Top 10 Content Marketing Myths Debunked

Content Marketing Myths Debunked

Talking about the last millennium, people believed that the earth is the center of the universe, and the stars and the sun-revolved around the earth. Such myths and misconceptions often limit our knowledge and understanding, and if you don’t question what you hear and accept the way things are, they are going to affect us forever. Content marketing isn’t free from such myths and misconceptions either.

Content marketing is becoming increasingly popular across various industries these days. In fact, 9 out of 10 businesses invest in content marketing to enjoy the perks of better engagement and conversion. However, there are only a few who are actually reaping the benefits of this practice. A lot of brands are struggling to find better results in content marketing, because they still believe in myths that stop them from creating the best marketing strategies.

#Myth 1: Content marketing is absolutely digital:

There’s no denying that the content marketing efforts of various brands are quite evident on the digital landscape. But that does not mean that content marketing is purely digital. While most marketers currently prefer to boost the conversion rate by leveraging content marketing efforts, there are plenty of offline applications that can give your content marketing efforts a boost.

To be honest, content marketing has its roots back in the time when nobody could imagine that the internet or search engine optimization would be a real thing. Infographics have been used by marketers to promote their brands when they did not have the option to go digital. Even today, offline content marketing is executed through industry-related magazines and PR-related newspaper articles, which prove to be quite effective.

#Myth 2: Content marketing is only about creating content:

If you believe that producing content is the only thing necessary for a successful content marketing campaign, then you never truly understood the concept of content marketing.Yes, content creation is a crucial aspect of content marketing, but there’s more to it.

A winning content marketing strategy should include concepts for content distribution, communication and interaction with the audience. You also need a content calendar based on your strategy. And you might need to involve other departments in your strategy to explore better opportunities.

#Myth 3: SEO-friendly content is enough to fetch you better results:

Until a few years ago, this statement might have been considered as a fact, but not anymore. Now, if you want to get better results for your content marketing efforts, producing SEO-friendly content is not going to make the cut.

Search engines like Google constantly work towards making search experiences better for the users. At present, Google rewards those pieces of content that serve the users’ search intent, and not just the SEO requirements. As a matter of fact, keyword stuffing can backfire your strategy if it’s not executed properly.

#Myth 4: Content marketing is not ideal for B2B:

It is true that content marketing is quite effective for the B2C brands. The practice allows brands to acquire and retain customers. However, things are not too different for B2B brands. Content marketing can also help the B2B brands to explain complex processes, products or services to their prospective clients.

Since B2B brands have longer sales cycle, their prospects usually spend more time at the top of the funnel. This creates opportunities for engagement and lead nurturing through the use of content. As a marketer, you can guide your prospects along their decision journey. All you need is a better content marketing strategy.

#Myth 5: Content marketing is only for Google rankings:

As mentioned before, content marketing is effective in both the online and offline mediums. It is definitely not just for Google rankings. Furthermore, if you only consider the digital aspect of content marketing, even then Google rankings are not the only concern for content marketers.

Content marketing is primarily done by keeping the target audiences in mind. If you have it otherwise, then you are definitely wrong. Yes, Google plays a pivotal role in helping you reach the audience, but there are other factors too. If the content is not interesting or meaningful to the audience, Google cannot help you anyway.

#Myth 6: The more content, the better:

You may have heard it before that too much of anything can be bad. The same goes for the content you use for your strategy. Preferring quantity over quality is not the best way to go with your content marketing efforts.

Instead of generating loads of content for the sake of it, take some time to know your target audience. Find out how they consume content and develop the strategy accordingly. Create content that is meaningful to the audience. Also, repurpose the content when it seems necessary.

#Myth 7:Finding a great writer is easy and affordable:

If you think quality writers are cheap and easy to find, then you are terribly mistaken. First of all, quality writers are hard to find. And if you find one, they are most likely to charge a decent amount of money, as their demand is growing exponentially every day.

It will be better for you if you approach a writer, keeping it in mind that he or she is going to charge a good amount of money. Hiring a freelancer is a good option, as they charge lesser than the regular writer. However, if you want to boost your marketing efforts with quality content, you may need to hire someone who knows how to deliver quality content at a regular interval.

#Myth 8: Content marketing is for specific business organizations:

A lot of people still believe that their businesses cannot benefit from content marketing. In reality, content marketing is not only beneficial for a few types of industries.It is actually about building a relationship with your customers through fresh and informative content. This is something applicable to almost every business – be it a grocery shop or an assignment help provider.

Since you don’t need several years of experience to generate good content, no matter what industry you are in, you can use content marketing to your advantage. The key to better content creation is less focused on self-promotion and more on adding value to the customers. Content marketing helps you to create more opportunity to pull people in. So,every business can benefit from it.

#Myth 9: Content marketing activities must drive sales:

Well, if you think that content marketing will start producing results right away, then you are sorely mistaken. Nothing happens overnight, especially when the objective is to improve sales and drive ROI. Content marketing is a continuous process that takes a significant amount of time to show significant results.

You can follow several metrics to measure the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts. Page views, number of download, search traffic, subscriptions, social share, etc. can help you quantify the conversions and retention as well as improve brand awareness. As you may realize, content marketing helps you to build your brand. It can improve your sales and ROI, but that’s a long shot.

#Myth 10: Every content is good content:

Content marketing is all about interacting with your audience and building a better relationship with them. If you think you can continue your interaction using all sorts of content, then you need to think again. All groups of audiences have their own set of preferences. In most of the cases, if you try to engage them with something that they are not looking for, you are not going to get a positive response.

Understanding your audience can help you to think of a better content marketing strategy. You can learn where your target audiences spend most of their time. It can help you to target specific social media platforms, traditional electronic media like radio and television, or even the newspaper.

Even though content marketing is practiced across all the industries, some marketers are still unaware of the truth. As mentioned earlier, content marketing is a continuous process, and you cannot expect the results overnight. However, if your marketing team is still working on the aforementioned misconceptions, it might just take longer for you to generate ROI.

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