7 Content Mistakes For Small Businesses To Avoid

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Good content is the cornerstone of digital marketing, as interesting and relevant content helps business owners connect with potential buyers and build strong relationships. Content includes blog posts, videos, podcasts, product guides, articles, and other materials that aim to convince people to make a purchase, sign up for an email newsletter, or take some other desired action. Done right, content marketing is one of the most effective strategies for getting and keeping customers, but just one or two mistakes can set a small business back in a big way. Watch out for these potential landmines when developing and executing a content marketing strategy.

1. Lack of Planning

Launching a content marketing campaign without a plan is like taking a 2,000-mile road trip without a map. In both cases, you might end up somewhere you don't want to be. Small-business owners should consider the age, sex, income level, ethnic background, marital status, and life stage of the target audience before developing any content. After all, an audience of young women who just graduated from college and make less than $30,000 per year does not have the same needs as an audience of men over the age of 55 who all have a net worth exceeding $1 million. 

2. Failure to Promote Published Content

In a perfect world, every piece of content would generate millions of views, shares, and comments. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen in real life. Once a piece of content goes live, it must be promoted to members of the target audience. Posting on social media and sending emails directly to customers are inexpensive ways to get more eyeballs on your content. Joining content promotion networks or relevant online communities are also good ways to promote content without spending a lot of money.

3. Refusing to Get Expert Help

To save money, many small-business owners try to develop and execute a content strategy on their own. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Without the right knowledge and expertise, business owners can actually hurt their companies by trying to do everything themselves. Consider hiring a digital marketing agency to help you identify your target audience, determine the best way to reach audience members, and develop your first content marketing campaign.

4. Developing Irrelevant Content

Every piece of content must answer the all-important question of "What's in it for me?" Audience members want to know how your business can help them achieve their goals, whether their goals are to lose weight or generate millions of dollars in revenue. Audience members are not likely to read, view, or share your content if it does not interest them or apply to their lives in some way. To avoid this mistake, make sure you understand your audience before you publish a single piece of content.

5. Poor Quality

The content you publish is a reflection of your business. If you do not put much care into developing good content, your customers may assume you take the same approach when developing new products or services. Written content should be free of typos, spelling mistakes, and grammar errors. If you decide to publish videos, pay attention to things like lighting and audio quality. You don't need to write a script, but anyone who appears in the video should speak in a polished, professional manner. Paying attention to these little details creates the impression that you care about your business--and by extension, your customers.

6. Not Measuring Results

You won't know if your content marketing campaign is effective unless you track the data and measure the results. While the campaign is in progress, keep track of things like how many people viewed each blog post, how many comments were posted on each video, how many people interacted with your company's social media accounts, and how many people opened the emails you sent to your subscriber list. Tracking these metrics is a great way to determine if you should make changes to your content marketing strategy.

7. No Content Variety

For best results, your content marketing campaign should include several types of content. If you publish hundreds of blog posts but never publish any videos, your message won't reach audience members who prefer audiovisual content. You should also aim to have some variety within each type of content. Many people do not have time to read a 2,000-word article every week, but they may be willing to read a 400-word blog post. Create a mix of shorter and longer articles, videos, and reports to meet the needs of a diverse audience.

Developing a content marketing strategy for the first time can be overwhelming. If you're not confident in your ability to analyze your target audience and develop content that is relevant to their needs, take advantage of the digital marketing agency services in your area.

11 January 2019