It seems so attractive: creating content. After all, a company already has a lot of potential content and stories in-house: news, events, knowledge and research that you can share as content. So, just touch up and polish this content, place it online, and you're doing content marketing! Unfortunately, it's like many other things: if you want to do it well, you have to invest money, attention, and time in it. Content marketing won't work if you just throw content out into the world. It deserves research, strategy, and knowledge of the subject. Two common mistakes in content marketing are the lack of research and amplification.
Brands often jump into content marketing too quickly, without doing enough preparation. Of course, there is a lot of pressure on content teams to produce content regularly. But if you want your content to be effective, you first need to know what type of content your audience likes, what content they like to share, and what content they prefer to interact with. You also need to know what your competitors are doing and research what works for them. Once you know this, you can take it into account when producing your content. Your chances of producing relevant and attractive content are much greater if your content answers the questions your audience has. So you need to do your homework.
Do your homework before you start content marketing.
The second point is amplification. Content doesn't do anything if it isn't found. No matter how fantastic your content is, you need a content promotion strategy. You can't simply assume that your audience will find or share your content. It's already difficult enough for consumers to make their way through all the content that comes their way. So you need to think carefully about how you will get your content in front of your audience - through which channels you will offer your content and what it needs to comply with. Search engines are obviously a big place to discover content. That means you need to have SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in order. Or do you need to buy Google Ads, for example. You can also consider working with influencers who can help promote your content. Advertising on social media is also an option.
The most important thing is that you think about this and take action. Otherwise, all the effort you have put into developing your content will be a waste of time and money. Insufficient research and preparation are therefore major pitfalls in content marketing. You therefore need a plan with concrete goals. Before you start developing content, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. These are the two T’s and D's: target, target audience, domain(s), and distribution.
Use the 2 T’s and D's as a guide for your content marketing plan.