The 3 Deadly Sins of Content Marketing

The world of communications and marketing has embraced the era of content marketing with open arms. Content marketing is perhaps most commonly understood—and if you go by Google’s definition in Figure 1—as online content that isn’t a direct sales pitch, but rather aims to encourage the audience to view the brand in question favorably. In other words, it’s not about trying to force the proverbial horse to drink, but rather gently guiding it toward the water.

Yet, many of us have had painful experiences with content created for that very purpose.

“Content disguised as a blog post that doesn’t benefit me won’t work,” said someone I recently spoke with. “And a hard sell just turns me off.”

Someone else I spoke with said, “You should have something to say. Blog posts written just for the sake of it aren’t convincing at all. I don’t need some nonsense that just wastes my time.”

That said, I think we are at a stage in the content marketing lifecycle where leading organizations already know how to master the art. A recent report by the Content Marketing Institute shows that 62% of North American content marketers feel that their organization’s content marketing success has improved compared to the previous year. The two main reasons cited for this improvement were:

• Higher-quality and more effective content production (cited by 85% of respondents)
• The development or adjustment of content strategy (72% of respondents).

Why, then, is an encounter with content marketing so often such an unpleasant experience? Pic 2 outlines the deadly sins of content marketing. They are hard sell (“We opened a new gas station you CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT!”), rubbish insights (“When buying IT services, it’s important to have an IT strategy.”), and crappy execution (“Our experts have great expertise—book your time slot for a call with our phone support now!”).

The underlying cause of poor content marketing—which manifests itself in the three deadly sins—is that it fails to focus on actually helping the customer, whose ultimate question in any commercial interaction will be, “What’s in it for me?” Changing one’s attitude toward content marketing is the first step toward improving at it.

This first step should lead to the elimination of the three deadly sins.

There’s a lot more to this topic. I’ll be back with more tips in future posts. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or just want to chat, please feel free to email me or give me a call. And thanks for reading this far!

  
The world of communications and marketing has discovered the joys of so-called content marketing. Content marketing often refers—and if Google’s definition is to be believed—specifically to online content that does not directly promote a particular brand, but rather aims to generate interest in products or services.

Many of us have had painful experiences with content marketing.

“Content that’s supposed to be blog-style sales copy but doesn’t benefit me doesn’t work,” said someone I recently interviewed on the subject. “Hard-sell tactics really get on my nerves.”

Another person I asked about this was even more outspoken:

“You’ve got to have something to say. Forced blogs aren’t convincing. No bullshit that just wastes my time.”

We are likely at a stage in the content marketing lifecycle where the most skilled organizations are already mastering the art form. A recent study by the American Content Marketing Institute reveals that 62% of American B2B content marketers considered their organization’s content marketing to be more successful than in the previous year. Respondents cited higher-quality and more effectively produced content (85%) and the creation or development of a content strategy (72%) as the main reasons for this improved success.

All too often, however, content marketing remains a frustrating experience. The worst offenders include pushy sales tactics (“We’ve opened a super-cool new gas station—you can’t live without it!”), empty platitudes (“When buying IT services, your IT strategy is really important!” and subpar execution (“Our company has experts—book a call with our advisor now!”).

The underlying problem behind these issues is that content marketing overlooks the customer, whose ultimate question is always, “What’s in it for me?” The first step toward eliminating these fatal flaws is for marketers to change their own attitude toward their work.

Content marketing is a broad topic, and more tips are coming soon. Stay tuned.

If you have any questions about this topic, please contact us!