Content marketing has been foundational for companies across industries for a long time. And yet, people are still using it to derail their B2B marketing plans. If you aren’t getting the results you want, take a look at the following list and see if you’re engaging in one of the ways not to do content marketing:
Not Having a Strategy. You write a blog post once a month or so, you post on social media when you’ve got an event coming up and you have toyed around a little with behind-the-scenes and unboxing videos. What could be wrong with that?
Pretty much everything: without a strategy, it’s impossible to be consistent, define who your content is targeting or determine whether it is resulting in any growth.
Selling. Your B2B marketing strategy needs a plan for growing sales. But your content is not the direct path.
In other words, your content should never be focused on selling. The purpose of content is to build trust, provide value and offer information. When your audience arrives at your blog post, there should not immediately be a pop-up box asking them to make a purchase or subscribe to your newsletter. And your content should never talk about your products or your company in an effort to make a sale. It’s ineffective.
Ignoring SEO Best Practices. It’s no secret that search engine optimization (SEO) is a bit complicated, but don’t make the mistake of pretending like it is not affecting your efforts. When you employ SEO best practices in your content strategy, using keywords and items like image alt text, you’ll improve your rankings on search engines. This approach will send more organic traffic to your site. Search engines also favor frequent content publishing and higher quality content, so prioritize these elements for better rankings.
Getting in a Hurry. Your B2B marketing will benefit from a content strategy, but it’s not going to offer overnight results. It takes time to build a reputation for quality content and for that reputation to start encouraging people to engage with your site. It can take months to see the fruit of a solid content strategy, so don’t get discouraged too soon. You’ll look at results and refine things as you go but don’t bail out before you see measurable growth.
We know how not to do content for a solid B2B marketing strategy, but we also know best practices to help your brand shine. Contact us at SJC Marketing to chat about getting started growing your business.