B2B marketers consistently cite creating content that engages as a top challenge of content marketing. That is a genuine hurdle, but making it harder to overcome are the preconceptions that marketing team members likely bring to the effort.
Getting content marketing right is both more complex than its most fervent promoters claim... and easier than doubters fear. Carrying beliefs on either end of the spectrum into a content program will hamper its effectiveness.
The first step toward success? Getting real.
With that in mind, this article busts six content marketing myths that just keep hanging on, and it counters them with reality-based strategies that work.
Myth 1: It's easy! We'll just pull stuff out of our brains
Reality: Brain extraction is a painful process that often results in a mess
When we imagine that we will simply sit down (or, more typically, someone else will sit down) with the intent to create, and then meaningful and readable content will come pouring out, we are kidding ourselves.
The truth, as MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute research shows, is that you need a road map.
The following assets and practices will set you up to regularly produce great content:
- A guiding strategy: What should you be talking about to highlight your expertise and support your business goals? What does your audience want and need? Your content sweet spot will be where the Venn diagram circles overlap.
- An understanding of what good content is: It is useful, insightful, thought provoking, entertaining, or, optimally, all of those things.
- The ability to shape ideas and communicate them: in ways (verbal or visual) that are compelling and relevant to the audience
- Quality control: professional execution that delivers thoughtful copy and arresting visuals
- An editorial calendar for all your content: It will help ensure that you're not stuck on deadline without a good idea and that you cover a mix of topics with timing that's appropriate for your business.
Myth 2: It's hard! We don't have anything to say
Reality: If you have expertise, you have something to say
If you had nothing of value to contribute to the marketplace, you wouldn't be in business, right? And rare is the potential customer who prefers to be blissfully ignorant about what they're buying, why it will make their life easier, or how to use it.
Everyone has information to share that other people want—insights into common problems, tips and how-tos, perspectives on industry trends or news, technical knowledge expressed in plain language, and so on. Common customer questions are great fodder for content marketing, as are best-practices you've developed or tested, observations from the field, and topics people often misunderstand.
Start thinking about your content along these lines, and you'll find you have more than enough to feed a program that spreads your knowledge, nurtures prospects, and increases understanding of your brand and mission.
Myth 3: Repurposing is a snap
Reality: Repurposing is often easier than creating from scratch, but it still requires time and skill
Technically, you could just copy report chapters into your blog, cut out sentences to form tweets, or customize content for disparate audiences by changing the title and doing a bit of search-and-replace work.
But effective repurposing requires some heavy lifting: shaping the content for the medium, the distribution channel, and the audience.
You should absolutely do it: Repurposing gives you maximum value for the time, money, and thought invested in creating the content. And it ensures that the content is accessible to the people you want to reach wherever they are and in whichever format they prefer. You'll just be better prepared—and more successful—if you approach repurposing with the knowledge that doing it well takes some effort.
Myth 4: Content marketing isn't effective in my field
Reality: It can work in any field if you do it right
The key to getting content marketing to work in any field is answering these questions:
- What does your target market care about? Do some research (rather than assuming you know), and be prepared to find out that it's not necessarily the things that matter to your company's internal teams.
- What is your market's level of knowledge? The answer will help you choose topics that tell them something new but aren't completely unfamiliar (and therefore indigestible).
- How and where do they gather information? Tailor your content to those preferences.
Once you have that down, it's just a matter of communicating effectively and getting in front of your audience. (OK, the word just should probably be in quotes, but still... you can do it!)
Pretty much anyone who signs a check is doing research (or reviewing research), and that means they're looking at content. You just have to meet them where they are. If your target audience won't read long articles (or even short ones), use videos. If they don't have regular access to computers (that's still true in some niches), get your knowledge into trade publications. If you know you'll lose them after three bullet points, go for relatively frequent and super-snappy content.
Myth 5: We'll give away the store
Reality: If others could do what you do, they'd be your competitors—not your customers
Professional services firms often worry that if they share their knowledge in any substantive way, potential customers will just do it themselves. But consider this: Typical do-it-yourselfers have no budget for the work, don't see quality as a top priority, or aren't ready to hire someone—or all three. They're not real prospects (at least right now), so you lose nothing by helping them out, and you gain a few karma points. Plus, once they're past the DIY stage, you'll be on their radar.
Real prospects do their research before making a decision, and they want to know how you think. After all, they'll be paying for your expertise and insight. Which brings up a larger point: How-tos probably are not the only type of content you should produce.
Plenty of other types of content provide value and showcase your expertise, including...
- Insights into customers' business problems
- Perspectives on trends or news in your industry or in customers' fields
- Answers to common customer questions
- Discussions of best-practices you've developed or tested
- Articles demystifying challenging technical topics
Myth 6: Sales pitches qualify as content marketing
Reality: You can't build a following by hawking your products and services over and over again
Even your mother doesn't want to hear that from you. Great content informs, intrigues, and leads people to your products and services. Great content is not about your products and services—at least not solely or directly.
You can talk about why your target market needs the type of thing you sell and how they can assess potential benefits. You can do all that without mentioning your product or service at all; and, in most cases, you should keep product mentions to a minimum.
The goal of content marketing is to attract attention, demonstrate expertise, build relationships, and develop a leadership position. Do that, and people will come to you when they need what you have to offer—and then they'll be ready to hear your pitch.
