The 7 Biggest Content Marketing Mistakes You Are Making

This post covers some of the biggest content marketing mistakes small and medium sized businesses make. And how to avoid them.

You already know the potential value of content marketing for your business. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to make mistakes that could nullify all your content marketing efforts. These mistakes can turn away potential customers, and sink your website to the bottom of Google’s ranking, leading to stagnation and the slow death of your website. Let’s examine these 7 mistakes and their solutions now.

You’re Ignoring SEO

Picture this: you’ve been brainstorming ideas for your next piece of content for hours, and you’ve finally hit your eureka moment. Finally, the perfect article, video, or photo has come into your head and you’re ready to blow your audience away. The only problem is that nobody will ever see it. Why? Because you neglected your SEO.

These three letters affect whether your post is seen by 5 or 5,000 people. Before creating your next blog post or YouTube video, you need to do some proper keyword research and work out how to shape your post according to your SEO strategy. What, you don’t have an SEO strategy for your content? You need to get onto that soon or outsource it to someone who knows what they are doing.

You’re Not Using Links

You may not be aware of this, but Google loves websites with links from them and links to them. It’s a part of Google’s vision of a connected internet, and if you choose to take part in that, the rewards can be handsome.

By incorporating links into your articles that either link to other posts on your website or to other websites, Google will count them positively toward your ranking in its search results. Including both inbound and outbound links can supercharge this. It may seem like you’d have to be crazy not to do it, yet we see blogs ignoring this tactic all the time. Adding good quality links to and from your posts will encourage Google to rank you higher. #ContentMarketing Share on X

However, don’t make the mistake of adding links randomly. This tip only works if the links you add are relevant to the topic of your post. And only ever link to good quality websites that don’t contain content that violates Google’s terms of service. If you link to a link farm for example, Google will assume you are also trying to violate their terms and apply a negative score to you.

So step carefully, and if you don’t want to risk getting it wrong, let us help you develop content for you.

You’re Not Using Data To Plan Your Content

Businesses today have access to more data on their target audience than ever before, yet many small businesses don’t make use of this powerful resource. Taking the time to truly understand your audience can be the difference between successful content marketing and unsuccessful content marketing.

Research your audience, but also uncover data on your competitors to work out how they’re using content marketing. Which keywords are your most successful competitors using, and how can you outdo them? The Google Keyword Tool is an excellent free tool you can use for finding keywords. Read blogs and press releases in your industry, make sure you’re on top of what’s going on. Through this research you can uncover powerful microtrends going on in your industry that your competitors may not yet be aware of. By making use of these microtrends you could gain algorithmic boosts for your blog. We talk more about trends later in this article.

You Are Only Talking About What Your Business Does

Content should cover topics your audience will be interested in, even if it may seem unrelated to your business. Attracting your audience to your blog will lead to them viewing your other posts. If you only write about what you sell, you’re missing the point of content marketing. It may surprise you to learn that your clients are also interested in things that you do not sell. If you only blog about what you sell, you’re missing the point of content marketing. #BloggingTip #ContentMarketing Share on X

You should be writing about things your target audience will find interesting even if it seems only indirectly unrelated to what you do. As you do this, try to follow the principle of FUBI, which is an acronym that stands for Funny, Useful, Beautiful, and Inspiring. Each item of content you create should contain one or more of these elements. Creating content like this for your target audience will create and deepen their brand loyalty.

For example, one of our past clients was a wholesale supplier of potatoes, who challenged us to create original content for them. So we applied FUBI principles and created a range of social videos related to potatoes, chips, and food to entertain, inform and attract potential clients. That video content enabled our client to stand out from their competitors and helped define their brand. The result was a growth in reach and brand awareness, as well as massive increase in the ways they could develop new content over time.

You’re Ignoring Trends

Every time there’s a new trend there’s a clever person who becomes famous off it, or a savvy brand that achieves massive promotion from it. Trends are an incredible phenomenon, a new trend is always on the rise and every time one does it could be the one to blow up your brand and give you incredible reach.

Capitalising on a trend is a matter of skill, you need to understand the trend, learn why it’s popular and then create content that complements the trend. But beware, failing to understand the trend, then trying to capitalise on it, can just seem like a desperate attempt at chasing clout. Google Trends is a powerful online tool which you could use to find out what’s trending at any given time. Your job is to work out how you can creatively connect to any trends that are relevant to your business. And then do it in a way that feels authentic. Work out how you can authentically connect to trends that are relevant to your business. #ContentMarketing Share on X

For example, if your business supplies barbecue equipment and accessories, it’s almost a no-brainer to consider creating content campaigns in time for the summer, perhaps based around a trending recipe or ingredient. The trick is doing it creatively, so you don’t look like you’re just jumping on the trend. It would be ideal to try to predict the trend and create content in advance, so it’s ready to go when the trend starts to break the surface.

You’re Trying to Do it All Yourself

You don’t always have time to create your own content. Outsourcing can free you up to do what you do best: run your business. As you can see from everything covered so far, content marketing is a big topic. Getting it right takes skill, research and, most of all, time. You could certainly save money by doing this yourself, but you’ll never buy back the time you lost. Trying to write your own posts could be the worst way to spend your time. #ContentMarketing Share on X

Most importantly, you should only consider creating your own content if you are confident that you have the skills and time to create quality content that will attract your clients. Do you really have the time to learn copywriting, SEO, video editing and develop a viable content marketing strategy?

Working with a consultant to guide you, or handle content creation for you, will free up your time and allow you to see much better results than if you tried to do it all yourself.

You’re Ignoring Video Content

This is a major mistake and small businesses continue to make it all the time. We live in a fast-paced world in which we are competing for attention all the time. Sometimes lines of text alone just don’t cut it.

Video can be a powerful way of getting across information, not just because it’s easier than reading for many, but also because visuals can convey information in a way that’s easily understood. For example, research tells us that video content increases engagement by 5 times on Linkedin. Combine that with great copy, sleek editing and music that conveys your professionalism, and you have yourself a solid piece of content marketing.

If you’re camera-shy, there is a solution for you; it works great for introverts too. We regularly produce marketing videos such as this one for a wide range of clients, based on their blog posts:

So you don’t need to invest in cameras, lights and editing software if you don’t want to. To try it out contact a local video marketing agency or ask us about marketing videos.

The Next Step

Congratulations, just by reading this article you’re at least one step closer to creating the perfect content marketing campaign for your business. Content marketing strategy is now a fundamental skill in every small business’ armoury. You need to develop a content strategy that integrates with the aims of your business. One that uses written content such as blogs and ebooks, video content like the marketing videos mentioned earlier, and is flexible enough to respond to emerging trends.

However, if you’re starting from scratch, you may need the advice of an experienced professional. Design Inspiration provides content marketing, social media marketing, and video marketing for businesses just like yours.

Get Help With Your Content

Design Inspiration has over 28 years’ experience in creating content that gets businesses noticed online. If you want to have a no-obligation conversation about the ways we could help your business, get in touch with Design Inspiration via the form below: