Content marketing is a tough strategy to implement because there are so many small things you have to keep in mind. These factors will influence how successful your campaign is, and the future of your company. Many bloggers don’t pay close attention to the small factors, and then when their content marketing fails, they scrabble to find out what happen. Over the years I have worked with so many bloggers in different industries making sure they easily transition into content marketing. I have learned a lot, and would love to share some of the key reasons why many of them failed within their efforts.
It’s important to note, I have also failed several times with content marketing because I truly underestimated the game.
Out of 20 or so reasons, I have narrowed it down to the top 5 which you should be paying close attention to. Some of you are already in transition, so it’s important you make the tweaks right away. One of the strategies you’ll hear about is your ability to track results. This is very important because you need to find out which factors influenced your bottom line. If you have a clear indication of this, then you can make the tweak to better improve your chances.
Let’s get started, and your feedback will be greatly appreciated within the comment box below. If you have any methods which you feel work better then others, I would love to hear about it below.
Budgeting
One of the main reasons why content marketing has failed is because you have chosen NOT to think about the budget. I’ll emphasize it’s important to make sure you plan your budget weekly, and monthly or you’ll fail at content marketing. Many of the failing companies chose to plan budgeting every month, however this has cause them to drain their budget very quickly. Even though content marketing can be done for free, it’s important to note, you have the option to invest money in paid advertising. One of the best ways to do this is on Facebook.com through social media. Why?
It’s so easy to target specific niches, and even your audience which is amazing to collect all the statistics you need to move forward with your strategy. However, Facebook, if not controlled, can be very expensive on your budget. I have seen budgets of $2,000 (planned for the month), drain within a week.
It’s because the PPC fluctuates quickly since different rates apply to different days, times, competitors, etc. Next,
This is the same with other PPC networks so you have to keep a close eye on your budget or you’ll drain out very easily. The bottom line is you have to keep a close eye on your budget and plan hourly, daily or even weekly so you can start making the tweaks more quickly. The faster you can optimize the more CTR and conversions you’ll get which is better for your bottom line going forward.
Competition
I must admit competition does have two very scary faces. What do I mean?
First, competition is awesome if you’re just starting out because you can learn a lot from them. By researching your competition, you can find out about your audience, traffic, content, social media followers, etc. This means you can streamline the rate at which your blog will grow because you have all the information you need. One of the hardest things when starting a blog is to find out what works and what doesn’t, however your competition has essentially laid out the blueprint for you. Use this to your advantage and gather all the details you need to push your content marketing in the right direction. However,
Here’s the problem.
When trying to fully copy your competition when it comes to content marketing, you’ll be bidding against someone who has a larger budget then you. Your competition has probably been in business longer which means they have more money to burn. If you’re just starting out and marketing on those same networks or channels, then you will pay a very expensive price. This might even destroy your complete budget which will slow down your marketing efforts. This is why I have always encouraged my clients to have their own system in place. It’s important to be creative with their strategies because if you don’t then you’ll be doing the same EXACT thing like your competition.
This is NOT hard to apply because you have to do a few things:
- Research new marketing trends developing so you beat your competition to them.
- Time when your competition is marketing, then change around the time when you market your content
- Slow down how much you are investing so you don’t burn everything. Growth will be slow, but your brand will still be visible.
In the end,
Your competition can be both good and bad for your business. It’s important you are patient so you can pull out the good from both these areas. If you can than you’ve just increased the likelihood of survival in an industry which is very tough.
Traffic vs Conversions
What does this mean?
Here’s something to think about the next time you are looking over your traffic data…
How much of that traffic is actually converting into sales, profits, etc.? No point in having loads of traffic coming to your page if none of it is converting. This is a waste of time and effort because you rather have little traffic, but it puts money in your pockets…right?
As content marketers, we make the mistake at viewing the wrong data because in the end traffic should equal conversions. When we see a lot of traffic we lay back and don’t bother optimizing, however you are losing on valuable conversions using this approach. This is why I encourage all of you to make sure you are constantly tracking so you can tweak afterwards.
Here’s a few things you can do right now to improve your chances…
First, you have to have a solid tool to track what’s been going on when visitors arrive on your site. Without a way to track your visitors, it’s going to be even harder to make those tweaks which ultimately will convert. I would suggest using a tool like Google Analytics because they will provide you with all the information you need like: location, referrals, bounce pages, landing pages, and even search queries. With GA, you’ll be able to build a solid profile of what has been working, and what hasn’t.
Next,
It’s time to implement some of the content marketing changes you know or have learned in the past. The key is to implement these changes then make sure you are tracking the conversions so you know if they work or don’t. This will take time because you’ll need solid data accumulated over 30-60 days. Anything less won’t give you a chance to really test out the strategy so you can end up making a huge mistake. This will be hard in the beginning, however as you start to implement some content marketing strategies, you’ll know what to look for going forward.
Here’s the bottom line,
Make sure you know how to differentiate between traffic and conversions. You have to know these are two separate things because in the end it’s all about conversions. It’s this which brings in the profits helping you establish your bottom line.
Let’s jump into the final factor…
Networking Matters
I have expressed this several times because outreach can connect you with the right people in your industry. These people can put the word out about your content which will drive enormous traffic to your blog. Not to mention, this traffic will be for free WITHOUT any monetary investment from your side. However, I still see so many people NOT take the time out to network with those influential people within your niche.
Next,
Without reaching out to the right people in your niche, it’s going to be hard to get those solid backlinks which will have a benefit on your content marketing. Sometimes what’s needed is a solid organic push to get your content marketing going in the right direction. It’s important to note at the same time, the less time you spend on outreach, the more your competition will be spending. For example, all the missed opportunities have to go somewhere, and in MOST cases your competition will be reaching out to these influential bloggers.
Do a quick search in Google, and start building a list of bloggers you can reach out to. This will keep things clean, and right to the point. You can track the entire progress by writing down emails sent & received within excel. This spread-sheet is a great way to keep an eye on these which you have to follow-up with at a later time.
Get started now by heading over to Google, and doing very niche specific searches within your industry.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have a solid breakdown of why your content marketing efforts will fail, it’s important you start by going through the list writing down the main points. Why is this important? Simple…
It will make it much easier for you to implement the strategies right away. The last thing you want to do is have to read through this content, and pull out the tips when you are ready to get started. By creating a list, you’ll be able to stay 100% focused, and research each factor further before you get started. I’ve noticed when I write down things first, or even summarize then I have an easier time acting on my vision.
Secondly, it’s a great habit to get into to because blogging has a lot to do with organizing. If you can organize your material, then you’ll be able to access more quickly. This means you’ll have a jump start on your competition which will give you an edge later on. Remember, with solid organizing, you’ll be able to schedule topics, write content, hire employees, and keep an eye on everything at the same time.
Third, when you have things written down in a neat organized way, you’ll have an easier time tracking the results which again is very important when blogging. For example, you want to know which strategy works compared to others, and the way to do this is to track each element. You want to keep a close eye on location, audience, landing page, search queries, etc. After you have all the data, you’ll be able to eliminate which content marketing strategies don’t respond to your bottom line. I always track because in the end there is NO point in wasting time since it can be used somewhere else more productive.
Here’s what you need to do step by step…
Read through this content, and make notes on all the important factors. Go through each of them, and apply them to your blog. Make sure you take time so it’s done properly, and you can start to track results at the same time. You need 30-60 days of data to find out what’s been working, and what’s not. With this data, you can pull out what strategies you want to keep because they help with your content marketing, and you can continue to optimize going forward.
If everything is done properly, you’ll see growth in your content marketing which will help you accomplish your bottom line going forward. 
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