Content marketing is not for everybody, because is it an investment
If you are not someone who finds peace in knowing what is going on every day, every week, and every month - content marketing is not for you.
If you rather guess your way to success and do not care much for stability - content marketing is not for you.
Not to mention, if you're not up for growing your business with a sturdy foundation and rather proceed like playing Jenga - content marketing is not for you.
What do People Mean When They Say Content Marketing is an Investment?
Fast fact
Key takeaway
Can Content Marketing be paid?
I'm not deliberately saying it to sound ironic. The fact is a lot of business or brand owners rather wing their marketing. To them, it feels like they have spent less money and used less time. They feel more agile, and they believe they might score something big without all the hard work.
And yes, that might happen. But for those who invest in content marketing right, it will happen. And it will happen not once, not twice, but multiple times, in both the near and the far future.
So, if you're struggling with the things below, I suggest you give content marketing a second thought.
1. You don't know what type of content works best for you 2. You don't know what advertisements to roll out
1. You don't know what type of content works best for you
No matter what stage your content is in the funnel; which platform it is distributed on; or what your content objective is, you should see content patterns and know what content performs well. If you have no clue which content triggers the most interest in your target audience, or you never knew its placement in the funnel impacts its execution, you need content marketing.
2. You don't know what advertisements to roll out
We're not talking about the technicalities of setting up an ad or the fine details in the backend; we're talking about what your ad should be. If your ads are based on what your competitors' ads look like, you are not doing content marketing.
3. You don't know if you're reaching the right/ wrong people
It's great that your content is receiving reach and engagement, but do you know if these engagements are right for you? Can you tell if you are reaching the right people based on their profiles, inquiries, or comments? Do you have specifics that justify you are focused on just your target audiences? If your content is for the general mass, that is not content marketing.
4. You don't know what is causing your increase/ drop in metrics
Are you struggling to understand why your reach has gone down or why a certain post has driven in more organic responses than usual? Do you not understand the relationship between your metrics and how your content is affecting their performance? You should know all these if you are doing content marketing.
5. You are unable to replicate the consistent performance
Do you feel like you're testing more than learning most of the time? Can you anticipate your performance next month, or does it feel like you're starting fresh every 30 days? If nothing you are doing today is justified by something you have done last month, you are not doing content marketing.
6. You have no ad benchmarks
Do your ad performances fluctuate so much that you do not understand them? Or do you have a train of ads created based on learnings from before so you can have certain expectations? Though the performance of each ad can be very different, there should always be clear benchmarks from previous learnings.
7. You do not see improvements
There can be good months and bad months, but overall, there should be improvements in your content performance. Whether it'd be engagement, following, or reach, you should see accumulated increases.
8. You're achieving lopsided performance
Do you have a large following but suffer from a low engagement rate? Or do you have a lot of impressions but very few reach? If you're achieving big numbers but they are not relative to your other metrics, this indicates a problem.
9. You do not feel reassured with your content
Someone who is doing content marketing should be spotting potentials every month, is working toward goals, and understand what is going on. Someone who is not will feel frustrated and anxious about their content all the time. They are constantly confused as to why things work or don't work.
It might sound too good to be true but content marketing solves all of the problems above. It's not just a marketing strategy but a journey that can help grow any business. Unlike other forms of marketing, content marketing empowers any owner to truly understand what is driving growth, even if they have a limited budget.
Source: We are Marketing
Imagine the time you'd save just by knowing what content is not worth your while to create. Imagine all the money you'd save just by knowing what ads will drive action. Imagine the mind space you'd regain by knowing your content will do its job and you can concentrate on building relationships with your customers.
Imagine having all of this knowledge while others, especially your competitors, are still testing in the dark. You remain competitive even when others struggle with an algorithm change or a budget cut.
If you are interested in starting or doing content marketing correctly, why not download some of my ultimate guides to content marketing pdf below:
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