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Content marketing is one of the best ways of building an online presence and establishing authority with your target audience. When done correctly, content enables you to make genuine connections with potential customers, and helps to convert them from leads into buyers. However, many companies make common mistakes when promoting their content.
Careless mistakes can prevent your content from being as successful as possible, meaning that your marketing may be missing the mark. If you’re only creating surface-level content or you’re not diversifying your content types, your efforts may be falling short. Additionally, if you’re not paying attention to what your audience is looking for, you may find that your content isn’t connecting the way you had hoped.
Let’s take a look at three of the biggest marketing mistakes you may be making, and what you can do to solve them!
Key Takeaways:
- Creating in-depth content is essential for converting customers.
- Your marketing materials need to be diverse and take on many different forms.
- Listening to your audience helps you create content you know they will love.
1. You’re Not Creating In-Depth Content
When you’re trying to get noticed by a new group of potential customers, you’ll typically grab their attention with surface-level content. While introductory pieces are important for attracting new leads, however, you need to get a bit deeper if you want to convert them into customers. If you aren’t creating in-depth content, you aren’t using your marketing material to its full advantage.
In-depth content can improve your online marketing in a number of ways. First, it helps educate your audience so they can make smarter purchasing decisions. When you provide your potential customers with the resources they need to determine which products or services are right for them, they will see you as an authority in your industry and trust you more. In turn, this will show search engines that you have quality content, and can improve your search engine rankings to help you attract new leads.
You can add more in-depth pieces to your content strategy in the form of webinars, long-form blog posts, and even e-books, as in the example above from HubSpot. When determining which posts or topics you should extend, consider those that are already popular with your audience or are more advanced and could use a comprehensive explanation. Above all, listen to the questions your audience asks, and provide them with exactly the information they are looking for.
2. You’re Not Diversifying Your Content
There are a number of content forms available to your target audience, meaning that each reader or viewer has a choice in how they prefer to absorb information. If you’re only focusing on one form of content, you may not be reaching an entire section of your target audience. Without a diverse mix of marketing materials, it’s hard to attract the attention of more than one small group of potential customers.
Changing up the way you produce your content can not only help you attract new audience members, but also gains you access to new search engines and websites online. If you’re only focusing on creating blog posts and articles, you can only expect your content to appear in traditional searches. However, when you open the door to videos and infographics, for example, you can start to reach users who are searching for images or are spending time on YouTube.
When diversifying your content, take a look at what forms your target audience seems to engage with the most. If you find that your competitors’ videos get a lot of attention, you’ll probably want to consider creating some videos too. Then, look at which topics or pieces of your own are getting a lot of attention, and consider how they might be translated into a different content type. For example, blog posts with a lot of statistics make for great infographics, while hard-to-explain concepts may best be portrayed in a video.
3. You’re Not Listening to Your Audience
Whenever you create a piece of marketing content, you need it to connect with your target audience. It doesn’t matter how well-written or thoroughly-researched the material is if your readers or customers don’t care about the topic. If you aren’t listening to your audience, it will be incredibly difficult for you to get them interested and engaged.
Many companies fail at content marketing because they try and guess what their target audience needs, or they push the same type of material they see their competitors creating. However, if you want your content to be popular, you need to pay close attention to what your target audience is asking for. When you listen to what they need, what they like, and what they are missing, you can develop stronger content that is more likely to get noticed.
You can learn more about what your target audience is looking for by participating in conversations on social media, monitoring forum discussions, or looking at common questions asked on sites like Quora, as featured in the example above. Keep in mind that your target audience may not ask you questions directly. Instead, search the web to see what information they need and what problems they have, even if the concerns or questions are not directed specifically at you.
Bonus: You’re Not Creating a Strategy
If you’re just posting content whenever and however you feel, you’re not likely to see the best results. Of course, sharing some new pieces is better than nothing. However, if you’re unsure of the intent or purpose behind what you’re creating, you may struggle to help your audience progress through your marketing funnel. Without a clear strategy, your leads can become lost and unorganized.
Developing a content strategy helps you create marketing materials that will attract leads, educate them on the products or services you offer, and convert them into paying customers. When you establish a purpose and goal behind each new piece of content you create, you can track how well they are moving your audience members from leads to customers. This means you can more clearly tell whether or not you’re creating content that fits well with your target audience, and provides them with the information they need.
To create a content marketing strategy, you want to take a look at how your marketing goals fit within your overall business goals. Then you want to consider what kinds of content you can create that will bring your target audience closer to making a purchase. Develop specific routines and expectations, such as by standardizing how often you post new content and when it will be uploaded, so your audience can become used to a consistent schedule.
Conclusion
Making mistakes with your content marketing can decrease the likelihood that your business will stand out online and attract new leads and customers. If you’re careless about the way you create your content, you’re only wasting time and money. However, when you take the time to put thought and effort into the marketing materials you’re creating, you’ll be able to better serve your target audience.
Let’s recap the four solutions to the biggest content marketing mistakes you may be making:
- Create in-depth content to establish deeper connections with your target audience.
- Diversify your content to appeal to a larger audience.
- Pay close attention to what your target audience is looking for, and create pieces that answer their needs or questions.
- Develop a content strategy that helps convey your audience through the sales process.
How do you think solving these mistakes will improve your content marketing? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pixabay.
