When it comes to brand building for your company these days, content marketing has a crucial part to play. Every company, irrespective of its size or field of business, is devoting quite a good amount of time to concentrate on it. There’s no doubt that it is necessary for expanding your business. But in case of a small business, having a correct content marketing strategy should be the top priority.
The small business has limited funds, limited resources. They need a definite strategy for content marketing to hit the spot right away. However, the reality is different. Small businesses often ignore the basic strategy. The result is obvious. You must be investing your time, money and energy. But because of the wrong strategy, everything can fail.
What’s the reason that contributes to the failure? You must be losing all peace of mind pondering over this and yet do not find any answer. Take a look at the mistakes that small businesses generally commit and determine how you need to correct them.
The Mistakes that might Affect Your Business
#1. When content becomes promotional
When you are browsing through various websites and clicking through every kind of article, certainly you won’t waste your time reading a promotional content. So, the same holds true for your website visitors as well.
You need to promote your business, true. But when you post a promotional content, your visitors will feel like they are reading a product description on some online shopping site. As a result, they will come to your website, but won’t stay for long.
#2. Lack of focus
Blogs give you a vast opportunity to talk about the things that you would want to share. But that certainly does not mean that you can talk about anything and everything.
If you follow any blog today, you will find there is a certain pattern of the contents that they post. They have the topics that are pre-decided. They talk about those things that arouse interest of their target audience. The main thing in content marketing is to know what you want to say. That will help you to figure out who your target audience are. Once you find out both these aspects, focus on that. Many a small business ignore this part and hence, are negatively impacted.
#3. Inconsistency
This is not a mistake, but a serious crime in the world of content marketing. You can’t just suddenly appear in the web world with an intriguing content, vanish for days, and then suddenly re-appear out of the blue after a long time. Remember, in a web world full of content on various topics, people won’t remember a single content for long. So, to stay in their memory for a while, you need to be consistent. Most of the small businesses lack consistency.
#4. Content doesn’t reflect the persona
Have you ever wondered why people go through so many different contents while browsing on a single topic? And how does a casual reader becomes a devoted follower? Simple. They want to hear a voice, not just the old player that plays the old track again and again. If you have a new perspective to offer, then the reader will follow you. If you are lucky, they will recommend your blog too.
A content, which lacks persona, does not leave any mark on the mind of the audience. Often small businesses post the contents that feel more like the set of instruction or description. But the readers don’t want you to speak to them. They want to have a conversation, as Forbes puts it, may be an informal chat with you.
#5. Trying too hard or not trying at all
You don’t need to post a content just for the sake of posting it. This is one of the most common mistakes committed by the content marketing teams of small companies. If you keep on repeating what you had said in your previous contents, it won’t be able to retain the reader’s interest for long. Trying to find out what new you can offer is one way to keep your audience interested.
However, if you want your every post to go viral, then you are seriously mistaken. To get more traffic and acquire more hits, many small businesses try too hard while developing a content. Frankly, this unrealistic expectation costs them most. If you are trying too hard in every content, pushing yourself too further, a time will come when you will lose the grip. As a result, your content marketing strategy will fall flat.
How to Correct the Mistakes
There are the obvious reasons like you need to be consistent as well as focused. But before that, all you need to do are follow a few easy steps to make these corrections easier.
- Stop talking about yourself. Make your audience feel like you are guiding them. Let them find their own destination. Using content for brand endorsement is not always a good idea. Instead, use content to compel the audience to think about you.
- List out the topics you want to cover through your blog. Think about answering the questions even before your reader asks for them.
- What do you require for your blog? Make it clear to the content developers you are trusting on. Set a specific guideline and pattern for them. Once you have set your focus on what you want to say through your blog and you have figured out who your target audience are, ask your writers to incorporate those things in the contents they are developing.
- Remember, yours is a small business. So, before you target the international market, think twice. Local people trust those business more that focus on the local market. Your potential consumers are local. So think about their needs and market the content keeping that in mind.
- Make sure that your reader can remain in touch with you if they wish so. If someone devotes their time to read your blog and leave comments, then make sure that you reply to all those comments, especially when they ask any question. If you ignore to do that, they will lose interest in your blog.
- Use analytics. It will help you measure your performance. Keep a track of it. Regular measuring and updating will help you to remain relevant in the market for a long while.
In the distracting world of web, there are many of your peers who are trying to reach your consumers. Your job is to steal the show. If you are failing somewhere, correct yourself immediately. You already know the main reasons why your content marketing can fail. Now you have a clear idea of what you need to avoid to have a successful content marketing strategy for your small business.