6 common content marketing mistakes that could be sinking your chances of success

A successful content marketing strategy can drive your business to new heights, helping you boost brand visibility, earn trust and tap into exciting new audience segments.

But you can’t hope to get the best results from your marketing if you’re making the most basic errors. Here are some common mistakes that you should be making every effort to avoid:

No strategy

Like most core business processes, content marketing needs to be based on a solid strategy for you to stand any chance of generating satisfactory ROI.

Your content marketing strategy should be the backbone of all your efforts in this space, giving you a clear picture of what you want to achieve and how the content you produce will help you reach your goals.

Not knowing your audience

Creating content without knowing your target audience is a bit like playing darts in the dark: you can’t see what you’re aiming for, and there’s no way of knowing if you hit the target.

An in-depth understanding of your audience – specifically what they want and how your product or service can help them achieve it – is essential, but lots of firms fall short on this front. Fortunately, there are always steps you can take to know your customers better.

Over-reliance on one type of content

The most effective content marketing strategies are filled with a wonderful array of different content types, all with their own strengths and benefits.

Blogs and guides are great for showing off your knowledge and providing answers to common audience questions, but you also need to offer visually impactful, engaging assets like videos and infographics.

One of the key things to consider when you’re mulling over content types is how the assets will support different stages of the buyer’s journey.

No CTAs

If a visitor to your website takes the time to read an informative blog but then has nowhere to go or no further action to take, what’s the point?

Calls to action (CTAs) are a fundamental part of your content marketing. They’re the mechanism via which casual visitors, readers or viewers become leads. Boosting your CTA understanding and aptitude will make a massive contribution to your results.

Being too ‘salesy’

If there’s one thing the modern-day antipathy towards intrusive advertising teaches us, it’s that people don’t appreciate brands that are pushy and ‘in your face’.

Very few people will want to engage with your content if all you do is talk about your business and why you’re amazing.

The essential idea behind content marketing is to provide high-quality, relevant, educational or entertaining content that makes people want to come to you. This helps your customer relationships begin on the right foot.

Taking a short-term view

Content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. It may be a cliche, but it’s true.

One of the most common mistakes within this space is to assume that a few blogs or videos will generate instant ROI. Instead, you should be looking to build up an extensive library of content that gives leads and customers plenty to get their teeth into.

Research has shown that it takes time, investment and commitment to get the best results from content marketing.

If you would like some more information and help with your content marketing efforts, why not get in touch with us?