5 Reasons Why Content Marketing Fails

Content marketing not working? Picture the scene. You’re writing content. You’re publishing it everywhere you can think of: blogs, emails, Facebook, Instagram…

And what do you have to show for it? Nada. Or at least, very little.

Sound like you? Don’t worry. This blog post will cover the 5 reasons why content marketing fails to convert, make sales or retain customers. Buckle in – some hard truths are ahead…

1. Random Acts Of Content Marketing

Not to be confused with random acts of kindness. Random acts of marketing are, essentially, when you have a scattergun approach to creating and releasing content. You’re putting random things out on your blog as and when you think of them. You’re updating your social media only when you remember it exists. 

You’re trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades and – you guessed it – you’ve become a master of none!

If your approach to content is simply to have an (already overworked) employee push out a corny Facebook post or hurriedly type out a blog post, are you really surprised that your randomness is one of the reasons why content marketing fails to bring you any revenue?

When it comes to marketing, you absolutely need to have a goal in mind. What is your material trying to achieve?

Not sure what to do with your strategy? Here are some common ones:

• Generate leads – convert more of your visitors into subscribers 

• Increase conversion rates – make more of those eyes on your site light up and go: ‘Ooh, I should contact them.’ 

• Improve retention – when you want to keep existing customers coming back!

• Increase traffic – bring more new prospects to your site

Try using just one of these goals in your marketing strategy to start with. Map your client’s journey from the moment they land on your website. Where do you want to go next? What small step can you get them to take in order to reach that goal? 

2. Me, Me, Me…

We all have that one person in our lives who makes everything about themselves. Even when they’re responding to something that you’re saying. 

Don’t be that person when it comes to your business.

One of the most epic reasons why content marketing fails is because it focuses too much on your business – and not enough on the customer. With every sentence you write, you need to be asking yourself: what’s in it for the customer?

Take the home page of your website, for example. How much of it is ‘I’ language – about your business, your experience, what makes you unique – and how much of it speaks to what the reader is actually going to care about? Themselves and their problem.

So, address their pain points straightaway. Don’t waste time with the ‘welcome to our site’ nonsense – yaaaaaaawn. 

Let them know that you get what they’re feeling, what they are struggling with or trying to solve, and show them they’re in the right place before they inevitably hit that ‘Back’ button and you’re lost in a sea of competitors. 

Remember: the ‘you’ language to ‘we’ language ratio on your content should be at least 5:1!

3. You Publish Inconsistently

Inconsistency is one of the chief reasons why content marketing fails to generate a return. From an algorithmic point of view, it can take months of regular posting before Google knows that your blog or your social media exists.

Hold up, though – let’s not forget the human perspective. How would you feel if your friends ignored you for weeks on end, then suddenly showered you with attention when they needed something from you? It’s frustrating, no?

Now imagine how your customers must feel only hearing from you once in a while. They won’t feel valued. They’re unlikely to remember your name when it pops up in their email inbox. And they certainly won’t be ready to open their purses for you. 

Be sure to have a consistent schedule when it comes to content marketing. There are hundreds of pieces of scheduling software available to help you publish your blogs, send your emails and create social media posts with just a few clicks!

4. You Don’t Actually Answer Your Customers’ Questions

Do you want to know the main reasons why content marketing fails? Of course you do – that’s why you clicked on this blog post! And that’s part of the point. Your content should resolve the questions your potential customers have about your product or service before they buy. 

Why?

Because it builds trust. It does not pay to withhold information from your customers. Answer their questions before one of your competitors does it first!

A great exercise when coming up with a marketing strategy is to list the main questions your prospects ask you. This could be anything – from cost, to how it works, to comparing your service with another one with similar benefits. 

And don’t be sleazy; lay it all out on the table. If they ask for cost, don’t be one of those ‘it depends’ kind of people. Tell them straight-up. 

5. Your Content Is Hard To Read

This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad writer. It doesn’t even mean that your ideas are one of the reasons why content marketing fails to deliver for you.

You see, writing content is a skill. Not enough people realise that. In an era where the average time spent on a webpage is just 3 measly seconds, your writing might not be quite striking enough to catch your leads before they head for the door. 

Our world is full of distractions. Your job as a content marketer (or business owner masquerading as a content marketer!) is to cut through the noise and get directly to the client’s pains and frustrations. Gone are the days when you just had to create a flicker of interest. Now, you must be a vibrant beacon that screams: ‘I can help you!’

Again – this doesn’t mean your writing sucks. It’s just that the pass mark continues to climb higher and higher. 

The best thing you can do for this is to find someone – either within your company or through outsourcing – who can take your key messaging and run with it. A persuasive copywriter who goes along answering the questions and objections your leads have before they even realise they have them will truly change your life. You’ll see!

Baby Steps

It’s important not to tackle all the reasons why content marketing fails at once. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the perfect marketing strategy!

If you’re looking for more inspiration on how to fix your content marketing and convert more of your leads, why not check out this post on the top 5 ways to make your content more engaging? 

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