In a marketing world now dominated by content marketing, mistakes are pretty frequent. In a smart Forbes article, John Rampton—an entrepreneur, top online influencer, and blogging expert—lists 12 of the most frequent.
I’m taking the liberty of listing my top five faves, but trust me, all twelve are mistakes you want to avoid. And now (drum roll, please) …
- “Making content that doesn’t solve a problem.” If you’re not helping your readers fix something, then it doesn’t matter how grammatical, entertaining, visual, etc. your content is. I’m guessing that if you produce decorative fluff, readers will visit a couple of times and then not come back.
- “Forgetting to Write Down Your Goals and Strategy.” That is, what goals do you have for marketing your content? As Mr. Rampton puts it, “How can you tweak your approach and improve your strategy if you never keep track of how you are progressing … ”
- “Ignoring Customer Questions and Feedback.” Keeping track of customer reactions to your content is critical for a lot of reasons. Everyone gets busy and distracted, but your customers are paying your salary, so you need to know what they’re thinking. Investing in social listening and assigning a permanent tracking role is probably a good idea.
- “Not Utilizing Your Existing B2B Content.” Companies produce a ton of content. As a content creator, I know this to be true. I wonder if a good content management system would help them keep better track of what they’ve produced. As Mr. Rampton notes, “it is a time and money saver that can really pay off.”
- “Not Promoting Your Content.” Tweeting once or posting once of Facebook ain’t good enough. Mr. Rampton says, “You need to really hustle and get out there and promote, promote, promote.” I think this is an ideal assignment for an intern or an entry-level marketing staffer and one they will learn a lot from.
I hope you can take the time to read Mr. Rampton’s article. It’s worth the five minutes it will take and when you check out his bio, you’ll note that he’s written other pieces that look interesting and valuable. Successful content marketing requires great content, but it also requires us to become master strategists.
aquarius83men / 123RF Stock Photo
Leave a Comment