5 Surprisingly Common Content Marketing Myths That Are Hurting Your Business
The numbers are in.
And they’re sweet music to the ears of content marketing driven brands.
Whether you are an affiliate marketer, a fledging startup, or an established company, content marketing can help you make more money.
According to this eye-opening post by the Content Marketing Institute:
- Content marketing nets 3x leads more than paid search.
- Content marketing generates over 3x as many leads as outboard marketing and costs 62% less.
- Businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than those that don’t.
- 61% of U.S. online consumers made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.
- Content marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x higher than traditional advertising.
In short, let’s just say content marketing is all the rage these days. You can make some serious cash if you know what you are doing.
But amidst all this excitement and hype, the truth sometimes falls through the cracks only to be replaced by lies and misconceptions. When fiction is mistaken for facts, disaster awaits.
To help you avoid certain financial doom I’ll walk you through 5 surprisingly common content marketing myths. Once you’re aware of them you’ll sidestep the fallacies, embrace the truth, and start seeing tangible ROI.
Let’s jump right in.
#1. Any guy or gal can create quality content
Anyone can write, right?
Wrong.
Of course all of us can string two or three sentences together. Anybody can write generic me-too stuff that clogs the internet. But to craft original content that fascinates, thrills, and converts, you need a pro writer. Someone who lives and breathes writing.
If you have someone like that on your team, go for it. If not, outsource your writing needs to a capable freelancer.
Too many brands whine about not seeing results.
The simple reason? Lousy and bland content that sucks and bores the pants off of readers.
Here are the 4 challenges of content marketing that show that content production needs expertise.
- Volume- for content marketing to work you have to produce loads of content week after week, year after year. You’ll soon get worn out if writing is not your thing. Plus, to create those insane volumes, you need a lot of time..
- Quality– with a bazillion pieces of content released every minute, ordinary doesn’t cut it anymore. To grab eyeballs and standout you’ve got to produce prime irresistible content. And honestly, not everybody can do that.
- Depth– these days impactful content that produces results is getting bigger, better, deeper. People now ignore superficial stuff. But they gobble up, bookmark, and share rich material that covers their subject of interest comprehensively. This kind of content needs specially-gifted writers.
- Story– in essence, content marketing is all about telling a brand story in a way that resonates with the target audience. Story telling is pretty challenging. It takes a special skill to be able to weave a company’s story into their content while meeting the business goals as well.
Research findings confirm these challenges.
As you can see, producing engaging content and consistency are in the top 4. These problems can only be overcome by great writing over a long stretch of time.
Choice writing is a rare jewel. That’s why decent writers earn at least $50k on average.
#2. Content marketing is just producing loads of content
Content marketing is more than writing post after post. Far more.
If all you do is pump out content, you’ll soon get frazzled and fail dismally. Content, in and of itself is not enough. You need a strategy. To do that you have to answer 4 key questions:
- The Frequency Question
How often are you going to publish? Try different intervals until you find the sweet spot for your niche and audience.
- The Content Type Question
What kind of content are you going to major on? Long or short form? Listicles, how-to-guides, inforgraphics, case studies, e-books, video?
- The Channel Question
Which channel are you going to use? Is it a blogging, podcasting, or video? Don’t just follow the channel everyone’s on. Use the one your audience loves.
- The Funnel Question
Do you have a solid funnel? Does your content suit the different stages of your funnel i.e. top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU) and top of the funnel (TOFU)?
Not only that.
You’ve got to market or promote that content like crazy. They don’t call it content marketing for nothing J.
#3. Content marketing produces speedy results
Sorry to burst your bubble my friend.
Content marketing is not a magical selling wand.
Don’t expect to create an epic post today, promote it tomorrow and receive a steady stream of quality leads the next day. It doesn’t happen that way. Don’t anticipate boatloads of dollars overnight.
Let’s address a crucial question first. What sort of results are we talking about?
Is it:
- Brand awareness?
- Website traffic?
- Improved search rankings?
- Sales leads?
The harsh reality is it takes a while for you to see meaningful ROI from your efforts.
Cactus Cow, a digital growth agency, says if you have a solid strategy and you’re consistent, you should see your desired results in a year or less. Another agency Fractl, puts the success marker on 6 months.
In his book, Content Inc, Joe Pulizzi found that it takes 15 to 17 months of consistent content creation and content marketing distribution to reach monetization (or results).
I hope you get it now.
Content marketing is a long-term strategy.
But here’s the good news.
When the results do come they compound quickly thus making the initial investment worthwhile.
It’s plain enough. The longer you do it, the better the results.
#4. Content marketing is easy as A-B-C
No.
It’s as tough as a simultaneous equation especially if you’re clueless about Math like me.
If it was easy, we’d all be millionaires. Since that’s not the case, it means there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Content marketing has so many sides your head can spin:
- Content creation
- Content promotion
- Content strategy
- Content research
- Audience research
- Search engine optimization
- Traffic generation
- Content auditing
- Monetization
- Content distribution
- Etc.
And, to compound matters, it’s a moving target. Things evolve fast and competition is fierce.
To succeed, you’ve got to bring your A-game … always.
#5. Content marketing only works for certain types of businesses
Not at all.
Content marketing has gone mainstream.
Most businesses in all kinds of niches use it as their mainstay selling approach.
According to a research conducted by The Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, 91% of B2B marketers are using content marketing in their overall strategy. A companion 2018 report showed 86% of B2C respondents use content marketing.
In a survey by WP Curve targeting startups and investigating how they approach marketing, 89% of startups said content marketing was their main growth channel as show below.
Clearly, evidence on the ground shows content marketing is not an industry-specific strategy.
Everyone and their dog is doing it. Okay, I’m not sure about the dog part.
So if you’re hesitant about using content marketing or just dabbling in it, you’re getting left behind. It’s time to go full throttle.
Get your content marketing act together and reap the rewards
Don’t believe these popular myths about content marketing.
Go beyond producing content, dive deep into strategy. Realize that content marketing is a long term strategy not a get rich quick scheme. Roll up your sleeves, selling through content is not as easy as it looks but it pays well in the end.
Know how to tell your brand story since content marketing works for most industries.
And finally, don’t use chancers to write your content. Rope in top-notch writers because content is the foundation of it all. With a solid foundation in place, your chances of success rise exponentially. I know you want to succeed at this, don’t you?
Author Bio
Qhubekani Nyathi aka The Click Guy is an irresistibly handsome (wife’s baseless claims!) website copywriter and long form content strategist. He helps SMBs rapidly grow their income and impact through actionable long form content that ranks high, builds authority, and drives sales. Contact him now to order long form content that boosts your ROI