Content marketing is a powerful tool that has worked for thousands of businesses. It can work for your company as well when you do it right.
If you’re among those content writers or marketers who aren’t getting the results you want, it may be time to look at what you are doing wrong.
We look at six reasons why you may not be getting the results that you want from your content writing strategy.
1. You Don’t Have a Content Writing Strategy
If you’re producing content on a whim without any clear, pre-defined strategy, it will ultimately fail to get the results that you want. This is one of the major reasons why even active websites fail.
A content writing strategy gives businesses a roadmap that helps them achieve their organizational goals. Writing without a strategy is like driving around in circles at night, without any directions or headlights.
A content strategy can improve the quality of your writing. It also lays out how each of your article or blog affects the buyer’s journey.
When potential customers find the exact type of content that they need to make a purchase decision at a website that sells such products, it helps them move down the sales funnel faster.
2. Your CEO, President and/or Founder Writes Your Marketing Content
Content writing is a full time job that requires someone skilled at writing. Your company leaders and managers may have good insights about the business, but that doesn’t mean they can put it into words as effectively as a professional writer.
Moreover, key business employees are also extremely busy with their work. If they shift their attention to writing, it takes them away from doing core business activities. The business operations can suffer as a direct result of that.
The management’s input should be considered for writing up the posts by the company’s content writers. The CEO and managers will obviously have plenty of good ideas for content that should be part of the blogs. But asking the managers to produce content all the time will create low quality writing and damage productivity as well.
3. Your Content Is Too Focused On Selling
Overly promotional content focused on selling products doesn’t sit well with a lot of readers. It can quickly cause the death of any marketing campaign because readers label it as interruptive and valueless for the consumer.
It is understandable that your ultimate goal is to get conversions and sales. But if you are constantly asking your audience to buy, it can self-sabotage your business.
Instead, focus on giving value to your readers. There are multiple ways to do that while still promoting your brand.
For example, suppose you run an online tech store. You can inform readers about all the wonderful technology gadgets that are being introduced in the market. Add a few lines about some of these products that you sell as well.
The focus should not be on selling and promoting your products, but on informing clients about the gadgets and then casually mentioning what you have for sale.
4. You Have the Same Person Writing and Editing Your Content
Writing requires a team effort. This is because when you have to edit your own work, you often overlook mistakes and opportunities to improve the content. This is why most content writing services use a team of writers and editors to ensure the content quality is top notch.
It is possible that you have a jack of all trades on your team who’s fantastic at both writing and editing their work. However, that kind of talent doesn’t come often and most businesses would be better off using a separate writer and editor.
Some businesses may not want to hire a full-time proofreader and that’s understandable. In such cases, you should at least get another person on your team to look over the content before publishing it on your website.
5. You Are Not Targeting the Right Audience
You can write the greatest blog in the world and still fail to get results if you are not attracting the right audience to read it.
When your blogs and articles are targeted at the right people, they are more likely to hit the mark and produce the desired results.
But which people should you target? The ideal prospects are people who actually care about what you have to offer and likely to buy. For example, if you sell baby diapers or feeding accessories, you will have better luck targeting a female audience in the 18 to 40 age range.
If your content doesn’t connect with your audience, it could be because you are trying to promote it on irrelevant channels.
6. You Are Not Distributing Your Content Effectively
Your followers may not necessarily visit your blog on regularly to see if you’ve posted new content. If you want people to see your marketing content, you will need to share it with them every now and then.
There are two main ways to do this. The first is to build a mailing list. You can simply send a mass email to your subscribers when you have new content up. Building a mailing list takes time but it is very cheap and very effective.
The second thing you can do is to build a social media following. Social networking platforms are THE place to get noticed. If you manage to build a good following, a few hundred thousand people at least, then you can share content with your followers on a regular basis.
You can even use both strategies together to get the desired result. Don’t just let your content sit on your website and gather dust. Share it with the world and you will get much better results!
Summing It All Up – Do Not Give Up
Last but not least, you should never give up on your content marketing strategy. Even if your content is not performing as well as you had hoped, there are good reasons to pursue it.
Digital content is the future of marketing. Many businesses, consumers, and marketing firms are switching to this medium because of its huge success and potential.
If you are struggling to get results, take a step back and analyze what you are doing wrong then make an effort to get things fixed.
[See related post: 5 Amazing Ways To Build Best Social Media Content Strategy]
[Images – Main Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels; other images from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Dave Brown is a professional email writer at Content Development Pros and gives small businesses a fighting chance to stand out from the crowd. When he’s not crafting winning strategies for his clients, Dave spends his time watching Netflix or just browsing YouTube. If you are looking for a top-tier email writer online, his services from Content Development Pros are highly recommended.