Content marketing:
Every business needs it, every business wants it, and every business knows it is essential to success.
But what if your ideas of content and content marketing were largely based on… myths? Our article right here will shed some light on the ten most common content marketing myths – and reveal the truths behind them.
1. Myth: You can expect great results overnight.
I have created some amazing content, stuffed it with all the right keywords, added a cool video, and even shared it on my social media channels. Tomorrow, I will see some incredible results!
Reality: It takes a lot of hard work.
Even the most awesome, SEO-optimized, and inventive piece of content will struggle to get you tangible results in 24 hours. Content marketing is a process involving lots of different steps which require time, patience, and dedication.
2. Myth: I need to ramp up production, STAT!
I have only created one blog post a week so far and have not seen any results yet – I clearly need to start writing a lot more, probably one post every day.
Reality: Quality is more important than quantity.
Posting one blog post a week is absolutely fine – provided that the content of that blog post is of good quality. In content marketing, in fact, quality always trumps quantity in terms of importance, so don’t just post lots of stuff for the sake of it – post only high-value content, even if it means posting less frequently.
3. Myth: I should create content about my brand.
My potential customers don’t know anything about my brand. So, I need to start writing lots of content telling them how awesome I am, and convincing them to buy from me.
Reality: Your audience needs to take center stage.
Your customers don’t care about your brand – they care about what your brand can do for them. Create content that shows them how your products or services will make their lives better and easier, and turn your customers into the real protagonists of your stories.
4. Myth: Social media is not important.
Social media is fun, but surely it won’t help me with my business goals.
Reality: Social media can help your content marketing strategy.
With over 4 billion daily users (and counting), social media is increasingly becoming one of the most crucial tools for a great content marketing strategy. Make sure you take advantage of it.
5. Myth: I can automate everything about content marketing.
I don’t need a copywriter, a marketing specialist, a social media manager: I can simply download a bunch of software programs and let them do all the work for me.
Reality: Some aspects simply can’t be automated.
While some degree of automation is fine – and actually very helpful – when it comes to creating and managing your content, there are certain aspects that only a human should take care of. These include, for example, content creation and customer engagement.
6. Myth: I should focus on long-form content.
The reason my content is not performing as I would like it to is that I am only creating short snippets. I need to start putting together much longer content pieces.
Reality: Less is (often) more.
Long or short, what truly matters is quality – not quantity. You can certainly start creating long-form content for some of your channels – like a blog, for example – but stick with short and snappy for your social media, website, and email marketing.
7. Myth: I can pay close to nothing if I outsource my content.
Hiring a whole team of in-house content marketing specialists will cost me a bomb. Better outsource it, so I can pay practically zero.
Reality: Great, talented content marketing experts are worth the budget.
Don’t fool yourself: freelance content marketing experts will charge you what they are worth – and rightly so. Remember the saying “pay peanuts, get monkeys”? Well, this applies to content marketing, too.
8. Myth: Email marketing is obsolete.
Nobody likes email marketing, and nobody uses it anymore, so I’m just not going to bother with it.
Reality: Email marketing is alive and well!
Yes, it might be one of the oldest types of digital marketing tactics, but email marketing is far from being obsolete. The name of the game, now, is hyper-personalization. Whenever you prepare your email marketing campaigns, make sure that they are super-relevant and meaningful to your target audience, and you’ll realize just how essential email marketing is to your overall content marketing strategy.
9. Myth: I shouldn’t waste time tracking the results of my content marketing.
Analyzing my content marketing strategy is a waste of time, and it’s just too complicated for me to bother. If what I’m doing is good, the results will soon come.
Reality: Knowing how well your content marketing is performing is paramount.
There is a lot of potential in investing time and resources in measuring and tracking your content marketing strategy. This is the best, if not the only, way to truly pinpoint what is working and what isn’t, and to help you design a better strategy going forward.
10. Myth: My specific industry doesn’t need content marketing.
I run a logistics business: content marketing is simply not relevant to my industry.
Reality: Every single industry, these days, needs content marketing to thrive.
Content marketing is the lifeblood of EVERY industry, these days, regardless of your personal feelings towards it. Any business, across any sector, can and should leverage content marketing to engage with its audience, sharpen its competitive edge, and ultimately lift its profits.
Content Marketing Myths: The Takeaway
As you have seen, there are still many myths around content marketing that are circulating, preventing businesses from making the most of their content marketing strategy and achieving the success they desire.
Now that you know what lies behind those myths, you can ensure that you won’t repeat those same mistakes, and the road to success will be easier, clearer, and quicker.
Need more content marketing help, tips, or resources? Visit our website today.
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