Business leaders that are bumbling along trying to patch together some sort of haphazard content strategy largely understand that they’re making mistakes, but what about the business leaders who think they have the pulse on what effective content looks like? Is their content strategy always significantly different? Usually, but not always.
Time and again we discover that companies are making the same kinds of common content mistakes that can thwart their efforts, wasting time and budget and missing golden opportunities to prove the value of good content marketing. What does this look like in the real world? Here are five content mistakes you may have made today, and what you can do to avoid them next time:
Time and again we discover that companies are making the same kinds of common content mistakes that can thwart their efforts, wasting time and budget and missing golden opportunities to prove the value of good content marketing. What does this look like in the real world? Here are five content mistakes you may have made today, and what you can do to avoid them next time:
1. Adding to the Noise
We’re not here to judge, but we do need to be honest. There’s an overwhelming amount of white noise content on the internet and everyday it gets added to in staggering quantities. So, talking just to talk is a waste of time.
Don’t say something just because you want to or because you think it’ll serve your needs to do so. Say something because it will provide real value to a real person. Create content with both an audience and a specific goal in mind. Go deep. Be specific. First and foremost, offer real value to real people.
And don’t try to be everything to everyone. Target your message to avoid creating generic, useless, one-size-fits-all content. Pick a single audience, no matter how small that group is, and only talk to them. If you want to address multiple audiences, do so separately.
2. Alignment Mismatch
Sometimes content has value to offer (so it’s not just adding to the noise), but it doesn’t fit with your buyer’s purchase journey. Always align your marketing and sales content around the end goal of achieving your business objectives. Aim to create a seamless experience for buyers so that they move from prospects into leads and, ultimately, customers. If there are pieces of content that don’t align with this path, rework them to bring them in line or scrap them altogether. Simply put, don’t let company politics get in the way of creating compelling content for your most valuable audience(s). Don’t waste your time on what isn’t going to move the needle – target organization-wide wins, not siloed objectives.
3. Rushing to Publish
Even the best-intentioned content with great promise can end up adding to the noise if it’s done sloppily. Don’t rush through creating content. Sure, everyone has deadlines. We understand! And obviously, the more quickly content can be created for marketing, sales, and customer service teams, the sooner it can demonstrate its value …but a lot of businesses these days could benefit from slowing down!
When you’re creating content, walk first before you run. Take the time to plan content, create it with intentionality, thoroughly edit it, solicit feedback, and make tweaks based on the suggestions you receive. Remember, if you take the time now to make it great, you’ll have a strong foundation to build on later.
Your content is what the world sees of your brand. It’s the face they look at and the voice they hear. Ensure your content is going to represent your brand well by slowing down enough to do it well. (And if you don’t have time to do that, hire a content marketing company to handle it for you – hint, hint, us!)
4. Thinking Too Small
When business owners and team leaders are tasked with creating content, they often think too small. They’ll post whatever they create on their website and hope that it’ll get found by search engines and get them some traffic. However, with the public’s increasing usage of LLMs like ChatGPT and Grok, traditional searches on the main search engines like Google are on the decline. So, you can’t rely on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to drive your traffic any longer. You need to diversify!
Post the content you create on all the social platforms where you have a business profile and post it more than once to increase the likelihood that it’ll get seen. Post multiple times (on different days of the week and at different times of the day) for several months to get more visibility.
But don’t stop there! Leverage your existing networks to get additional exposure. Send the content to people you know via email, text, or on your personal LinkedIn page if you think they would benefit from seeing it.
And then, if you haven’t gotten scared off yet, re-spin it into new content or different forms of content (checklist, image, video, etc.) that could benefit your audience in different ways. For example, a prospective client may be perfectly happy to read an informational article, case study, or whitepaper that articulates the benefits of using your product, but their manager who must sign off on the purchase probably isn’t going to take the time to do the same. Instead, create quick talking points that highlight those same benefits at a much higher level that the client can present to their boss to meaningfully convey the value your product offers.
5. Forgetting to Optimize
Just because search traffic is down doesn’t mean it isn’t important! You still need to consider search engines when publishing digital content. Create content for people but keep the search engines in mind as well.
Whether it’s blog posts, product/service descriptions, homepage text, or some other kind of written content, use optimized keywords and phrases to attract traffic. Use alt text for images on your website. Include questions phrased in a conversational manner like someone might search and answer them to increase the chances of your content getting picked up by AI tools like ChatGPT. And always crosslink to your other owned content to keep visitors engaged with your brand.
