Pick Your Poison—Four Nightmarish Content Marketing Mistakes

I’ll admit, when I decided to write a Halloween-related post for the blog, I was most excited about shamelessly showing off pictures of my dogs in their costumes. Who doesn’t love a Dachshund dressed like a hot dog? It’s cliché, I know, but throw me a bone (see what I did there?). Then, I thought about it more, I decided that Halloween is really more about things that are nightmare inducing. And, in our line of work, what’s more terrifying than seeing hard-working companies make bad content marketing mistakes? Absolutely nothing, my friends.

Here are four content marketing mistakes we need to put in their graves:

Not having a strategy

Did you know only 44 percent of marketers have a documented content strategy? And did you also know that out of the 56 percent that don’t have a documented strategy, 84 percent of them claim that they are ineffective at content marketing? These numbers speak for themselves. Come up with a strategy, document it and stick to it.

Not tracking content

Let’s say you have a large sum of money to invest at your will. Now, this investment could potentially reap sizable benefits for you if you are smart about where you’re putting your money. Do you think you would pick a stock, throw your money into it and never glance at it again? Of course not! Why do some companies do this with their content? Tracking content allows you to see your ROI more clearly, which, in turn, allows you to tweak your strategy to reach its maximum potential.

Not increasing audience engagement

Pet costumes were estimated to bring in $339 million in 2013. It comes as no surprise that PetSmart has, in recent years, capitalized on the pet costume trend, and now regularly hosts a costume photo contest with pretty hefty prizes. The thing that’s strategic about this is that people are not only able to upload pictures of their dressed-up pets, but they are also able to vote for their favorites. This kind of audience engagement drastically increases page visits to their website and social media outlets.

Not letting the experts help you

It’s challenging to create customized content, especially when you’re not thoroughly trained in the latest techniques. Do yourself a favor and hire the experts. The return you’ll get from your investment will far outweigh the time you might waste trying to go it alone. There are companies out there, like EnVeritas Group, that specialize in content marketing and can guarantee better results for your company.

As you can see, it’s imperative that your company falls into the category of “business with a content marketing plan.” If you don’t have one at all, it’s time to sit down and start mapping out ideas. If you do have a plan, then be sure to keep track of your investments and work on increasing audience engagement. Your potential clients want to know you! If you think you need some help in these areas, then contact a content marketing professional. If you’re really on top of your game and have everything covered, then just sit back and enjoy some photos of a few members of our crew dressed up for Halloween…

…and of course a few shots of my aunt’s and my dachshunds.

Did you enjoy this post? Read more from Caralee. 

Caralee Culpepper – Writer and Message Board Specialist