You have created a blog for your brand. You have set up your brand’s YouTube Channel. Now you are set to start pumping out some content and watch the sales come flying in. Woah there, let’s look at five different things content marketing is not what you think before setting yourself up for disappointment.
We recently shared a guide on understanding what exactly content marketing is. Today, however, we want to address what content marketing is not with the hopes of avoiding any confusion and frustration for each of you. So let’s dive right in.
1. Content Marketing is not the only way to get leads.
Content Marketing can be a time-consuming task. However, it is not the only way to generate leads. There are many other channels where you can put your time and effort and get similar or better results than content marketing.The internet is a great way to find leads for your business. However, there are many other ways to generate leads, including attending networking events, conducting webinars, advertising on social media, and more.Generating quality leads should be a top priority for any business. That’s why it is crucial to invest in lead generation opportunities. Whether through organic SEO initiatives or paid advertising, generating leads should be part of your marketing strategy.While Content Marketing is still the best organic way to attract prospects, we should not forget that you can also streamline your lead generation process by using other channels such as PPC, SEO, and social media marketing.
2. Content Marketing doesn’t require a big budget.
With that being said, content marketing is not about spending money on ads or getting into new media. It’s about your customer’s journey.It’s the entire experience that the customer has with your product, service, or business. It’s about understanding their needs and giving them information that helps them make their own decisions.And gaining this wisdom can be done without a big budget. And ultimately, creating content that resonates with them can also be done on a shoestring budget. Running a YouTube channel is free. There are many free blog options available. Both of these are excellent sources for posting and sharing your content marketing elements.
3. Content Marketing doesn’t work for everyone on your team.
Content marketing focuses on distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined audience to achieve one or more objectives.However, there has been an increased number of reports in the industry about companies that have had bad results with content marketing. This is because it doesn’t work for everyone on your team.There are four main types of people who may not fall under the category of “content marketers”:-Executive managers who don’t want to share their thoughts publicly;-Employees whose job is not related to content;-Those who are afraid of writing (for example, if they are not confident in English);-Those who have never heard of content. When you place people in these categories in charge of writing or posting content for your company, the result is frequently not what you hoped. You need to ensure that the person you are trusting to generate and distribute valuable content for your business is passionate and informed about the product/service and passionate about the process of marketing it.
4. Not all Content Marketing will be shared and liked.
We might think that providing great content means that people will share it on social media and that everyone will like it. But, the reality is more complicated than that. The world of content consumption is getting more sophisticated, and different types of content is shared on various platforms.Companies should not focus only on making great content but also monitor how their content is doing in the long run. They should know when to stop investing in a particular type of content or even stop investing altogether.Be sure someone on your team is taking the time to track, monitor, and measure how your content is performing. This should give you a good indication of what sort of content is performing the best. And it may necessarily be the content with the most likes, but the content with the most conversions.
5. You can’t always control who sees your content and when they see it.
It is impossible to know who will see your content and when they will see it. The content on our website is accessible by people worldwide who have access to the internet. This is why it’s important to remember that what you post online isn’t just for your friends or family but for everyone to see. The importance of controlling the audience has never been higher, given that you cannot control who sees your content and when they see it. You are developing a brand reputation. Creating a content marketing strategy is a key step for every single brand. The last thing you want to do is to start pushing out content with no clear plan or course of action for your audience to follow. And just as it is important to understand what content marketing is, it is equally important to understand what it is not.
If you find yourself struggling with what sort of content to post and how to measure whether the content you create is right for your audience then I suggest you start with asking your audience. Create a poll or a survey that can be easily shared with your audience and ask them directly if the content you share each week is helping them solve any problems. As we learned, creating content isn’t the only way to generate leads, shouldn’t break your bank, and should be created and distributed by team members that are equally passionate about the creating and dissemination of the content. We also learned that not everyone will like your content and that the longevity of our content can effect our person brands so make sure you are sharing content you want to be known for.
Coming up with a content strategy isn’t a quick and easy task unless you have the right tools and people on your team to make it happen. We would love to help get you going in right direction and provide a quality content strategy that is right for your brand. You can schedule a free consultation today to get started.
