Are you prepared to throw your current content marketing strategy in the bin and start over fresh?
It’s a task that any business shudders at the thought of, but it just might turn the tides in your favour. Most companies waste money and time believing more is better, failing to engage and actually help their audience.
Instead of following their lead, wouldn’t you rather learn from their mistakes?
Here we look at the potential challenges your business is facing and why you’re not hitting your goals. You’ll also find ways to correct these issues in your strategy, climbing those SERPs in the process.
Let’s get started.
Key Takeaways
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An effective content marketing strategy is a plan to build brand awareness and attract clients by delivering fresh, helpful and empowering content to target audience.
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Many businesses fail in their content marketing strategy due to producing low-quality content, posting content sporadically, believing all buyer personas are the same, not tracking analytics, not optimizing content for SEO, not leveraging social media and not measuring ROI.
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To improve the quality of content, businesses can use the “skyscraper technique” which involves finding the best information on a chosen subject and improving it.
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To ensure consistency in publishing content, businesses can create a six-month calendar and monitor the activity of competitors to know when to release content.
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To tailor content to a specific audience, businesses should create specific buyer personas, track analytics, optimize content for SEO, leverage social media, and measure ROI to improve their content marketing strategy.
Why You Need an Effective Content Marketing Strategy
What is a continent marketing strategy, and why is it important?
In layman’s terms, it’s a plan to build brand awareness, allowing people to find your products and services when they need them.
Successful campaigns should draw in, engage, and hold onto an audience. Not shove as much content down everyone’s throat as possible.
It seems like an obvious notion, yet as consumers, we experience a barrage of useless information daily.
Utilising an effective content marketing strategy is one of the best ways to attract clients. It’s no wonder the most successful B2B companies allocate more than 40% of their budget to developing one.
The trick is to deliver fresh content that’ll assist and empower your target audience. It should be designed to build trust among your consumers, so they come to you for answers and help.
7 Reasons Your Marketing Strategy Is Failing & How to Fix It
Nobody wants to see negative analytics or experience a mass exodus of clients due to a poor content marketing strategy.
So how do you turn the ship around to get the type of metrics that make you smile?
Here are seven key challenges that plague the B2B and B2C markets and how you can correct them in your business.
1. Producing Low-quality Content
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in digital marketing is publishing poor-quality content.
Spelling errors, typos, and bad grammar ruin whatever message you’re trying to communicate. Your readers become more focused on the inaccuracies, leading them to find another source of information.
But ensuring current and prospective clients can read your copy isn’t a good enough content marketing strategy.
You need to give your reader useful information. Content that cuts through the nonsense and offers clear answers and help.
Rather than trying to churn out tons of blogs, focus on keeping your style consistent and avoid adding any fluff. Look for issues your competitors haven’t addressed and provide a direct solution.
Not sure where to begin?
A fantastic way to start producing premium content is by implementing the simple yet effective skyscraper technique.
This content marketing strategy involves finding the best information on a chosen subject and improving, not copying it. Approach the topic from a unique angle and aim to give your readers as much helpful information as possible.
2. Posting Content Sporadically
Publishing content erratically is a quick way to lose the attention of your readers and any authority in your industry.
The only way people will take your brand seriously is by producing quality copy consistently.
Yet many businesses struggle to overcome this challenge as their content marketing strategy lacks a clear roadmap.
A documented plan ensures that your blogs are prioritised and allows you to communicate their importance to investors.
One way to solve this marketing dilemma is by drawing up a six-month calendar that shows when to release future content. It’s a good idea to monitor the activity of your biggest competition to learn when copy makes the most significant impact.
A roadmap also gives you an idea of how many blogs and social media posts you should produce to stay consistent.
3. Believing All Buyer Personas Are the Same
A widespread content marketing strategy mistake involves trying to produce copy that ticks everyone’s boxes.
The truth is that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach because people prefer to consume information differently. Some readers quickly skim through an article or blog, while others set aside time and dive into the nitty gritty.
It’s not enough to only know your audience’s age, gender, and likes. You need to find out what type of content they prefer and how much time they have to read it.
How do you acquire this information, we hear you say?
Well, by asking them.
It sounds simple enough, yet more than 85% of B2B marketers fail to implement this straightforward process.
Not only will it improve your content marketing strategy, but it also boosts engagement and ensures you publish information buyers need.
4. Hoping Your Content Is An Overnight Success
It’s important to realise that digital marketing won’t give you an instant return on your investment.
You need to be realistic about your goals, regardless of how good your content is or the size of your budget.
Expecting a single blog post to turn your brand into a household name overnight is foolish. Success takes time, whether you’re trying to improve your SEO ranking or bring in quality leads.
An effective content marketing strategy focuses on building success over the long run while utilising paid advertising for short-term results.
It’s a hard pill to swallow. But accepting it allows you to set realistic expectations and get an understanding of when your strategy will affect your bottom line.
5. Refusing To Hire New Talent
Writing quality content requires technical, journalistic, and creative skill that takes time to master.
Ignoring this fact is a common mistake that can set your content marketing strategy on a downward spiral.
Some brands try to produce blogs in-house, but that involves recruiting a team or relocating staff. You also need a second pair of eyes that you trust to proofread your articles before publishing them.
While it’s not impossible to do it alone, there are better ways to avoid the additional stress. Many successful brands have turned to external agencies that take care of the whole process for them.
Why not give one of these content writing firms a try?
Professional agencies already have the expertise, so there’s no reason you need to waste your time looking.
You can also utilise their knowledge of current trends, improving the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy. Plus, the costs could be lower compared to an in-house team.
6. Only Focusing On Organic Traffic
Another mistake many marketing strategists make is solely relying on organic traffic to build brand awareness. While people often turn to Google for assistance, there are limits to the amount of exposure you can expect.
At the same time, sending your blogs out on every channel available won’t position you as a thought leader. It’s ineffective and takes a toll on your budget, wasting money on ads your audience never sees.
To ensure your content marketing strategy is successful, you must identify the right platforms to reach your desired consumers.
Once you know which social media channels your audience uses, you can partner up with influencers to improve trust in your brand. It’s also worth reaching out to reputable publications to build strong backlinks that bolster organic traffic.
7. Selling To Your Audience Instead Of Teaching Them
As we’ve already mentioned, the purpose of content marketing is to educate your readers and provide helpful information.
Generating a sale should be your second goal, not the primary one. Yet many brands tend to overlook this approach in their content marketing strategy and wonder why it’s not successful.
If your audience wants to know how to change a tyre, starting with your services isn’t going to cut it. The best time to offer a product or mention your business is in a CTA at the end.
Ideally, you want your readers to see you as an expert and share your content with others they believe it’ll help.
Success Takes Time and Effort
It’s fair to say there are numerous challenges when it comes to creating an effective content marketing strategy.
Consistently create high-quality content that addresses your audience’s needs while delivering it in a form they can consume. Try to post blogs regularly and use different formats to draw attention from different personas.
Use all the channels available as part of your content marketing strategy to build brand awareness. Don’t be afraid to get personally involved in writing your copy, even if you’re using an outsourced team.
Teach your customers something rather than convincing them to buy a product. And finally, be patient. Success takes time, so don’t waste your effort looking for a quick fix; they don’t exist.
If you need assistance, why not outsource to get the results you’re looking for?
Contact Hippo Thinks and allow us to turn your content marketing strategy into the lead-generating machine you’ve always wanted.
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