#contentfail8 reasons your content marketing is failing

There’s an awful lot of buzz around content marketing right now. Businesses across Australia and New Zealand are either doing it, planning to do it or being told every day they should be doing it.

But like any marketing activity, there are more ways to get content marketing wrong than there are to get it right. So if you’re thinking twice about investing in content and worried about ROI, check out these 8 reasons content marketing campaigns fail.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help make content marketing work for your business, visit our website to book a demo.

8 reasons your content marketing is failing

“Pop-ups, too much ad content above the fold, pages that take too long to load – these all cost websites visitors and conversions. Users are also quickly turned off when the content they want is difficult to find.

“The hierarchy of information and how the pages are organised is something a lot of website owners still seem to overlook, but it's crucial to a good user experience.

“When a user can't immediately see what to click, they usually click back to the search results and on to a competitor's site.”

Amanda Gross, Managing Editor

1. You have great content, but you make it harder than it needs to be for users to find what they're looking for

“Website layout is so important these days as users are starting to expect beautiful design as well as great content.

“Things like picture quality, size and placement; tidy paragraph structure; and pages that load fast and are easy to navigate will sometimes have more influence over a user's perception than what you've actually written.“

Blair Polwart, Senior Business Development Manager

2. You think substance beats style and present your brilliant content with no thought to the design or layout

“One common issue many websites fall down on is not making their content mobile-friendly.

“More and more people are using devices like tablets and mobiles to look up information on the go, so websites need to be compatible across all platforms.

“Your content could be relevant, interesting and well-written but if it's not accessible on a user's chosen device, they won't read it or act on it.”

Megan Smyth, Content Editor

3. You create awesome content that looks great on a PC or laptop but awful on mobile and tablet devices

“For me it's when brands place less emphasis on their website than the channels they use to promote it.

“Your website should be at the heart of your content marketing strategy and you should think of Facebook, Twitter, EDMs, etc. as channels that drive relevant visitors.

“Social can be great for brand building and engagement, but likes and retweets are no substitute for an awesome website experience that drives conversions.”

Hao Nguyen, Content Strategist

4. You spend time counting your retweets instead of focusing on website traffic and conversions

“I think a lot of brands misuse their Facebook audiences. It's the biggest social media platform in the world, but a lot of businesses treat it as an 'accessory' to their website rather than a valuable tool to increase conversions and engagement.

“A big blunder is buying likes, which might boost your 'Facebook image‘, but only with inactive or irrelevant users.

“Depending on your audience, Facebook can be a really powerful tool for engagement if you're sharing great content rather than just artificially inflating your numbers.”

Alistair Rathbone, Content Strategist

5. You see Facebook as a box to tick rather than a means of engaging your target audience

“My biggest content marketing fail is when a brand goes to either one of the extremes when it comes to search versus user experience.

“If you only care about SEO and you don't put the work into developing an editorial brief that's consistent with your brand and relevant to your audience you're setting yourself up to fail.

“The same applies to placing too much emphasis on catchy headlines or content you personally think is interesting and losing sight of the real objective of your content.

“Sometimes obsessing over minor details in individual articles comes at the expense of securing ROI.”

Gillian Kelly, Content Strategist

6. You let SEO dominate your content strategy or you ignore it completely

“A common fail, especially now that more brands are investing in content marketing, is not getting the most out of infographics, whitepapers, video or other rich, high value content.

“I've seen lots of infographics that are way too small to do them justice or are just too difficult to find on a website.

“A lot of brands are guilty of putting all their effort into creating a graphic, or a whitepaper or a video and then just sticking it on their blog and hoping for the best.

“Great content needs great promotion, whether that's through search, social media, email, paid ads or blogger outreach.”

Martin Cowton, Senior Account Director

7. You invest time, money and effort in high value content assets and then fail to promote them

“From an editorial perspective, spelling errors, bad grammar and poorly written articles really jump out at me.

“If your company or brand is trying to establish itself as an industry leader, who is going to take you seriously if your content is riddled with mistakes?

“This especially rings true for the most visible parts of your content like titles or headlines. This is the first part of the article a reader will look at, and if it's wrong, it will make you look silly.”

Max Koh, Associate Content Editor

8. You produce some compelling content, but then mess it up with spelling mistakes and bad grammar