Content marketing is the catchphrase of the moment; it is as if virtually all SEO consulting services are into ‘doing content.’ Unfortunately, not all brands can make sense of their content marketing strategy even with the help of an SEO company. Achieving optimal results is possible with content marketing. Nonetheless, it requires a lot of knowledge, skills and of course, patience and convincing power.

If you have already invested lots of time, energy and money only to contend with not-so-amazing results in lieu with your expectations, perhaps it would be better to stop and determine what you or your chosen SEO firm has been doing wrong. The possible explanations follow.

 

1) Lack of planning

The cliché ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ holds very true in almost all aspect of business management. As such, the success of an SEO strategy lies in creating solid strategies with clear, manageable, obtainable and measurable goals.

Check if your content management team has editorial calendars with clear procedures on content review and approval. Of course, there should be performance metrics to track the progress of the overall strategy. If any of these is non-existent, it’s time to look for another supplier.

Content marketing success starts with a plan with clear definitions of objectives, terms and responsibilities. Lack of planning means that the marketing efforts are doomed to fail in the first place.

 

2) Lack of listening

Contents are created with the readers in mind. If the content strategists are creating contents just to please you (the client), it will backfire in the end. It also means that the provider has no clear understanding of the nature of your business. What more when it comes to your target market?

Part of strategic planning is understanding what your customers need and want. Essentially, they are looking for information relevant to their day-to-day issues. The focus of the content creators, therefore, must be creating contents that are unquestionably useful to your audience.

Not all SEO companies employ this, but listening to the voice of consumers and anticipating their needs are the keys in making the content marketing strategy more effective. Look for a provider that puts a premium to business research.

 

3) Lack of agility

Relevant contents should be created on a regular basis, or the momentum will be jeopardized. As a client, you cannot claim that the strategy is a success if the content creators publishes contents on a whim. The same goes with regularly publishing irrelevant contents.

While there should be clear procedures from brainstorming content ideas to publishing contents to promoting them, these should not hinder the spontaneity. Chains of commands within the content marketing team must be simple enough that sound decisions are made as quickly as possible.

With proper structures and forward-thinking, the team will not face the adversity of writing hurried contents to publish next. That is, there will be volumes of contents just waiting to be published with proper content planning.

 

4) Lack of focus

Let’s admit it. Most brands and their content creators focus too much on creating contents for sales and not necessarily for loyalty. The investments are geared toward bringing in more traffic and hopefully, converting them into customers. Then, it stopped there.

Instead, content creators should emphasize the need to write and publish contents for repeat and loyal customers. Gradual, constant actions is the key.

 

 

Evidently, content marketing success depends on several factors. Outline above are the most common pitfalls. When you are already deep into the pit, revert. At this moment, your priority must be becoming aware of your content strategy’s weaknesses and work your way up accordingly. If it means abandoning what has been started in exchange of building a content plan, then so be it. This could be the most important step towards bettering the performance of your content strategy.