Unicorns, dragons, and fairies are myths that you only find in storybooks. Some business owners believe that content the power of content marketing is from the very same fantasyland. But does content marketing really work in 2022?
Myths began evolving as an effort to prove that content marketing doesn’t work, and content is just another marketing gimmick that falls short on a number of levels. While content marketing can provide fantastic results in a wide range of industries and niches, it’s not always perfect.
Content Marketing Isn’t Magic—But it Works!
Just as the title states, content marketing is not magic. Content marketing is an art that must be mastered and consistently applied in order to reap all of its benefits. If you are jumping feet first into the realm of content marketing without a real plan, it probably won’t work for you.
The key is to strategize your efforts and work with a strong marketing team that can develop quality content that works for your brand. Once you find your voice, results from your content marketing strategy can skyrocket your small business to new levels — no wizardry involved.
Breathe Some Fire Into Your Content Campaign
You don’t need to have a dragon to ignite your content marketing campaign (although, if you do have a dragon, we’re impressed.) In order to create a top-notch content marketing strategy that delivers results, you need to free yourself from the numerous myths that are potentially inhibiting you from creating something spectacular.
The following list of 9 myths is evaluated and busted on this blog, so you can move forward with your strategy and enjoy brand awareness, improved SEO, and much more.
1. Quantity is Better than Quality
With 7 million blogs published per day, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the need of developing a large amount of content on a regular basis. With all the (understandable) hype over content marketing, a downside has been established: the market is becoming oversaturated. There are some topics that have been covered time and time again. Just google ‘how to change a tire’ and see how many search results you get. Even top content writing experts would have a tough time marketing this topic through all the noise.
The point is this: don’t publish something just to publish something. More isn’t always better, especially if your market is already flooded with an overabundance of information. You can certainly tap into common topics, just be sure to bring an original approach.
2. Content Marketing is Too Time Consuming
Here’s the real rundown: yes, it takes time to develop great content. Sometimes, fishing for blog topics can take longer than the actual writing (or filming, or designing) process. There’s really no way to make this a quick process, although becoming a rock star in content curating certainly helps. Either way, you will have to spend time researching and strategizing if you expect your content marketing to yield any kind of worthwhile result.
Once you have your blog topic idea ready to go, then comes the writing part. The number of words people can write per hour varies, and a lot of it depends on how knowledgeable you are on the subject at hand.
If you know the subject at hand, time is in your favor. Research and fact-checking can really slow you down.
Now you have the task of actually marketing your content. This can be a little faster than developing ideas or writing, but you’ll still need to invest a little bit of time in this.
The only way that content marketing is too time-consuming is if you don’t understand its process or the results that it can yield. If you invested time in your content and found out that its ROI is double that of your current print advertisement campaign, most business owners will find this as time well spent.
If your hands are legitimately tied and you just can’t free up another minute, hire a professional to handle your content needs.
3. I Can Write the Content Myself
You probably learned pretty early if writing is your forte’ based on your English class grades and your ability to spell. If you can write well, then get ready to unleash your best ideas to market your product. If you can’t write, then you seriously need to consider hiring a professional.
The voice behind your brand makes all the difference in how your product is presented and how it sells. Professional content writers know exactly how to reach your customers on an emotional level that gets them clicking the buy button instead of the back button. If you have any doubt about your ability to write authoritative and professional content that strikes an emotional cord, hire an expert content writer to maximize the success of your content marketing strategy.
4. I Don’t Need a Content Calendar
Some people are fantastic at winging things and remembering important dates. However, when it comes to content marketing, winging is not advised. Keeping a content calendar helps you stay on track with your strategy. You can use the calendar to target customers that are in specific parts of their buying process, and you can even keep track of engagement levels so you know the kind of content is performing.
Content marketing is an aspect of your overall marketing plan, and it’s important to keep yourself on track. Content calendars can help you from feeling overwhelmed or have you thinking that you’re out of ideas. You can schedule blog posts a month in advance, so every Monday morning you sit down at your desk and know exactly what you’ll be writing about.
Some popular content calendars to use include Google Calendar, Asana, and Airtable.
5. My Industry is Too Boring For Great Content
This can be seen as a big problem for companies that are attempting to market so-called boring products. This might keep them from trying to create content altogether.
However, if you are in an unexciting industry, rest assured not all is lost. You too can create great content; you just need to think a bit outside the box.
Take replacement windows for example. Windows are one of those products that people don’t ever think about unless they see their energy bills jumping to all-time highs, or they’re starting to feel cold drafts in every room.
You can creatively market windows by using interesting pictures from around the world, presenting a series of uncommon windows, or addressing taboo topics that your competitors won’t touch. There is always a way to market boring products with a unique edge by using a creative strategy.
6. It’s Not Working Unless I See Instant Sales
Content marketing received bad flack for a while, with many believing it’s impossible to measure its ROI. Thanks to tracking systems, building lists, and engagement levels, it’s absolutely possible to measure the effectiveness of content marketing. However, those who are new to content marketing may only see the strategy as effective if it instantly produces an ROI in the form of cash. The overall goal is always making money, but money is not always the immediate product of content marketing.
Successful content marketing can measure beyond cash flow. For example, that list of e-mail addresses you just collected can work for marketing purposes in the future. Your customers might not be buying this minute, but they might be purchasing your product down the road as your name pops up in their inbox.
Beyond e-mail lists, the element of social sharing can bring in new business that you won’t receive otherwise. If your company gets in front of a new pool of potential customers, social sharing can lead to a gold mine down the road.
7. The Focus Should be on My Business
Have you ever had a friend who always talks about themself? For those who have been in this situation, you understand how quickly it grows old.
The content you create needs to focus on your customer. Your customer wants to know what’s in it for them.
While it’s notable to mention your recent donation to the humane society or the local food bank, customers are coming to your website so they can evaluate your products and services.
Meanwhile, you may very well have the best product in the industry. But merely stating this fact is not enough. In the eyes of the customer, it’s all about them. If you can’t satisfy their wants or needs through your content, they’ll move on to a competitor that can.
8. Content Marketing is a Failure Unless it Goes Viral
It’s best to keep yourself realistic with your viral expectations. Creating content so powerful that it goes viral is a major breakthrough for any brand, but don’t create content with the primary goal of going viral. This is normally a recipe for failure in itself.
Use other elements as indicators of success: the number of purchases, social shares or e-mail addresses that you collect are all characteristics of a successful campaign. They’re also a lot more realistic.
9. There’s no SEO in Content Marketing
There are a lot of varying opinions in regards to SEO and content marketing being the same thing. Where there are obvious and distinctive differences between the two, they both play off of each other to enhance the quality of your website and its ranking in the search engines. You need consistent and quality content on your website to keep web traffic flowing and make it possible for customers to discover your product.
SEO on its own isn’t necessarily content marketing, but you do need content for good search engine optimization practices. Content is the wind in the sales for successful SEO.
Hook New Customers with Content Marketing
Are these myths holding you back? Keep an open mind and try it for yourself before deciding that content marketing doesn’t work.
There is always a chance that it might not work, and that’s with anything in marketing. But content marketing has a proven track record of helping brands reach more customers. It helps businesses just like yours bring in cash by providing excellent customer experience. And that’s no myth.
Ready to hook new customers with content marketing? Contact Hooked Marketing now.