Content marketing can be considered one of the best ways to bring in leads. In fact, B2C companies that blogged 11 times a month received more than 4 times as many leads as those that only blogged 4 to 5 times. Moreover, content marketing receives 3 times more leads than paid search advertising does. While it is possible to achieve those numbers, the success of your content marketing strategy depends on a number of factors. Read on to discover the mistakes that you should be avoiding and how you can drive your content marketing strategy to success.

Your Content Is Irrelevant (To Your Audience)

Have you ever been delivered content that’s irrelevant to you? If your answer is yes, you’re not alone. An astounding 95% of consumers want brands to stop sending them ads and 55% of them say that its because these ads are irrelevant to them.

We get it – you’re a marketer and your goal is to sell a product to your audience. However, we have to shift our mentality from ‘me, me, me’ to one that produces exciting and educational content that benefits your audience. They’re looking for content that adds value to their lives, not the ones that only blabber about your product. In fact, 59% of consumers are looking for content that teaches something while 72% are interested in discounts or sales. Essentially, you have to produce content that is highly relevant and beneficial to your audiences. This way, you’ll not just pique their interests but your consumers will also stay on your page to read your content, and hopefully, land yourself a conversion to sales.

Your Content Is Not Promoted

Imagine this – You’ve created an exceptional piece of content and its sitting on your blog. You’re patiently waiting for readers to come pouring in; except, you’re not getting the results you want. Ever wondered why?

Producing content is only a fifth of the battle won; the next step is all about distribution. Marketers have often talked about the 20/80 rule – spend 20% of your time on content creation, and 80% on your promotional efforts. Leaving your piece of content on your blog without promotion is almost like opening a shop without telling anyone about it. Content marketing is very much about reaping what you sow. Learn to distribute your content across all social platforms and you’ll be able to expand your pool of audience from that tiny piece of content you’ve planted.

Your Content Is Old

We’ve all been there – clicking into a promising link only to realise later that the content on our screens is dated. Social media moves at an incredible pace such that the photo you posted a few weeks ago could already be considered old news. The solution for this is simple; you need evergreen content.

Just as the way evergreen trees retain their leaves all year round, your content has to be relevant throughout any time period. While riding on trends and current news can be a good way to grab your audience’s attention, these type of content should not be done often as their relevance could easily expire. Always ask yourself if the content topic will change over the next 50 years and focus on expanding those topics that are sustainable and timeless.

Your Content Is Boring

While it is not exactly boring per se, having a lack of variety in your content formats could leave your audience tired and reluctant to venture further into your amazing website. If you haven’t already heard, video is the future! Mix your content up by creating videos in your blog or website. Every day, people view more than 100 million hours of video on Facebook alone, and in Singapore, internet users watch an average of 2 hours of online video a day. With this much popularity surrounding video, it would be a shame to not tap on those potential leads and convert them into sales.

Don’t forget to also pair your text with visuals; better yet, repurpose your content into an infographic. As humans, 90% of the information that’s transmitted to our brains is visual and we process images 60,000 times faster than plain text. With an infographic, you’ll have the best of both worlds with visuals and text to capture your readers’ attention.

Conclusion

As you can see, it takes a village of different techniques to make your content more marketable to the masses; but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. With evergreen, relevant and timeless content that’s amplified on social, you’ll be a content marketing machine in no time.