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5 Ways To Fix Bad Content Marketing

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How can you tell if your content marketing approach is working?    fix bad content marketing

It should connect with prospects and convert them into buyers; otherwise, it’s a failure!

Oftentimes, bloggers and content marketers get carried away into an unknown territory where they assume that things would eventually turn out right.

But the truth is that they’re not doing what is takes to bring success.

It doesn’t really matter who visits your blog or how many targeted visitors stumbled at you this month, you’ve got to learn how to convert them.

That’s the essence of getting into this University – content marketing.

In order to prevent failures from happening, it’s important to know the leading causes of content marketing death.  They are:

 

1.    Content That’s Overloaded with Buzzwords and Too Much Marketing Hype

If you’re trying too hard to show you’re “in the know” by dropping the latest hot new words into your content, you can get sidetracked from your goal, which is to provide useful information to your audience.

Action Steps to Avoid This:

  • – Quit Selling

Keep in mind that your audience can sniff out an ad from miles away, and take the promotion out of your content.

  • – Whip Out the Red Pen

Be your own editor and get rid of every buzz phrase.

  • – Take a cue from Hemingway

Be concise.  Use simple words and ordinary language rather than fluffy, flowery prose.

  • – Write with Active Tense

Rather than using a complicated form of sentence structure, write plain, straightforward sentences with a subject, verb, and object.

 

2.    Content That’s Too Dependent and Biased

Keep in mind that the audience you’re writing for is probably just as smart as you are.  Consumers want information, and the stats are there to prove it.  According to Nielsen, 68% of consumers trust consumer opinions posted on the internet.

Action Steps to Avoid This:

  • – Provide Original Research

This should be high-quality content that comes from a trusted third party.  Don’t use questions that show favoritism towards your product.  On slideshare, Altimeter does an excellent job of this.

  • – Take Advantage of Other People’s Platforms

Develop content for third party media sites and blogs.  It would also be a kind gesture to support the content creation of other people by giving examples and quotes.  You can use a great free resource called Help a Reporter Out to do this.

 

3.    Content That’s Too Generic to work

Fill-in-the-blank content is boring, bland, and totally worthless.  How can you tell if your content isn’t specific enough?  If you can substitute another brand or product for what’s mentioned in your content, then you need to be more specific.

After all, specific details are what will help your potential customer with their decision to make a purchase.

Action Steps to Avoid This:

  • – Answer Questions From Your Customers

Get insight into the questions your customers are asking and provide the answers.  Although this strategy might seem like a common sense approach, it’s proven to be so effective that it’s been called “the secret sauce.”

  • – Demonstrate How Your Product is Used

Provide a mini-tutorial to put your product in context for your prospects.  You choose from a variety of mediums to do this, whether it’s through blog posts, presentations, or e-books.

  • – Develop Visual Content

People can consume visual content much quicker than they could otherwise, and visuals give you a specific way to showcase your product in action.

 

4.    Aiming Too Low

You found a website that accepts guest posts from anyone, so it should be the perfect place to submit a guest post, right?  Not so fast.  When you post your content on “spammy” sites, you lower your credibility.

What’s more:  having your site linked to one of these sites could even lower your search rankings!

Action Steps to Avoid This: 

  • – Do Your Homework

Research websites ahead of time to come up with a list of contenders for your content.

  • – Post Selectively

Remember that the websites you choose to post on will ultimately be a reflection of you.  Publish your content in places where you would be proud to see it.

 

5.    Failing to Acknowledge Bloggers and Influencers

If you don’t acknowledge bloggers and influencers, not only will you end up looking bad, but your content will also lose its effectiveness.

This means that you shouldn’t do things like badger bloggers with a generic form letter you’ve written asking them to host your guest post without even acknowledging the bloggers by name in your letter.

It also means you shouldn’t forget to check the blog post after it goes live and ignore comments from readers.

Action Steps to Avoid This:

  • – Be Responsible

If you want to submit a guest post for someone’s blog, show some courtesy by referring to them by name in your letter.  After submitting, you should also check back for edits if necessary.

  • – Be Responsive

Show readers you care by reading their comments and responding to them.

This makes your audience more likely to read your posts in the future because they’ll know that you value their input, and it also makes them more likely to favor your brand over another one.

For instance, if you do marketing for school bus sales, and you respond to comments you receive on a post you’ve written, readers and consumers will be more inclined to go with your company when making a purchase.

 

When to start fixing bad content marketing…

Today.

Yes, right now. The marketing strategies that you use can either make or break your content.

By making smart decisions about what you post and where you post it, you can avoid the mistakes listed above and instead get the results you want. It’s time to say goodbye to content marketing killers, and hello to content marketing that kills the competition.

Have you experienced any success after fixing a low-quality content or updated a social media profile or started doing guest blogging the right way? Please share your short story below. You’re Awesome!

Michelle is a blogger who currently freelances for a company promoting school bus sales. She has a passion for the Internet, specifically social media and blogging. She loves how social media connects people across the globe, and appreciates that blogging gives her the opportunity to voice her thoughts and share advice with an unlimited audience. Follow her on Google+.

51 thoughts on “5 Ways To Fix Bad Content Marketing”

  1. Nice review Michael Chibuzor. I tell you, I’m loving your blog more each day. I definitely will be featuring you in a blog post very soon.

