What are some common beginner mistakes in Content Marketing?

There are a lot of things that beginners do when they start their content marketing journey, and one of the best methods is to learn from your mistakes.

So, what are the most common mistakes made by beginners?

1. Content marketing = advertising (and vice versa)

One of the most common mistakes is to identify advertising with content marketing. And I don’t mean you can’t talk about your product, service, or brand, but many companies create content that is full of sales buzzwords. Great content should come with value for the user, not with sales cliches. It’s better to share your experiences, research results, or, for instance, ideas on how to use your product.

Beginners sometimes perceive content marketing as a temporary campaign, rather than ongoing activities. I like the saying that content marketing is not a race, but a marathon. Content creation takes time, as well as patience but if the activities are carried out properly — you will see the results. Writing the copy is not everything, you also need to deal with its distribution, promotion, sometimes you need to make some changes, or, for instance, recycle the post.

2. No strategy. No goals set

Those who just start with content marketing, rarely have a strategy in place, so it’s hard to match it with a specified goal. They also can’t specify what goals they want to achieve… There’s no effective way to conduct things that work without clearly defining what’s most important at a certain stage.

Setting a goal will make it much easier to measure the success of content marketing activities. Content marketing brings spectacular results, but it doesn’t happen immediately. It is essential to make a roadmap and divide the work into stages to measure its effectiveness in the future easily.

3. Knowing nothing about the target audience

It is necessary to identify the target audience — who they are, what are they doing, what are their interests, what can you offer them, what language they use (more or less formal, business, slang, etc.).

Content marketing is mainly about delivering valuable content that is useful to the audience. Without specifying the target group, it will be difficult to tell the story that interests them.

4. Setting expectations too high

Content marketing activities help you increase your website traffic, improve the number of leads generated, etc., but you need to remember that it is because of great content promotion strategy. Creating even the best content is only part of the success. Without the distribution, you won’t get the best results.

What’s more, beginners usually want to see the results in the shortest time possible (who doesn’t?) and they are getting frustrated if the number of visits is close to zero, just a few days after the publication. Again: content marketing takes time.

5. Doing all at once

Posting content in all possible social channels (each of them at the same time), adding blog entries and publishing on company-related websites… Sounds great, but focusing on such activities when you’re just about getting started with content marketing may lead to failure. Or you’ll be just tired of it.

At first, select one or two channels on which you will post valuable content. Let it be, for instance, a blog and one of the social channels. Focus on the subject matter, improve the quality of the entries and take care of their distribution. The more content you create, the more you’ll get used to, and over time you’ll be able to successfully expand your activities. Never bite more than you can chew.

6. Lack of (effective) content distribution

This one is made even by experienced content creators. We all know that even the best piece of content will disappear in the depths of the internet without proper promotion. If you care about your work, the distribution should be as important to you as content creation.

7. Giving up so easily

Last, but not least… As I mentioned before, the effects of content marketing are not immediate. These are long-lasting activities that are also one of the most profitable, but you need to be patient. Many people are discouraged even after the first attempt to publish something on a blog or somewhere over the internet. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

My advice: Don’t be afraid to ask. If you’re not sure about something or wondering how to plan your work, ask someone who has more experience.

To sum up, no one is perfect, and we all make mistakes. The point is to get the most out of the expert knowledge shared over the internet and learn from your mistakes.

Credit: Sandra Wróbel-Konior