Content marketing has been hailed as one of the most effective ways to market your business. It’s a great way to pump out fresh, exciting content that engages your audience while boosting your brand awareness. It’s also an excellent way to expand your online presence as you share your articles on your social media platforms.
Whether your content has been performing as expected or getting just a few clicks, your strategy needs a regular review. This will help you determine if you’re being as effective as possible and if you’re making use of techniques that are actually harming you.
Here are three mistakes to look out for in your content marketing strategy:
Mistake #1 – Marketing to Everyone
It can be tempting to try to market your product or services to everyone. Creating content that appeals to the general public might seem like a great idea. Unfortunately, there’s one major weakness—you might be ignoring your actual target audience in the process. If you put all your time into positioning yourself to be the solution to everyone’s problems, you risk alienating your actual customer base. You’ll end up with low-quality content that doesn’t create a strong emotional connection with anyone by appealing to a broad audience.
To avoid this, look closely at your content. Was it specifically written or produced with a particular customer in mind? Or were you trying to hit multiple birds with one stone? If your content stopped existing tomorrow, would anyone notice or care? Be honest about your content and who truly benefits from it. Conduct a content audit and evaluate whether your quality is up to par with your intentions.
Mistake #2 – Tailoring Data Reporting to Fit Your Bias
Nowadays, most businesses have access to more data than ever before. Sometimes, they don’t know what to do with it. Dealing with volumes of data without the expertise or knowledge to correctly interpret it can affect your decision making and lead to problems you’re not sure how to solve.
Although numbers don’t lie, the way you interpret them is undoubtedly capable of doing so. Whether purposefully or otherwise, the way you report your method can tell a very different story, primarily if it’s manipulated to tailor your biases. If you change the criteria of a marketing qualified lead, this will directly affect your conversion rates—likely for the worse.
Instead, think of how you’re interpreting and presenting your data analysis. Your data should point to your strong and weak points, which is valuable information you need to succeed. Even if it shows less desirable results, this is an opportunity for you to whip problem areas back into shape.
Mistake #3 – Ignoring Post-Purchase Experience
Another mistake that could be affecting your content marketing strategy is forgetting about the post-purchase experience. While your content may have been tailored to getting more customers, it’s equally important to provide information after the sale. Even though a customer has bought from you, their purchase doesn’t guarantee their loyalty. After they purchase from you, taking care of them is a surefire way to create faithful customers, and you can do that through your content.
Publish content that shows them how to take care of your product and maximize its full potential. Whether it’s a detailed how-to or a quick Q&A video, providing plenty of after-purchase resources assures your customers that you’re concerned about their experience from start to finish. They’ll be much more likely to return and purchase again, which will increase your chances of being recommended to other people.
Conclusion
Producing useful and high-quality content is vital to attracting and keeping customers. It’s a strategic way to build your brand’s credibility while becoming a resource for all relevant things about your product or service. Now that you know the three ways you might be wrecking your content marketing strategy, you’ll be more than ready to take your content to the next level.
Want to learn how to stand out in marketing? Go ahead and ask us at Stand Out Ad! We are a full-service digital marketing agency that has the skills, creativity, and expertise to bring your company’s brand, story, and vision to life. If you want to stand out from the competition, get in touch with us today!