This post is for my readers who are entrepreneurs.
There are some common misconceptions about what quality content means and how it fits in the marketing strategy. Those lacking the understanding of how this part of the business works, persist in making content marketing mistakes and lose plenty of opportunities on this account.
The most widespread notion is that all it takes is creating a funny, wise, or information-filled article to promote a business and things are going to go smoothly. What is funny to someone isn’t necessarily funny to everybody. Stand-up comedians do thorough research on the topics of the moment, those that might incite the most interest and are more controversial, that are surrounded by heated debates, which have a better chance at striking a reaction in a larger part of the auditorium.
Information-filled articles are also very important, but business-wise, it’s important to know what information arouses interest in the targeted audience. Providing unique and plagiarism free content is important, so you might want to check out the plagiarism checker. But getting the message in front of the targeted audience’s eyes is equally relevant. We’ll detail some of the most important mistakes found in the marketing planning and how to overcome them, in what follows.
Poorly Written or Copied Content
One of the biggest marketing mistakes is to underestimate the importance that customers give to an article’s content quality, in forming an opinion on the business it presents. Especially online, where checking its uniqueness, spelling or mistakes is only a couple of clicks away. A text filled with misspelling mistakes speaks plenty on the lack of interest that the company has for this sort of promotion of its business. It can also be seen as a lack of respect for its targeted customers. In both cases, it does more damage than good, to the point where it might be better to not publish such a text at all.
Another aspect clients are sensible of is the uniqueness of the ideas presented. A promoting article should reveal the strengths of the business and the traits that make it stand out between competitors. Presenting content copied from elsewhere cancels this effect altogether. There are several free tools, available online, that can alert on these mishaps: tools that verify the use of grammar, free online plagiarism checker, even readability and style pointers. It’s easy to prevent the occurrence of such unpleasant situations by using these options, especially when writing the content is externalized, or when there isn’t anyone responsible for proofreading and plagiarism check.
Also, if the language the content is written is not one you are proficient in, be sure to use native speakers both to write and proofread the articles, before submitting them. Handing this task to students, for example, could mean saving some money for the moment, but it might create irreparable damage in the long run.
Analyzing the Data Pertaining to the Market
Before starting the lengthy process of creating content and publishing it online, thorough research must be done. Not knowing into detail the market your business is addressing, is textbook mistake. Analyzing competitors is a must. Knowing where your strengths lie, how your strategy differentiates your business from theirs, making sure that no plagiarism issues might appear, all are mandatory.
Also, knowing the interests of the customers, the marketing campaign addresses, finding their primary and secondary needs and knowing the elements that catch their eyes, is crucial. Not going through this type of research is as if a stock exchange broker starts investing money in companies he knows nothing of. Surely, he might get some of these investments right, but the probability of losing money is quite high.
The Stage of Purchasing, Customers are In
Several studies and papers state that the buying process takes a customer through 3 stages:
- hearing about it, having mild to no interest in the matter, but registering the info and placing it on a shelf for future addressing;
- The need grows in importance and can’t be ignored any longer, the client does his research and creates his shortlist of options
- The customer decides upon a single variant and finalizes the purchase.
There are two ways to address these aspects through content. First, your product or service is suited only for a single stage of the three, therefore the content needs to be adapted to the specifics of that stage. For instance, doing a push to seal a deal, when a customer is only in the awareness stage is profoundly annoying, and the customer has zero chances to pursue further.
The second aspect sees the customer being gradually taken throughout all stages, from indecisiveness, through the argumentative stage, towards the final purchase. Following this scenario, there is a higher percentage of finalized sales than in the previous. For this, the articles need to respond to the requirements of all levels presented above, in a complete manner.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is still a domain that not many people know how it works or what it actually means. However, having an SEO specialist to look after the online part of the marketing plan makes the difference between success and failure. The concept is closely related to the quality of the content, its uniqueness being of utmost importance, but it’s far from being the only thing that matters. An SEO specialist knows what tools to use for checking paper for plagiarism free, how to find the proper keywords that would return the best results with different search engines, how to create a successful backlink network, the way to use social media to increase traffic and so on. And most important, the one responsible for the SEO strategy needs to be aware of the changes that are constantly happening in this field, as search engines always update their rules and evaluation systems.
Periodically Reviewing the Data that Results from the Marketing Strategy
A stage that many overlook refers to evaluating the results of the chosen marketing strategy. The business domain is dynamic. Entrepreneurs need to be in a constant change in order to ensure they are always in demand. For this to happen, they need to check the effectiveness of the marketing plan they have in motion, insist on the aspects that perform well, replace those that did not go accordingly and come up with new ideas, based on the current trends.
At first glance, it might seem that it isn’t that much to marketing online and content creating, aspects that anybody could get done. However, marketing is real science and as all sciences go, it implies a lot of research, quantitative calculus and probabilities theory, efficient organizing and planning, with a bit of creativity involved when creating unique content. It’s a complex matter, but the good part is that it can be learned. Starting with learning from others’ mistakes, such as those described above.
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