How often, when going through your content marketing plan, do you find yourself wondering why it isn’t generating leads? It’s filled with the industry’s best practices, simple to understand, and even has a picture of a cute kitten asking for a cheeseburger, but you are still struggling to see results.
To be able to succeed in content marketing, you must not only create and promote, but also analyze and optimize the content. The following 5 reasons may give you some insight into why your content marketing is in a slump.
SEO
Content marketing goes hand-in-hand with SEO. It doesn’t matter how incredible the quality is on all the content you are pushing out if nobody can find it. You need to use the language your ideal customers use to ask questions or describe problems. To get started with keyword research, use what you know about your business and industry to identify relevant topics. For each topic, brainstorm a list of potential keywords, and then optimize your content for a relevant keyword. Use a keyword research tool to gain an understanding of search volume and traffic estimates.
Strategy
According to the Content Marketing Institute 2014 survey of B2B marketers, of successful marketers 66% have a specific and documented strategy. Of the unsuccessful marketers, only 11% have a documented strategy. A content marketing strategy is crucial for success. Once you have developed a strategy using S.M.A.R.T. goals, and key performance indicators, identify what numbers are important to you, and track them. Measure these indicators on a monthly or quarterly basis and use the results to focus your efforts accordingly.
Promotion
How many times have you been guilty of just creating a blog post and not promoting it? Think of all the effort you put into creating your various offers, and then think about how that effort compares when it comes to promoting your content. At the very least, you should be putting as much effort into promoting it as you did to create it. Remember that like with SEO, the more you put it out there for people to see the more likely they are to engage.
Call To Action
Do you remember when you sold your first car? Can you imagine how much harder that would’ve been to do without you providing your contact information to interested parties? Think of your content as a car for sale, if you don’t put in the call to action, no one can buy it and no one can even express interest in it. You invest time and effort into every piece of content you create, so once you have a reader, be sure to close the deal with a call-to-action that encourages your reader to take the next step.
Branded Content
When a potential customer learns of your business by searching for an answer to their question, they want the answer they came for before they entertain the solution you offer. Content that disrupts a user or looks more like a way to sell than a way to engage is less attractive to today’s plugged-in consumers. When content educates or is presented at a natural point in the conversation, people are more likely to see your company as a trusted advisor and be interested in hearing more from you. Educational content can still support your brand through color schemes and appropriately placed logos.
Remember content marketing is rarely an immediate return on investment. The above reasons may be why your content is in a slump and provide a guideline from which you can review your content marketing to make sure you’re addressing all the crucial points. Give it some time and most importantly, measure your efforts so you can cut the offers that don’t work and focus your efforts on those that do.
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