Today’s businesses need content marketing to succeed online. It is essential. The days of paying for banner ads and ads in search results are receding into distant memory.
However, not all brands are making a success of it. In fact, the majority are not seeing the kinds of gains they would like from their online outreach.
In this post, we look at some of the specific reasons why your content marketing strategy just is not working. We explore every avenue so that you will know what is going wrong in your efforts by the end of the article.
1. It is All Work and No Play
Content marketing is something designed to appeal to your audience. It is not supposed to be a serious matter.
Unfortunately, too many companies take it this way. They believe that, when it comes to content marketing, they need to be absolutely precise and academic in the approach that they take.
That strategy rarely works. In fact, it can be counterproductive. Customers do not like it. They prefer brands to be playful and engaging, not strict, structured and dull.
Think about the approach that you are taking with your content creation. Are you allowing yourself to be relaxed, trusting your instinct? Or are you planning everything and following a boring formula like a central planner? If it is the former, you are more likely to connect with your audience. If it is the latter, the odds of boring them, or putting them off, are much higher.
2. You’re Expecting Too Much
While content marketing is effective, it is not an automatic recipe for success. It works for the majority of companies in most circumstances, but it will not turn your business into the next Apple. It’s only part of the story.
When you first start publishing content, you might believe that people will immediately begin perusing your site for content. However, that’s not really how it works in practice. Instead, traffic tends to arrive in dribs and drabs, usually because you are targeting certain keywords.
Remember, the major benefit of content creation in the early stages is on your SEO. If you can give Google evidence that you’re serving specific types of users, then it will funnel more people to your site.
3. Your SEO Just Isn’t Good Enough
You can create all the content you like, but if your SEO is lagging behind, then you won’t have the impact that you want. Poor search engine optimization is a leading reason why some brands’ content fails to make an impact.
Without working with an SEO agency, you might as well not be creating content. You need professionals who can promote it on your behalf, helping you get the recognition you deserve.
Please note that this process takes time. It could be six months before a piece of content begins to perform. However, once it starts to generate traffic for you, the benefits can continue accruing for years.
4. You’re Going Up Against Large Competitors
Have you noticed how in forests, certain trees dominate, and there’s nothing that the surrounding plants can do to compete with them?
Well, it’s a similar story in the marketplace. If you confront the market leaders directly, you’ll get burned.
Big firms have money, time and experience on their side. They continually churn out high-quality content for their audiences, sometimes on a daily basis.
When facing challenges like these, realize that you don’t have to confront them head on. All you need to do is create a niche for yourself and attract the customers best matched to you.
For instance, if you run a plant-based burger chain, there’s no reason to go up against McDonald’s. Instead, all you need to do is target vegans interested in living a healthy lifestyle. That’s your customers. Notice how they are different from the public that regular fast food chains are trying to appeal to. They live a different type of lifestyle.
5. Your Niche Is Too Crowded
In some cases, your niche will be too crowded. There will be too many players, all trying to grab a slice of the pie.
In other cases, you will be in a niche where the industry isn’t online yet.
Some industries just aren’t sexy and that most people don’t want to read about, such as “fractional laser cutting.”
If you’re in one of these niches, you’ll want to think carefully about the type of content that you produce. In some cases, it can be an opportunity, since nobody is really invested in them yet, but it can also be a drag. Unless you produce high quality, valuable B2B content, it is unlikely that anyone will read your articles.
In many cases, the best strategy is to write about the things that you had to research yourself – things that were difficult to find out on your own. This way, customers or other firms will be naturally drawn to you and your brand.
6. Your Content Isn’t Adding Much Value
While producing so-called “thin” content is easy, it doesn’t provide a lot of value. When people give up their time to consume your content, it has to be worthwhile. You have to be giving them something that they didn’t have before. You can’t just expect them to read something because you’d like them to.
Here are some of the reasons that your content isn’t working for you:
- You’ve hired bad writers. While it might sound harsh to say it, there’s a big difference between good and bad writers. Good writers have the ability to draw you into a topic, even if you’re not particularly interested in it, or the subject matter is dry. Bad writers fail to engage at every level, making you want to pull your hair out (if you have any).
- Your content is boring. Related to this is the fact that your content might be boring. It’s hard to come up with interesting spins on some business-related themes, but it can be done. You just need to figure out how.
- You’re creating the wrong kind of content. Many businesses aren’t entirely sure on the type of content that their audiences want. Therefore, they fail to make an impact.