  4. this post illustrates an point that I have been championing for a while now: that organizations need to focus less on brand/image promotion and more on cause/story promotion. People don’t care so much about content FROM organization/company A, but they may care to read content ABOUT issue B. As you and others point out the key shift in thinking is about creating value for your supporters. While it may be easier than ever for organizations to simply produce content, with the overwhelming amount of information out there it may just be harder than ever for marketers to create compelling and engaging content.

  6. Great article. These are all things that I intuitively understand, but have not always acted upon. Thanks for the reminder and specific directions to accomplish what needs to be done. I’m going to be overhauling my site this fall and I’ll be working on all these things.

  7. Content marketing is getting difficult day by day because everyone is now focusing on the quality content and still very articles go viral, I really like the picture you use in your blog, Nice Write up.
    Regards,
    Frank

  8. When you develop your content marketing strategy, make sure that the material you publish can reach and attract a large volume of online users. This will help your business continue to grow in recognition, search visibility and of course, sales.

  9. By genuine google hates bad content ever. As possible as Long post will surely get into google rank fastly and clearly.

    Marketing is also a synonym to it. Hope Newbies Understand . Thanks for nice post

  11. Absolute fantastic content you got here i must confess. I presently have two wordpress blogs and these tips will go a long way in enhancing my blog followership. Thanks for sharing

  15. Hi Michael, how are you?

    You’re good, the time to fix bad content marketing is definitely now, one thing I think I am doing or not doing is; the not acknowledgment fellow bloggers. You’ve done a great job, thanks and God bless you.

    Regards

  17. Seriously the way you write your posts is simply amazing, i am very impressed by you, i want to say the words and the knowledge you put in the post both are very impressive, i want to thank you for sharing such a great post and want to say i going to subscribe to your posts.

  18. Seriously, you have done a lots of hard work, i am subscribing to your blog post, because the talent that you have is amazing and i appreciate your hard work, your words are amazing in your posts and i want to hear more from you.

  19. Selling a lot with your articles is a really bad thing and instantly turns down a reader’s interest from that piece of article. Less selling can give you better results if you are focused more on providing results and important things to your readers.

  21. This is very true Michael, I’m one of the people who get pissed off by bad contents. What I understand is that if your content is poor then the journey of ranking will take forever and you won’t get same visitors daily which is a great loss.

  22. Trying not to sound like a salesman when you’re writing is important. You shouldn’t even really have to “try”. Blogging should never feel like a job, either to you or your readers. People like to read content that sounds natural, not marketing packages.

  23. Take a cue from Hemingway? Right, I’ll drink several bottles of wine a day and hit the gin and absinthe before it’s midday.

    Actually, the strange thing about re-reading The Old Man and the Sea recently was his poor use of language. There were so many superfluous “that”s I couldn’t believe his editor didn’t pick up it 60+ years ago. The best bet is to use George Orwell’s rules for writing for advice, as he was the master. Or maybe I’m just biased.

  24. This is very true Michael, I’m one of the people who get pissed off by bad contents. What I understand is that if your content is poor then the journey of ranking will take forever and you won’t get same visitors daily which is a great loss. Just to support your point about Buzzwords, they can as well cause a lot of effect and I like how you have put it. People do not understand that some new words may cause people to land on their blog and leave immediately since they are not understanding the language. Good post. ~ Anetta

  25. This post is helpful for those who wants to demonstrate their passion for blogging. Because fixing bad content marketing campaign shows that you’re ready for business and long term success. Thank you Michael

  26. Your content remains invaluable, concise and insightful, I admire your precision on this article, no doubt many of us have that problem to fix bad content and getting it to reach our audience, nice post brother

  27. One of the best and concise posts I’ve read on content marketing and how to fix it and make it better. The corrective measures you laid out is superb Michael – and I can’t wait to get started on them. Thanks a bunch!

  28. I can see that your blog is growing so rapidly Michael, because since I started following your blog, you’ve been consistent with your quality posts. What else can I say – Keep rocking with your posts and these ways to fix bad content marketing is well appreciated.

  31. Hi Michelle,

    Thanks for bringing it all together, actually converting relevant traffic is the hardest barrier to break. Most people never give a second look if they do not find half of what they are looking for. I have seen that happen many times.

    I better start doing my homework!

    Piyush

  32. You’ve rounded up wrong practices of content marketing, but what I like more about your post is your specific guide on how to correct them. As I’ve learned from another article I’ve just recently had the opportunity to read, being generic admittedly is going to fail a content marketer.

    With so many sources of information online, your simply giving out information will make you invisible, and that isn’t a good thing if you want your content to convert readers into buyers.

    Nice help all in all, Michael. 🙂

    This post of yours has been shared on Kingged.com, the IM content/news aggregator site, and I left this same comment there.
    http://www.kingged.com/5-ways-to-fix-bad-content-marketing/

  33. Smart ways to avoid failures, I must say!

    You have a good point in there Michael! I like the way you specified your content and at the same time the pros and cons that you presented are marks of reality in the world of marketing.

    Nice strategy!
    I found and “kingged” this on the Internet marketing social site Kingged.com

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