If your business isn’t optimizing content marketing to gain credibility and trust with customers, you may want to get cracking in 2019. Your competitors are probably already off and running.
The Content Marketing Institute recently posted stats reflecting that small businesses with blogs get 126 percent more lead growth than those without, that content marketing produces six times the conversion rates than other marketing methods and that businesses publishing 16 or more posts monthly achieve nearly 3.5 times more traffic than those publishing the minimal zero to four. Conveniently, the methodology also costs 62 percent less than outbound marketing, CMI reports.
“Content marketing has been moving at the speed of light in recent years,” writes Julia McCoy in the article. “We can’t serve up the same old ads anymore and expect results similar to 30 or 40 years ago. Instead, we must add value to consumers’ lives to make them want to give us the time of day.”
That said, many companies struggle with content challenges. A few of the most common difficulties:
- Measuring ROI. Some brands struggle to link conversions to specific pieces of digital content, making it difficult to plan what kinds of content to produce and post moving forward.
- Tracking video views. While video is considered an immensely effective marketing tool these days, some struggle to define what constitutes a meaningful viewing.
- Producing quality videos. Many companies still lack the time and expertise to make professional and versatile videos that can work toward their bottom lines.
- Maintaining consistency. The mix of in-house and contractual writers and artists frequently used to create content marketing can lead to quality issues and difficulties in sustaining branding. Confusion can result if the campaign doesn’t start with a detailed strategy.
- Establishing credibility. Finding writers who can produce expert industry-specific content is not easy, and neither is standing out when so many are trying to position themselves as thought leaders.
- Funding. Because content marketing is relatively new, many marketers struggle to justify its cost to senior management when other marketing methodologies sometimes offer more linear ROI.
- Streamlining approval processes. Corporations can easily get bogged down in lengthy or overly fussy editing and approval processes, leading to delays in posting relevant and/or time-focused content.
- Producing enough volume. Juggling may be required to keep content flowing to the point customers can anticipate and use it on a regular basis.
- Maintaining flexibility. Content marketing campaigns need to be frequently tweaked to take advantage of industry trends, breaking news and viewer preferences. Well-organized campaign leaders make constant adjustments.
- Maintaining value. Some don’t understand the concept of content marketing and insist on being blatantly advertorial. Great content must feature “news the reader can use,” providing appropriate value depending on where readers are in the sales funnel.
- Getting your content out there. Audiences have to know about your content or it’s virtually worthless. The best campaigns include strategy for promoting your content on social media, in email messaging and on other venues in addition to your website.
Getting started with content marketing isn’t easy for every company, but it’s well worth pursuing in a market in which consumers are disenchanted with traditional ads. Consider how you might overcome these challenges to incorporate its principles into your marketing strategy.
Dial800 can show you how to optimize content marketing to drive incoming calls to your business. Contact us at 1-800-700-1987.
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