecessary information just to hit an ideal word count won’t do you any favors. Attention spans today are low; you need to get to the point and get to it quick in order to make an impression. A great way to get your point across in a compelling way? Telling a story. Make your audience the hero of the story and you’ll get them: hook, line, sinker.
Content is the atomic particle of all digital marketing.
– Rebecca Lieb, author, strategic advisor, columnist, keynote speaker
Every single part of your digital strategy contains content, from the text on your images, social and search ads, press releases, and more. Since content touches every single facet of your marketing strategy, shouldn’t you care about and put some effort into it? By focusing on what you are saying in every part of your digital strategy, you can be sure your brand shows and feels the same across all platforms. Consistency in your voice and tone increases trust with your audience.
Learning From the Experts
So what did we learn from the experts?
- Be willing to take risks.
- Don’t say you’re the best, show it.
- Don’t just talk about yourself and your product.
- Be consistent in posting.
- Write for a specific audience.
- Don’t expect instant success.
- Tell a story.
- Have a consistent voice.
What’s your favorite advice, expert or not, about content marketing? Let us know in the comments!
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.
