The Internet has become our personal question-and-answer machine. Health symptoms. Blind date reconnaissance. Restaurant research. You type it; Google finds it. And while it certainly is a treasure trove of useful answers, we all know it fails to produce 100% accuracy. (Never, ever search your health symptoms.)
Don’t believe everything you read, especially when it comes to planning and executing a content marketing strategy. As a valuable component for brand building and lead generation, avoid making the mistakes that will leave your content marketing useless. Definitely don’t:
- Skimp on writers. The Internet is inundated with freelance writers willing to produce work at incredibly low costs. Sounds great at first, until the work is published and no one reads that $5.00 blog. Experienced and engaging writers cost more, and they also deserve more. Invest upfront to receive a quality product that will hook an audience.
- Write about you—and only you. This may seem obvious but we notice many brands use content marketing as an additional product promotion platform. Is that really something the audience will share? Probably not. At least not after your 10th product update. Focus on the customer first. What will interest them? How can you inform them about the industry as a whole? Talk to current customers and understand their perspective so your content becomes audience-focused, not internally focused.
- Forget the call to action. We talk about this a lot, but there should always be a call to action in your content marketing pieces. Help the reader continue the experience. Provide an outlet to follow up, provide feedback, or dialogue with the issue at hand. Content marketing is all about developing and maintaining a relationship, and a call to action is the foothold to ensuring you have won them over.
Do you notice your company making one of these blunders? You are not alone. It requires a lot of work—and time. But it is always worth it. An effective content marketing strategy will deliver engaging content and increase your audience base. Red Mallard’s professional writers help businesses tell their stories in a way that relates to each unique persona. Call us today to schedule a consultation.
