Why content marketing isn’t working for you…and how to fix it

“We tried content marketing, but….” This one is a favorite of mine! Many fall into this trap you invest time and effort in content that doesn’t get much traction. 

Content marketing isn’t something you do a couple of times and get results (for most at least), it’s something that you keep building on and then overnight it generates incredible ROI.

From my experience, most businesses that don’t see results from content marketing, fall into one of 6 pitfalls:

1 – You follow the wrong goal:

Imagine you have 3 pieces of content on your website:

A-Blog post: gets 10,000 views each month and brings in 10 customers.

B- Downloadable Report: gets 2,000 views each month and brings in 20 customers.

C- Glossary: gets 500 views per month and brings in 50 customers.

Too often, businesses will expand option A, which got the most traction.  They will invest their resources and effort into high-trafficked content that converts a small percentage of visitors into customers.

2- Content isn’t based on one single, clear goal:

One of my B2B clients once told me that Linkedin has helped them get less than 1% of their customer base. This company has 10X the followers I have on the social platform and they post weekly insights, why am I doing better than them with one newsletter?

All my content has one single goal to achieve and, more importantly, I pretend that I’m speaking directly to my ideal client.

Of course, maintaining a quarterly plan—no not yearly—is crucial.

3- The big one! No clear, dedicated owner of your content marketing efforts:

You can’t ask someone who already has a full-time job to also produce and implement a full content marketing strategy. 

There has to be one person, or one team, or one outsourced entity (ehm, plugging our services here) handling every aspect of planning and implementing your content marketing. 

4- You’re too salesy: 

“Join my program to learn the one trick I use to achieve XYZ”

We all know them, and we all don’t believe them.

Especially if you are a B2B, your content has to be about educating your customers and building trust. 

5- Anyone can write, hire anyone with good language skills:

There’s a lot of content out there, it takes experts to give you a return on investment. 

Assign someone who knows what to do and how to do it, especially if they have worked before with your target audience.

6- Not involving the sales or business development teams:

The intel of someone who’s dealing daily with clients is priceless. Nothing beats the results of content that speaks to the concerns and worries of your target customer base.

 

This is a spin-off the advice we shared in our last issue of The Storyteller’s Playbook. Sunscribe to receive it every two weeks.