There is a silent killer out there that is lying in wait to take you down, and you’ll never believe what it is.
I’m talking, of course about your content. “Now wait a minute,” you’re thinking, “how is that even possible? I’ve got a great branding and marketing strategy, and people seem to be responding to it just fine.”
I don’t doubt that with your experience and expertise, you’re making the most of your content right now, but there are things that can be killers in the long run if you don’t identify them and eliminate them (or at least learn to use them to your advantage).
There’s a right way and a wrong way to use every type of content. Let’s have a look at several things that many marketers don’t use correctly and see if any apply to you. HINT: Most of these things involve failed attempts to save money, and it’s OK to admit to trying and failing at that more than once as you grow your business. Hopefully, I can help you avoid a few if this doesn’t turn out to be a list of “been there, done that” scenarios.
1. Randomly Recycling Old Copy
There are instances when reviving an article or ad can work to your advantage, but far too often marketers will pull something off the shelf and throw it back out there because it worked in the past and hope lightning will just strike twice.
The timing for reusing copy is very important. In fact, I have an entire blog post on that subject you should read if you haven’t already. To give you the Reader’s Digest version, randomly throwing out copy that got good engagement in the past isn’t going to revitalize a lagging marketing initiative. More often than not, it equates to throwing good money after bad.
2. Not Speaking to Your Target Audience
If you are too young or too old to really relate to your audience, you shouldn’t be deciding on the content. All the market research in the world won’t get you as far as simply hiring people in that age group to create your content for you will. If you hire freelancers, hire within your target demo in terms of age, language, nationality, and – whenever possible – interests. This will help you create a more authentic voice with your content.
If you decide to go through a copywriting company or agency, don’t be afraid to ask point blank if it has any good writers on staff who meet or at least come close to meeting the attributes of your target demo. Ditto for graphic designers, video content producers, and so on.
3. Trying to “One-Stop Shop” Your Content
In fairness, there are companies out there that get this right but many (all right, most) farm out anything that isn’t their own specialty service, and they’re finding people the same way you are: by visiting freelance sites and paying small amounts of money for not-so-great content. At a minimum, they aren’t adhering to the same standards that you would, and they’re tagging on their own fees above and beyond what they’re paying.
My advice: Stick with video services to produce your videos and writing services to write your scripts. The more control you have over the process, the better the content will ultimately be. If your one-stop solution doesn’t want to let you farm out your own scriptwriter, dissolve the relationship and find one that’s genuinely concerned with your total satisfaction with the project.
4. Relying Heavily on Stock Visuals
One of the keys to successful branding is the ability to create content that is all yours. It might cost more to produce a video than it will to use stock footage, but in the end, you’ll wind up with something that truly identifies you. The same holds true for photos, infographics, and other visual content. Take ownership of your brand and at least split test with content that you create versus content you curate from various sources that your audience has probably seen before.
5. Skimping on Split Testing
I’ve also written in the past about long-form vs. short-form articles. Long-form is defined as any piece that exceeds 1,500 words. Short-form can be as few as 250-300 but can be longer as well.
Don’t be afraid to ask your copywriter to deliver multiple versions of an article and see which one people respond to the best. It’s an advertising strategy that is as old as advertising itself. Split test short articles vs. longer ones. Split test your images. Split test your videos. Do a 30-second explainer but also have a script written to run 60 and 90 seconds, and invest in all three versions. Before long, a measurable pattern will emerge, and then you can settle in to a working strategy.
Above all else, keep all of your content fresh. Even if you do recycle some of it, make sure that the information and visuals are still relevant. Sometimes you’ll need to tweak a little outdated information to keep it relevant. By and large, though, you should really consider investing in things that keep your business moving forward, not looking back.