5 Indicators That Your Startup Needs A Better Content Marketing Strategy

You are probably very much aware of the fact that content marketing is one of the most widely used and most potentially successful digital marketing strategies at your disposal today. 64% of B2C marketers are extremely committed to content marketing and 72% of marketers find it increases engagement. Yet over 60% of them would like to improve their strategies, start documenting them, and find ways to take them to the next level.

If you are running a startup yourself, and have already started deploying a strategy, you might find it is not performing as well as you had hoped. Here are the five possible reasons this might be the case, and what you can do about it:

#1 You Are Not Creating Content For Your Audience

One of the mistakes most often made by content marketers is targeting the people you think are your core audience. This usually involves no research into target personas, or marketing to yourself (i.e. people like you).

A strategic approach to content marketing is crucial – without it, you are just taking wild stabs in the dark. Before you start creating content, find out who your audience really is. See who your competitors are targeting, explore websites like Quora and Reddit, see what Google Trends has to say. Find out as much as you can about the people that will actually want to buy from you, and only then start taking the next step.

#2 Your Content Is No Different Than Others’

Most of the content you can find online is a simple replica of content that has already been written on that same subject. This is why people tend to lose interest in what you have to say quite fast, as they have seen it all already.

Even if you don’t realize it, you are very unique in the business world. You have your own experiences and views, and this is what you should be sharing with your audience. Use the knowledge you alone are privy to; how best to use your product, how has your product helped someone else solve a problem, what do you think about an article someone else has already written.

Establishing your own voice and point of view will help you set yourself apart from all the other noise out there.

#3 Your Writing Is Bad

No one likes to hear this, but it can easily be the reason no one wants to read your work. Even if it makes perfect sense to you, and even if your team likes it, your target audience may not.

Again, remember you are not writing for yourself: you are trying to convince a certain group of people to try your product or service. You will not do this by speaking to someone like yourself (unless you are your own target audience).

Check the type of voice they like to read, the style, the formatting, the level of formality, everything. Speak to them in a manner they will understand and relate to. Read up on the best ways to written more convincing content, and try to make every fresh article a bit better than the previous one.

#4 You Don’t Promote Your Content

If you are not going to promote your content, you may as well not write it in the first place. Content is nothing without promotion, and there are hundreds of ways to do it. Share it on your social profiles, add it to your newsletter, do blogger outreach, do paid social media ads, do guest blogging, promote it in forums and communities, in Facebook and LinkedIn groups…

And when promoting content, don’t do it without aim or purpose. Think about where you would like to promote a piece before you write it. Who might find it useful? Who could benefit from the tips you offer? Who could be interested in sharing it?

You need to have a fresh set of targets for every new piece you write – because promoting it to the same people will not lead to any new leads or conversions.

#5 You Are Not Monitoring Your Metrics

The only way to know if your content marketing is working is to monitor its performance. How many shares did your piece get on which network? How many clicks, how many impressions? How much time do people spend reading it, how many people have you converted, and how? Find answers to those questions and use it to your advantage for your next piece of content.

Did fewer people read your funny article than your serious article? Did a certain type of CTA work better than another? Did sharing it to a certain influencer get you a lot of leads?

There are dozens of metrics you can choose to track. Pick the ones you feel would work best for your specific type of content and goal, and keep an eye on them every week. Informed content marketing is the only effective form of content marketing.

Test out these tips one by one, and see how they impact your future content marketing efforts. Hopefully, you will see an instant boost in some of your metrics and gain a new appreciation for the power of content.

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