Myths of Content Marketing
Content marketing does not sell, it is unprofitable to invest in it… This is one of the myths, which, in general, are not so many. Although research shows that more and more money is being invested in content marketing, this area of marketing is still surrounded by various myths and misrepresentations, which are often replicated by marketers or disgruntled owners business.
Sales
Content marketing cannot replace pure sales and has never had such aspirations. Content activity can arouse the need to buy, participate in the sales funnel, but in itself it should never be solely focused on sales – there are other channels and tools for this.
However, content marketing can do a great job of driving sales; educate the target group, provide valuable advice on key issues and help build a coherent brand image.
All meaningful work must be properly measured. Only then can one be convinced of the strength or weakness of the content created. Cold leads (low sales) or specific actions will also be good ebook download indicators, subscribe to the newsletter and fill out the contact form.
Content marketing is just text for SEO
There is no doubt that the content we create must be optimized. This applies to product descriptions as well as blog posts or even YouTube video descriptions. The saturation with relevant key phrases should be natural and reflect the key queries of the target groups. The process goes far beyond the strict field of SEO.
Content marketing often overlaps with other areas of the marketing network. It is a great basis for communication in managed media (Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram), it can also be a starting point for PR activities (interviews, e-book, case study, reports, research, etc.).
Content marketing also gives you a wider field to describe the merits of your email marketing activities (newsletter differentiation). The process is also very closely related to influencer marketing and has long since dissociated itself from the pernicious combination of purely “search engine” writing.
Content marketing doesn’t pay off
As with the SEO industry, this activity takes time. Content should start getting indexed, domain authority and citation flow should be created. Blog entries should be published regularly, advertised on social media and distributed in newsletters. When investing in the content itself (without any support), the content will not bring any tangible benefits in the short term.
There is so much content on the Internet every day that it is almost miraculous to reach specific target groups with naked content, without additional outreach efforts. Of course, if you develop the environment over the years, organic traffic will increase significantly over time, which means that the cost of paid support will be lower, but all this will take time.
Well-designed actions that align with your content marketing strategy will start to pay off. Content is like PR, you just need to be consistent.
Nothing but the written word
Content marketing is associated with the written word, but fortunately, this narrow perception of this area of marketing is rapidly changing. Content = this is also:
- video,
- podcasts,
- infographics, photo galleries,
- user-generated content,
and even memes and GIFs!
Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality and other technological innovations are the opportunity to create hybrid content where the classic written word gives way to or complements an engaging visual message. Understanding content marketing solely in terms of the written word is a dangerous oversimplification.
Myths and stereotypes are characterized by the fact that they simply explain the complex reality. Their popularity cannot be blamed on incompetent marketers or impulsive business owners. The marketing industry is also not without flaws.
More than one brand could experience poor service quality, without clearly defined goals, strategies and measurability of the activities carried out. However, there is no antidote for this. There are rumors and stereotypes in every industry, and the content marketing market is no exception.