This is a fact all believe that Digital Marketing or SEO is all they need to pull their websites at a high ranking. But it is not entirely true because Content marketing is equally important to get successful. Yes, Content Marketing is one of the best investments a company can make. It not only increases traffic but also brings in high-quality leads.

Even in a survey by the Content Marketing Institute, it is found that near about 92% of marketers believe that their company views content as a business asset. Hence undoubtedly, to maximize the ROI of their content marketing efforts, marketers need to make sure that they're doing everything they can.

However, like all marketing techniques, even content marketing doesn't come without challenges. And undeniably, it's a crowded market, which means there's little room for missed opportunities and mistakes. So, to achieve optimal results, marketers have to get it right.

So, let’s have a look at some of the biggest content marketing mistakes, and also what marketing professionals can do to avoid them.

1. Neglecting Proper Strategy

There is no doubt that a blog serves as a hub for all the amazing things you publish. One thing remains clear regardless of which approach you to take: you must have a method to make your blog or articles truly engaging. And to do that, you need to use a proper strategy for sure.

Well, if you are thinking about what happens when you instate a proper strategy. So, the answer is, if you instate a proper strategy, people will believe that the blog stays updated. And guess what, this is enough!

There is no doubt that tons of effort goes into establishing a remarkable blog that generates a positive ROI for your endeavors. So, why not use proper content strategy and make the content very strong and engaging,  which will pull the customers very easily.

2. Not Having a Content Approval Process

It is very important to understand that creating a piece of content is just not enough, but crafting the perfect piece and publishing it is important too. But before publishing,  one should take a review and approval for their content by their teammates and clients. Undoubtedly, doing a peer review process like this is very important as it ensures that approved material maximizes each element, and gets published on time.

 To try and manage content approvals, many marketers use email or spreadsheets, maybe relying on such methods slows down the team but will surely bring great results. It's easy to lose track of approvals and get feedback in time to meet client deadlines.

Hence, marketers should make sure that they have a content approval process. They can create a content review and approval template that includes each step and its duration.

Besides that, to prepare, approve, and publish content on time, marketers can also use a content management platform. The tool can eliminate the need for messy spreadsheets and endless email chains and can also track revisions and changes in one place.

3. Thinking it’s All About SEO

We are not saying that SEO is not important, but your content will surely be very boring if you’re optimizing your content for a search engine. Gone are the times when people used to write boring articles/blogs, stuffed with enough keywords in there, and they would easily rank high on search engines.

However, this practice has changed completely nowadays because now you have to write for human beings, not machines. Yes, you can’t just use old school SEO tactics to rank high. And no doubt, humans like to read engaging content at most. True, they like content that captures their attention.

Moreover, you should not completely forget SEO in your writing. So, place the optimum density keywords in your content if you want to rank for and optimize your content around those phrases.

All you need to do is write content about any topic but optimize it. Because now, the algorithms have changed, and the way people interact with search engines has also changed. So, write articles yourself and the ones that your audience would like to read.

So, then the question is, how to fix it? Well, try targeting your content at your buyer personas instead of targeting Google. Yes, write something your audience wants to read and wants to share with their audience. Just make it interesting, and in the long run, you will be rewarded.

4. Creating Bad Headlines

This is one common problem all are facing. Even after 6-7 years of experience, people don’t feel confident while making headings and titles. Don't know if it’s hard or not, but frustrating for sure.

But when you create compelling, catchy headlines that can easily drive traffic, it makes all the work worth it. Yes, this Copywriting tip surely helps grow your business.

Yes, the reason is the first impression you make on a prospective reader is by your headline. Many people are going to click through to read your content if they’re not immediately captivated by your headline, no matter how awesome your content is.

To get the most engagement, here is how to, list, and quote headlines, according to CoSchedule:

i. Use numbers while writing the titles that make it compelling
ii. Create a knowledge vacuum with short word
iii. Look for inspiration for better ideas
iv. Use tools to make headlines like Portent’s Content Idea Generator etc.
v. Most important is to include a “focus keyword.”

So, make good headlines because this is one of the ways you can implement to increase quality website traffic.

5. Not Reviewing Content Marketing Performance

Not taking the time to review the performance of the efforts is one of the biggest mistakes marketing teams can make. And there’s no way to know what is or isn't working without looking at the data.

For example, marketers can find ways to repurpose a piece of content or focus on that specific tactic, if it is not performing well. They can instead focus on other initiatives if something isn't working.

So, at least quarterly, it’s very important to review content marketing performance with the members of the team. Engagement metrics like social media shares, page views, and the time visitors spent looking at pieces of content can help marketers improve their campaigns continuously.

