The effectiveness of content marketing is well established., and this is pushing more and more companies to create their own content.
However, it can't be improvised and some fundamental mistakes are still too often made. In themselves, these mistakes are not very serious, especially if they help you improve by not repeating them.
To help you better grasp the implementation of your upcoming content marketing strategy, here is an overview of 8 mistakes not to make and a host of tips to help you avoid wasting your content marketing.
1. Not establishing a strategy
Having a content strategy is essential.
Understand by that that behind content marketing there must be a true long-term vision that involves both objectives (awareness, reputation, sales…) and promotional means (social shares, newsletters…).
Without a strategy, you publish content with less coherence and you don't promote it as well.
2. Not planning an editorial calendar
A good editorial calendar must address each of your issues at the right time. Without it, your strategy isn't framed, your content isn't published regularly and you don't have a global view of your topics. In other words, your content marketing strategy is far from effective.
You got it: if you haven't already, create your editorial calendar immediately!
3. Ignoring search engine suggestions
Many content creators are convinced they are better placed than search engines to know what customers want their brand. So, instead of focusing on them, they decide on their own what will interest their audience, which is a real mistake.
Search engine suggestions are full of insights and reveal the problems the public faces. By creating content that provides the longed-for answer, you are sure to win them over…
4. Focusing only on SEO
It is undeniable that web content is of major importance for the organic search of a website, and SEO optimization should under no circumstances be neglected.
However, content marketing is not just about gaining positions in Google search results; above all it’s about offering interesting and useful content to users.
What good is ranking well if your texts are boring or lack interest? Remember that it’s essential for your business to project an expert image to your readers. So don’t focus solely on SEO optimization of your content—also prioritize its quality and relevance!
5. Trying to cover everything…and nothing in particular
Some companies operating in several sectors sometimes create catch-all blogs with content covering very different topics. That’s a big mistake, because it will be impossible to retain your customers or build an expert reputation with such content.
To remedy this, if you still want to cover multiple topics, the solution is to create multiple blogs in order to build several communities around your brand.
6. Prioritizing quantity over quality
This mistake is extremely common and some content creators refuse to admit it exists. Yet there is no point in publishing many posts on a website or social networks if they are not of high quality.
Conversely, a single piece of quality content can be enough to satisfy your entire audience.
Moreover, if your strategy is primarily based on textual content, don’t hesitate to hire a professional writer used to producing high-quality articles that meet users’ needs.
7. Making virality an objective
Trying to create buzz at all costs is very rarely a good idea. So don’t make the mistake of designing your content just to make it go viral.
Virality can be a good thing, but remember that your content will go viral naturally if you "hit the mark" by creating the content your audience was expecting.
8. Not thinking about conversion
Writing high-quality content—whether informative, funny, or surprising—is essential. But what’s the point of writing the best text in the world if it generates no conversions?
Let’s be clear: you must never overdo self-promotion. But a blog post or any other content should include a minimum of prompts for your readers, notably call-to-action elements inviting them to take an action:
- Sign up for a newsletter
- Download a white paper
- Make a purchase…
9. Chasing multiple goals
It often happens that poor communication within the marketing team leads to creating content aimed at the wrong goals. In that precise situation, it’s hard to believe your content marketing campaign will perform well.
To avoid such a mishap, clearly set the campaign objectives and the goal of each piece of content. Each should contribute in its own way to the overall objectives, but its purpose must be clear and precise.
10. Not having a target audience
One of the keys to the success of your web content is addressing the right people (and at the right time).
It’s tempting to think that being widely read on the web is a good thing. But is it really if only 1% of your readers are potential customers?
Don’t target the wrong audience and don’t cast your net too wide, or you risk never seeing your efforts rewarded in a concrete way.
11. Flooding your audience with information that isn't always useful
Creating a close bond with your audience doesn’t mean flooding them with information all day long: even if you produce lots of daily content, make sure to segment your database.
A thorough knowledge of your customer base should allow you to provide each customer only the information that interests them. They will then feel they have a privileged relationship with your brand.
12. Failing to set boundaries
Because a content marketing strategy relies on the work of several contributors, it’s essential that everyone contributes to its success.
To do this, the manager must be inflexible about content production deadlines and their quality. Otherwise, your strategy risks being a disaster since without clear planning, it will become unreadable.
It's best to work with professionals for each type of content: copywriters for articles, editors for multimedia content, photographers for Instagram content, graphic designers for infographics, etc. They will be best placed to meet the needs of your strategy.
13. Limiting yourself to textual content
Even though textual content is unquestionably one of the foundations of a content marketing strategy, relying on it alone will not allow you to optimize performance.
Numerous studies in recent years have shown that young people are more likely to watch a video than to read an article, especially on social networks. So consider producing multimedia content and outsource it if you don't have specialists in-house.
14. Not diversifying your content
Blog posts and web pages are certainly the backbone of content marketing, but that doesn't mean you should limit yourself to them.
There are many possibilities:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Slides
- Drawings…
So many formats that can add variety to your content marketing and spark your audience's interest.
Another good practice is to repurpose your content in another form: an effective way to save time or bring outdated elements back up to date.
15. Creating duplicate content
In other words, you can be almost certain to find the topic you're interested in on Google. And that's where a difficulty arises. It is perfectly acceptable to be inspired by existing content when you write a blog post, for example. But it is strictly forbidden to plagiarize content — in other words, to copy/paste text without changing the sentences, words, expressions, etc.
Publishing duplicate content on your site or blog can have serious consequences for your search rankings at first. But it can also destroy your credibility with internet users.
So avoid it!
16. Not being willing to outsource
It can be tempting to handle content creation yourself, especially when you’ve just launched your business or project and funds are limited.
However, this can be costly for your content marketing for at least two reasons:
- First, handling many different tasks at once is tiring and can force you to rush the writing of your content.
- Besides, you can't just improvise as a web writer: it's a profession that requires real writing skills and a good ability to synthesize.
Our tip
A content marketing strategy is complex to implement and there are many pitfalls. After reading this article, you should be able to avoid the main ones. For everything else, never forget that content is king and must match what your customers and prospects expect.
As long as you respect that, you will only need to learn from your small mistakes to continuously improve the performance of your strategies.
Having trouble estimating your needs? Submit your quote request directly on our platform to support you in your web writing project.
