Every business can benefit from content marketing. In fact, one could argue that almost all marketing and advertising includes content marketing. After all, everything is content – from your website information to the email messages you send, to articles you post on your blog or videos you make.
But, are you creating effective content, or are you just publishing without any thought to the results? Avoiding these content marketing mistakes will help you succeed.
1.) Not Planning Your Content Strategy in Advance
You can’t succeed with content marketing if you’re not planning the content you’ll create and why you’re going to create it. Create a content plan and put it in a content calendar so that you can organize and create a process for success.
2.) Not Creating Content for Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
Understanding all the steps your buyers go through to make buying decisions is imperative if you want to convert more of your leads and prospects to customers. Content in the awareness state is different than the content you’re going to share with them after they have purchased, for example.
3.) Not Creating Content for Every Stage of Your Sales Funnel
Taking the time to create a sales funnel or multiple funnels that narrow down the target for each piece of information you disseminate to them, will ensure the content is more relevant them and therefore more actionable to them.
4.) Not Setting Up Criteria for Your Content
Don’t just start publishing anything. You want your content to brand your business, to send out consistent messaging, and to advance your goals. Set up the right format, the right terms, the right message, and keep it consistent.
5.) Not Checking Your Metrics
Install Google Analytics and use all the analytic features on the social platforms that you use. You can use your goals and objectives to evaluate different metrics. That’s the only way you know if your assumptions are working.
6.) Not Promoting Your Content
If you publish content and don’t promote it like it’s your most prized new product, you’re missing out on the type of traffic you can generate with well-placed content.
7.) Not Spending Time Researching
Even if you think you know something, continue to research and learn everything you can about your niche and your audience. The research will help you stay abreast of industry changes, killer technologies, and more.
8.) Not Setting Goals for the Content You Create
Once you understand what your goals are, you can create content with a purpose. For example, some content will be designed for making sales, some for getting email list members, and other types for imparting educational information.
9.)Not Producing High-Quality Content
Don’t just publish anything just to say you did. It is very tempting to publish any type of content if it has your keywords in it, but you don’t want to bore your audience to death. Instead, only publish content that you’ve taken time to develop and optimize.
10.)Not Adding a Call to Action to Your Content
While every CTA shouldn’t be a call to buy, every single bit of content you publish should have a call to action. If you’re not sure what to add, ask yourself what you want your audience to do next after consuming that content. That’s your CTA.
11.) Not Using Search Engine Optimization
SEO includes both on-page and off-page optimization for keywords so that the search engines can deliver your information to their customers. Focus on titles and headlines, and don’t overstuff with keywords.
When you use content marketing the right way, it is very powerful. You will succeed if you know the right way to go about it. Do your research; learn what your audience needs to know; and understand your products, services, and the buying cycle your audience goes through to make their choices. If you do all that, you’ll be successful.
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