6. Not Promoting Content Enough

As we already mentioned above that writing content is not enough because content marketing shouldn’t stop after the publishing process. Yes, this is the mistake of many marketers that they focus solely on creating content, though, marketers should try to put the content in front of their target audience frequently so they can have an impact on it for sure.

Hence, we have learned that marketers should spend more time promoting their content instead of creating it. You can follow one idea that is to follow the 80/20 rule. This means using only 20% of the time in creating the content while spending the other 80% of the time in promoting it via social media, email, blogs, as well as other channels.

Moreover, with enough careful planning, marketing teams can avoid falling prey to some of the biggest content marketing pitfalls. There's a lot for marketers to consider when crafting an effective strategy, from implementing a content approval process to creating content that covers the entire sales funnel.

But it is an undeniable fact that those who can get it right will reap the rewards of their content efforts.

7. Not Creating Enough Content Throughout the Sales Funnel

There are various stages of the buying process, and it's important when creating content that marketers address each of them. So, in case if you put too much focus on producing educational content, you can surely miss out on nurturing buyers further down the purchasing process while appealing to those in the awareness stage.

In all, marketers must try to make enough content for each step of the sales funnel. It's essential to create content like case studies and eBooks for the later stages, even if you think creating educational blog posts is vital for awareness.

8. Not Creating Reusable Content

When it comes to creating content, a one-and-done approach isn't a good idea. This is an undeniable fact that the quality piece of content takes a lot of time and resources, hence marketers must maximize the return on their investment just by creating content that they can repurpose and post on different channels later down the road.

For illustration, marketers can repurpose that blog post into something more visual, like a video or an infographic. So, when all of the research is complete, it's essentially a matter of repackaging the information into distinct platforms.

9. Forgetting the Audience

For every writer, there is a huge pressure of churning out content and that too regularly. This often stifles other important factors. Yes, and in the middle of this, one can easily forget why they started writing in the first place, like to connect, engage, and inspire the audience. But every time you remove that personal touch from the content, your content will fall flat. True, because it won’t connect, it won’t engage, and it certainly won’t inspire. Maybe it is hard to read out, but yes, it’s the truth.

Hence, it is very much important to keep the audience in mind whenever writing a blog post, filming a video, or recording a podcast. Besides that, you must craft a buyer persona and should write for that one person. Yes, only that person. And, must say, you will accomplish your content goals when your words feel that personal.

However, don’t forget, so much of the backend work goes into understanding your audience on this level. It requires personas, behavioral research, mapping, targeting the buying cycle as well as speaking their language. But as a result, in the end, you will find a beautiful land full of engaged audience members. So, all you need to do is keep trekking. Because you can get there and we know it.

10. Leading Readers to Dead Ends

There is a question that comes in almost every reader's mind that what they are supposed to do next. So, all you need is to do what they are supposed to do next after reading your content.

Yes, try never to give your prospects doubt via your content.  And, this sure shot tactic is not applicable only for blogs but also for web pages available on your site. True, they should have a clear goal and next steps too.

So,  if you create content that addresses all stages of the buyer’s journey, this is much easier to do. And, in this way, you can lead your users gently along until they reach an ultimate destination.

Must say you can use this technique for all like from About Us pages to blog posts. Even YouTube videos of yours can contain a button link to reach more of your content.

11. Doing the Same Thing Over and Over

Have you ever thought till when will you write a blog post twice a week? Yes, many people are making this mistake, and in the middle of this process, neither do they pump out videos of product demos, nor do they engage in anything new.

Well, there is always room for improvement. So, change now with lots of other ways to educate an audience. Like:

i. Blog posts
ii. Infographics
iii. Videos
iv. Whitepapers
v. Case studies
vi. E-books

And, the best thing about these is that they can be repurposed, so you don’t need to start writing them from scratch every time. No wonder, the Content writing teams are always busy, and we know that. So, repurposing content is the best option forever.

So, all you need is to figure out what resonates with your buyer persona. And then, decide what works best where. For example, for certain parts of your website, certain kinds of videos are ideal. And if we talk about your LinkedIn page audience, they may be more interested in your nuts-and-bolts whitepapers rather than your high-level infographics.

Besides that, even if you only write blog posts or only shoot videos, you can make them a little more engaging. So, think of the formats that deviate from your norm like:

i. Q&As
ii. Commentary on trends/current events
iii. Guest posts/videos

Final Thoughts

So, we have seen how you can make more of your content via content marketing, as it is one of the most effective marketing strategies available today.

We hope that applying the key lessons in this post will help you, and you will make your content more relevant, valuable, and shareable from now on.