Content marketing might sound easy enough, but it’s often used in parts and pieces, which can be harmful to your overall marketing strategy. You constantly hear tales of other companies using content marketing to improve their reach and increase their quality leads—and how content marketing can cost 62% less than traditional marketing solutions while generating up to 3x as many leads.
And that’s all well and good. But what if you aren’t getting the same results? Well, there may be a reason for that: only 32% of marketers are effectively executing enough quality content. And of the 68% that aren’t implementing an effective content marketing strategy, there's the added question of whether or not the content they're producing is remarkable enough to garner the highest degree of engagement? I’ll let you think on that for a minute.
What are some reasons your content marketing strategy results are lacking?
Talking to a wall: Are you incessantly peddling, bragging, convincing, justifying, or educating others about your brand and products? Marketing your company isn’t a one-way street anymore— the best way to entice, compel or attract someone to you isn't by beating them over the head with reasons why you're so awesome. Think about how annoyed and turned off you would be if someone did that to you. Instead, you need to engage with your audience. That means talking about mutually interesting topics, giving them a chance to respond and ask questions, responding when they ask those questions, and treating each opportunity to connect like a conversation at a party. You wouldn’t spend the whole time talking about yourself without letting your acquaintance speak, would you?
Talking like a robot: Was your content written for a search engine instead of your target audience? It’s pretty easy to discern when someone’s talking at you instead of with you. That means focusing on human connection rather than overloading content with keywords, or spamming them with the same message you’ve used thousands of times before. If you're writing just to impress search engines, your reader is going to know it. And this might come as a surprise, but search engines are pretty smart these days. They'll know it too, and search engines penalize for that inconsideration toward the searcher. Think about it: would you be bored reading your content or would you sit in your car in the driveway an extra five minutes after pulling in to finish the article? Would you share it with your boss? Would you go home and talk about it over dinner? Would you bring it up at happy hour with your co-workers? If you answer "no" to these questions, it might be time to re-address your strategy.
Not talking at all: Just as much as you don’t want to be the one at the party shouting about yourself, you don’t want to be the one drinking spiked punch by yourself in the corner, either. Content is a great way to build trust with your customer base, as 61% of consumers say they feel better about a company if they deliver custom content. In fact, they’re more likely to buy from them, too. By failing to produce quality content for your target audience, you’re actively turning away opportunities for new customers and more sales. Just think, if you're producing custom, quality, REMARKABLE content, you're that much more desirable to 61% of the buying public. That's a number that can't be ignored.
So how can you avert these tragic content marketing mistakes and become the company that does it right?
1. Get Personal:
Like I’ve said a thousand times before, customized content is king. Content creation is not a one-size-fits-all exercise. Figure out what makes your ideal buyers tick and appeal to that. If you haven't created buyer personas that detail the who/what/when/where/how of your audience, you need to immediately. Content will only be remarkable if you understand what your audience needs, wants, and has-to-have.
The more you personalize and customize your content for those needs, the more quality leads you’ll generate, and that's the key. Leads aren’t closed deals, so you want to attract the ones that will be most likely to convert to a new customer. One of the best ways to do that is by delivering content that meets a specific need at just the right time, and by doing so, you'll establish an authentic connection with the reader. Don't forget to respond to their questions, engage in discussions, and don’t shy away from difficult conversations. If you handle criticism or negative feedback well, your other visitors will take notice.
2. Get Emotional:
No, that doesn’t mean you should fill your content with unnecessary drama or an overabundance of anecdotal examples (unless it appeals to your buyer personas). The best content is the kind that connects with the reader on an emotional level, whether that emotion is joy, humor, sadness, or anything in between. And if you’re able to evoke a strong emotional response from your reader, the message within will be retained much longer—not to mention—more easily recalled for future use.
Even if you’re painfully aware that your subject matter is as dry as dirt, trust me when I say it's perfectly possible to appeal to the emotions of the reader. Try adding some spice to it. Humor is the perfect way to connect, just don’t overdo it—and maybe ask for some feedback before you hit “publish.” You don’t want to alienate your audience, and nothing does that faster than a poor sense of humor. Even better, find a commonality or tell a powerful story that the reader can relate to. It's not hard to relate on an emotional level if you always go back to your buyer personas and remember why someone would benefit from what you do/have/offer in the first place.
3. Be Honest:
It truly is the best policy. Being transparent with your visitors is one of the best ways to establish credibility and win their trust. Just as important, however, is letting an authentic personality shine through your writing—a personality that will resonate with the reader as genuine and real. When developing content, you should never be afraid to inject it with some personality and opinion. Don’t hide behind fake names—or no names, at all.
Put a face behind your content, so visitors will have a point of contact to engage with. If they don’t know who or where the content is coming from, there’s no reason to trust it. Would you? Even worse—what if the reader loves what you've said and is compelled to further engage, but can't figure out who you are or how to connect? Reading remarkable content should feel as honest as a face-to-face conversation and when you think about it that way, the words will pour out of you much more easily.
4. Be Relevant:
As you may have noticed already, you aren’t the only sly devil producing content in your space, your industry, your region etc. In fact, content marketing has grown so immensely over the last decade, that many consumers have already developed habits and routines of blocking it out. That means there’s more competition now than ever before to produce quality content that not only gets found, but also drives visit-to-lead-to-customer conversions. If you want remain a superior, remarkable content resource in this highly saturated arena, you need to keep your content relevant. But where do you start? You can start by understanding when and where to post. Successful content marketers understand the importance of relevancy with regards to timing, subject matter, trends, and current events and its implications on your content including:
- Keeping statistics recent and relevant
- Editing outdated content to reflect new/accurate information
- Using trending keywords and events
- Publishing platform-appropriate content (ex: LinkedIn vs. Twitter)
- Posting time-sensitive content quickly
- Responding quickly to audience topic requests
By keeping your content relevant, focused, and full of worthwhile information, your visitors will also be more inclined to return to you in the future when they are seeking valuable information. And don't forget- one way content marketers can stay relevant is by using some of the many writing tools at your fingertips! If you're not already using Grammarly, ZenPen, Hemmingway App, BuzzSumo, Expresso or even Google Docs,you could almost certainly improve your content efforts just by incorporating one of more of these tools into your process!
Following these guidelines is necessary for your business' or brand's successful content marketing strategy. But put on your game face, because it doesn’t stop here. You need to constantly test and alter your content strategy to ensure you’re getting the most out of it. If something isn't working, try something else. If something is working, then do more of it! It's not rocket science, but it does require commitment, a bit of panache, and just the right touch of patience.
If you keep at it, you'll see the payoff. But, if you're a realist and know that you don't have the time, energy, resources or patience to commit, you certainly aren’t alone. 62% of companies today outsource their content marketing—a rise of 7% from last year. Outsourcing your content marketing is a highly effective way to ensure your content strategy is getting the love and attention it deserves, but it's imperative you find the right partner to work with you—a partner that gets you, internalizes your offering, and has proven content marketing ROI results they can share with you.
If you’re looking for more information on implementing a content marketing strategy or you need to talk about outsourcing your content development, contact us today, or schedule a consultation.