In this post you will learn why content marketing is not working for you – if at all you have been trying to use content, more strategically, to achieve various goals that would otherwise be costly and not worth your time (say if you were only to use expensive media to get people to pay attention to you).
Depending on the position you are in now, you may be frustrated by the results you are getting for your efforts in using different types of content formats in your marketing strategy.
Or you may be pleased by the success you are getting already and only looking for ways to keep the results trending upwards and to the right.
So here are a few things that may be slowing you down.
Content marketing does not only mean writing and publishing blog posts
It would be easy to assume that when someone talks about content marketing they mean writing and publishing lots of articles on a blog to get leads.
It can be easy to assume that it is all about writing short blog posts or long-form content that promote various products and services you are selling. writing blog posts – one after another – consistently – hoping to reach some of the ranges mentioned in business to business (B2B) and business to consumers (B2C) reports like the ones distributed by HubSpot and referred to by several bloggers, sales people, freelance writers and internet marketers promoting business blogging.
Content marketing, to me, is using content in any format or medium profitably.
Profitably, here, does not necessarily point to monetary rewards.
It simply means using content in the best possible way to bring about the achievement of a goal. Which can be anything: sales, sharing, brand exposure, leads, email subscribers, more social and organic search traffic or increased authority in your niche.
For any of the aims, you can use text, ebooks on various platforms, PDF downloads, apps, images, photos, graphics, emails, audio podcasts, videos both online and offline – so long as what you do with the content is geared toward realizing the achievement of a goal you have in mind.
You are not promoting your content well
One reason I often look beyond page one of Google when searching for something online is because of the many great blog posts published by bloggers, businesses and leaders – great blog posts that sometimes rank way beyond page two of the search results pages.
But remember this, most people don’t look beyond page one when searching for something on the internet. At least, not in most cases.
We all cannot rank number one for the keywords, niches, locations or topics we have in mind but we can do more to ensure the content we create get into page one, starting at the tenth spot, and then moving up and up until we rank number one for a term – or close.
But then again, some do get a lot of traffic (for example, traffic from social media) without ranking at the top of the search engines.
The main point I want to bring to your attention is that your content can do better with a little more promotion.
Think one hour here one hour there spent on email outreach – that end up earning you links from domains and pages with great authority.
Or the kind of promotion on social media that gets you the attention of an influencer in your niche – that then leads to more good things like a mention and links – or even an opportunity to guest post or be interviewed on a bigger blog, podcast or YouTube channel.
Look at all your attempts at content promotion and do more of what has already proven to be working for you while you dedicate some time, on the side, to learn more ways you can use to get more of your content in front of the people you want to see it.
If you try to promote your content on every platform or channel – all at once – frustration can easily kick in. To not be overwhelmed, pick one or two methods of promotion and start using those. Expand more, later, when it becomes necessary.
You are not using paid advertising to ensure more people see your content – and take action
Publishing content and getting the people you have in mind (readers, prospects or customers) to see it without spending money (may be only the cost of hiring a freelance writer) is the dream of most content marketers and businesses.
And some focus exclusively on doing that – swearing to never spend any money on content besides money they put aside to hire a salaried writer to their staff or money they use to outsource their writing needs to a freelance or writer or virtual assistant.
However, for your case, I encourage you to consider spending a little more money (start your tests with a few hundred dollars to see what works for you) for example on Facebook ads to quickly get more people to see your content, read it, watch it, listen to it, share it and take the kind of action you want them to take (make sure you add Facebook Pixels code to your website when you do this).
You can easily get the initial traffic, shares, buyers and action takers by publishing your content and then using Facebook advertising to promote it – using clicks to website in your campaign – to get people to the exact URL, on your site, where the content you want them to see resides.
Don’t be scared of spending more. Spend more, for bigger rewards.
Your aim is to consider great ways to increase your reach with every piece of content you create.
That means using paid advertising to get more people to see your content is something worth considering.
If it is profitable to do so, do it.
You don’t have a strong reason why you are doing what you are doing as a content marketer
You must have a plan, a process, and a strong reason for what you are doing. Know why you are doing what you are doing when it comes to creating and publishing content.
And for every piece, a strong call to action that gets people who see your content to see that reason, process or plan and still want to be involved in what you have to offer, what you have to say.
Having a strong reason weeds out those for whom your offer doesn’t feature in their list of wants and needs. And leaves you room to engage more with those interested in your message, your offer.
Make your reason clear enough that the reason in itself pulls in the kind of audience you have in mind.
Make sure your content is ready to be found when the people you have in mind are searching it – for answers to questions you address in your message, your offer.
Every time your company creates content, let your mission shine in your piece, without explicitly telling people what your mission is in the way some companies do using generic words in their about us pages on their blogs and websites.
Show them. Through stories, anecdotes, analogies, stats, testimonials, essays, news commentaries, case studies, and reports, let them see it.
You are not focusing more on what is already working for you in your marketing efforts
Sometimes the best way to get more out of content marketing is to focus on what is already working for you.
Look at some of the posts you have published on your blog or contributed to other sites that have done well.
Go through them again to see why they resonated well with so many.
Check your referrers.
Check the search terms people use to find your site.
Find the post titles people click more. Find your most shared content.
Look at your content that attracts the most comments.
Then do more of what is already working.
Write new articles (or create videos, audio, graphics, books, presentations or downloads) that address the questions you receive via email or via your comments on your blog.
Create more content targeting the short tail and long tail keywords that pop up in the search terms area of your analytics tool.
Interview some of your website visitors. Write testimonials and case studies around the stories involving your readers and clients.
And the more you publish new content, keep looking at what is working for you, making necessary changes as you go along.
There is way too much content out there and you haven’t found a way to hold people’s attention
There is a lot of content being produced every day.
More individuals, small businesses and even big companies are taking advantage of content marketing.
Publishing lots of blog posts on a daily basis.
They all want to benefit from content – and depend less on expensive advertising for brand exposure and sales.
More and more people are after the same people you are after. More and more people want to rank for the same things you want to rank for.
That means a lot of competition around the world, in your country or your local area (in your neighborhood, city, town or village).
Instead of this inspiring a crippling fear in you, take it as motivation to keep creating and offering your best content to others.
That is one way of standing out.
Of course, you will then have to apply some of the tips I’ve discussed above: phone & email outreach, cheap advertising on Facebook, doing more of what is already working for you, writing interesting stories based on the lives of others.
Acting on the feedback you get, as you pour out more content, will help you find more about what people want – what they pay attention to.
Act on the feedback you receive.
Use it to inspire new content.
Use it to refine content you have already published.
Use it to do more of what helps you hold the attention of the people you are interested in involving in what you do.
When you do all this, you will soon realize that content marketing works great for you. You’ll get better at it – and your efforts will pay in heaps – for both you and the people who consume what you create.