10 Content Marketing Failures – Do Not Try This!

Did you know that 91% of marketers are using custom content, but only 34% consider themselves effective at it? It’s pretty safe to assume that more than half of us struggle with publishing professional blog posts. Whether you’re failing often, or afraid to fail to begin with, you probably can’t escape the fact that content marketing is quickly becoming the norm. 78% of CMOs think content is the future of marketing ideas and strategy. Mistakes can range from egregious to subtle, and we’ve compiled a list of the most-common errors we see often:

1. Failing to Invest Time

You’d probably never give a sales person one hour to close a massive deal. So why on earth would you expect remarkable results or professional blog posts if you’re not putting time into your content marketing? Even with quality content, building an audience takes commitment and consistency.

2. Using a Cut-Rate Content Marketplace

Psst. Some of the world’s best and most-revered content brands buy blog posts. If you’re doing it right, no one needs to know that it wasn’t authored by an on-staff expert. Professional blog posts can be within budget, but you’ve got to carefully screen your content marketplace to ensure your quality and substance will be up to par.

3. Skimping on Marketing Ideas

It’s much harder to create something fresh, original and outstanding than it is to simply hammer out content around a topic you know well. There are few quick wins in marketing and SEO, which is why it’s crucial to fill your editorial calendar with only the brightest and most original marketing ideas.

4. Not Investing in Training Contractors

No one – and I repeat no one – can write fabulous content in a vacuum. If your marketing strategy is to buy blog posts, ensure you invest the time necessary to educate your contractors on your business, buyer personas, and goals.

5. Failing to Write Professional Blog Posts

There’s an incredibly fine line between being controversial to gain clicks, and offending people. Crossing this line can result in damage to your brand and audience trust that’s hard to repair. Before you newsjack a tragedy or fire off an opinionated response to a breaking news story, ask yourself whether you could lose subscribers or customers over the decision.

6. Creating Random Acts of Content

It’s pretty time-consuming to create and maintain an editorial calendar – but trust us, it’s time well-spent. Without a clear plan for the professional blog posts you’ll produce, and an understanding of how it fits into your brand’s marketing strategy as a whole, you run the risk of content that’s repetitive or disjointed.

7. Not Monitoring – and Responding to – Metrics

If it was easy to write a viral article, every content brand would do it. However, it’s not that simple, which is why your organization’s best chances of developing a winning marketing idea depend on your ability to monitor and react to your blog metrics.

8. Forgetting to Compel

As Marketo points out, the buyer’s journey is closely tied to emotion. The success of traditional copywriting depended on advertiser’s ability to compel their audience with powerful language. Your professional blog posts should adopt this traditional wisdom.

9. Settling for Mediocre

There’s a difference between professional blog posts, and content that’s moving enough to
close customers. Content marketing expert Joe Pulizzi recommends never settling for mediocre,
and always being unafraid to step out of your comfort zone.

10. Being Too General

Writing a blog post that’s based on a trending Twitter topic is probably a bad plan – unless it directly relates to your brand’s products or services. General blog posts can have general appeal, but they won’t convince the right prospects to become leads.

There’s no shortage of content marketing mistakes you can make, but dedication, consistency, and quality can solve many of the most-common problems that plague brands with a newfound commitment to inbound marketing.