When you need help with your content strategy or overall digital marketing strategy, reach out to us! Every day we help businesses of all sizes attract more leads, convert more leads into customers, and serve their customers better. When you know you need content but don’t know where to start or need your content to work harder to drive business results, we can help! Contact us today to find out more!
We’re not here to judge, but we do need to be honest. There’s an overwhelming amount of white noise content on the internet and everyday it gets added to in staggering quantities. So, talking just to talk is a waste of time.
Don’t say something just because you want to or because you think it’ll serve your needs to do so. Say something because it will provide real value to a real person. Create content with both an audience and a specific goal in mind. Go deep. Be specific. First and foremost, offer real value to real people.
And don’t try to be everything to everyone. Target your message to avoid creating generic, useless, one-size-fits-all content. Pick a single audience, no matter how small that group is, and only talk to them. If you want to address multiple audiences, do so separately.
2. Alignment Mismatch
Sometimes content has value to offer (so it’s not just adding to the noise), but it doesn’t fit with your buyer’s purchase journey. Always align your marketing and sales content around the end goal of achieving your business objectives. Aim to create a seamless experience for buyers so that they move from prospects into leads and, ultimately, customers. If there are pieces of content that don’t align with this path, rework them to bring them in line or scrap them altogether. Simply put, don’t let company politics get in the way of creating compelling content for your most valuable audience(s). Don’t waste your time on what isn’t going to move the needle – target organization-wide wins, not siloed objectives.
3. Rushing to Publish
Even the best-intentioned content with great promise can end up adding to the noise if it’s done sloppily. Don’t rush through creating content. Sure, everyone has deadlines. We understand! And obviously, the more quickly content can be created for marketing, sales, and customer service teams, the sooner it can demonstrate its value …but a lot of businesses these days could benefit from slowing down!
When you’re creating content, walk first before you run. Take the time to plan content, create it with intentionality, thoroughly edit it, solicit feedback, and make tweaks based on the suggestions you receive. Remember, if you take the time now to make it great, you’ll have a strong foundation to build on later.
Your content is what the world sees of your brand. It’s the face they look at and the voice they hear. Ensure your content is going to represent your brand well by slowing down enough to do it well. (And if you don’t have time to do that, hire a content marketing company to handle it for you – hint, hint, us!)
4. Thinking Too Small
When business owners and team leaders are tasked with creating content, they often think too small. They’ll post whatever they create on their website and hope that it’ll get found by search engines and get them some traffic. However, with the public’s increasing usage of LLMs like ChatGPT and Grok, traditional searches on the main search engines like Google are on the decline. So, you can’t rely on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to drive your traffic any longer. You need to diversify!
Post the content you create on all the social platforms where you have a business profile and post it more than once to increase the likelihood that it’ll get seen. Post multiple times (on different days of the week and at different times of the day) for several months to get more visibility.
But don’t stop there! Leverage your existing networks to get additional exposure. Send the content to people you know via email, text, or on your personal LinkedIn page if you think they would benefit from seeing it.
And then, if you haven’t gotten scared off yet, re-spin it into new content or different forms of content (checklist, image, video, etc.) that could benefit your audience in different ways. For example, a prospective client may be perfectly happy to read an informational article, case study, or whitepaper that articulates the benefits of using your product, but their manager who must sign off on the purchase probably isn’t going to take the time to do the same. Instead, create quick talking points that highlight those same benefits at a much higher level that the client can present to their boss to meaningfully convey the value your product offers.
5. Forgetting to Optimize
Just because search traffic is down doesn’t mean it isn’t important! You still need to consider search engines when publishing digital content. Create content for people but keep the search engines in mind as well.
Whether it’s blog posts, product/service descriptions, homepage text, or some other kind of written content, use optimized keywords and phrases to attract traffic. Use alt text for images on your website. Include questions phrased in a conversational manner like someone might search and answer them to increase the chances of your content getting picked up by AI tools like ChatGPT. And always crosslink to your other owned content to keep visitors engaged with your brand.
When you need help with your content strategy or overall digital marketing strategy, reach out to us! Every day we help businesses of all sizes attract more leads, convert more leads into customers, and serve their customers better. When you know you need content but don’t know where to start or need your content to work harder to drive business results, we can help! Contact us today to find out more!
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