8 biggest mistakes content marketers make and how to avoid them

8 Biggest Mistakes Content Marketers Make & How to Avoid ThemEllen GomesSr. Content Marketing Manager

Marketo Proprietary and Confidential | © Marketo, Inc. 05/03/2023

About Me• Sr. Content Marketing Manager at

Marketo• Fun Fact: I’m a fanatical pet mom...

check out @pudge_the_corgi• I’m hip, I’m cool, I’m on twitter:

@egomes1019

• This webinar is being recorded! Slides and recording will be sent to you after the webinar concludes.

• Have a question? Use the chat box and I’ll get to your questions after the webinar.

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Housekeeping

Content

Today’s Agenda:


1 NOT KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE


Content Across The Lifecycle

Content is the glue that holds people’s

interest throughout the entire customer

lifecycle.

@egomes1019


‒ Do research‒ Create personas‒ Document your personas‒ Understand how to talk to your personas across the

lifecycle

@egomes1019


2 NOT DEFINING YOUR STRATEGY


A Documented Content Strategy Is Critical


Create a Style Guide• Who is your company?

• Who do you sell to?

• Who makes up the content team?

• Style and writing tone

• Grammar guidelines

• Content types and structure

• Content promotion


Create Process Documents


Build a Creative Brief• What is your content idea?

• What key topic does this address?

• What form should the content ideally take?

• What business goal does this content support?

• Who is the target audience?

• What voice should this content have?

• What goals are you trying to achieve?

• What is the main thesis you want to get across?

• Where will this be promoted and when?

• What is the due date?


Create and Share Editorial Calendars• What is the asset or blog topic?

• Who is the intended audience?

• Which content team member owns the project management?

• When is it expected to publish?

• Where is it in the production process?

• Who requested it?


‒ WRITE IT DOWN‒ Document your goals‒ Document your process‒ Document your style guide‒ SHARE THEM

@egomes1019


3 NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT CONTENT ALREADY EXISTS


Be a Content LibrarianUnderstand what content exists and where• How old is it?

• What format?

• How well did it perform?

• How can people find it?


‒ Understand what you have‒ Identify any gaps‒ What worked? What did not?

@egomes1019


4 FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF “MORE”


Content Marketing Is Important


Businesses Are Investing More


There is Pressure for “MORE” Content


More ≠ Better

Yay! No!


‒ Understand what you already have (step 3)‒ Use what you have strategically‒ Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’

@egomes1019


5 PRODUCING CONTENT ON AN ISLAND


Content + SEOSEO makes sure you are found+Content makes being found, easier and more engaging


Content + Social

Content Requests

Content Produced

Distribution on Social

Engagement

Feedback & Results

“Social media users have risen by 176M in the last year, with 12 new active mobile social users

joining every second.”—Social Media Today


Include OthersInternal Employee Blogging Rewards Program• A program micro-site and ebook that

includes:• Incentives and Recognition• Introduce them to content team • Submission and approval process• Content guidelines• Writing resources


‒ Collaborate with other teams‒ Ask for input‒ Make content a whole organization effort

@egomes1019


6 FALLING BEHIND THE TIMES

Evolve


Don’t Rinse & Repeat

• Definitive Guides

• Ebooks

• Infographics

• Micrographics

• Interactive Content

• Activity Books/Worksheets

• Articles

• Presentations

• Webinars

• Blog

• Streaming Video

• Video

• Creative Emails

• And more…

“Think Outside The Ebook”


‒ Understand what success looks like for you‒ Be willing to test new formats

@egomes1019


7 NOT DISTRIBUTING YOUR CONTENT EFFECTIVELY

More than 3.5 Billion people,

around the world, use the internet


You’re Creating Relevant Content

HigherEd

B2B: Enterprise

HealthcareConsumer

CompetitorCustomers


Leverage Behaviors & Personas

Higher Education Healthcare Enterprises


‒ Use the right tools‒ Deliver the right content to the right person‒ Create a cross-channel, personal experience

@egomes1019


8 FAILING TO TIE YOUR CONTENT TO ROI


Measurement is Still a Challenge For Many Content Marketers


Define Your Metrics Early

1•Lift in website traffic, new visitors, social shares, referring domains, form fill outs, comments and site interactions

2•Subscription to email or RSS, new names, % new names per program

3•# Leads (right demographics, desired behavior), investment per lead

4•Engagement score for set of programs per month

5• # of opportunities

6• First Touch Ratio

7• Multi Touch Ratio

8• Pipeline


5: Understand Your Results

Tie your Content to revenueWatched our

demo video on home page

Registered for Analytics Webinar

Downloaded Analytics Survey

Results

Attended “Top 10 Marketing

Reports” Webinar

Engaged with a Social Post

Connected with Sales Rep

3 months

$100K

$100K

First Touch


5: Understand Your Results

Watched Our Demo Video

on Home page

Registered for Analytics Webinar

Downloaded Analytics

Survey Results

Attended “Top 10 Marketing

Reports” Webinar

Engaged with a Social Post

Connected with Sales Rep$25K

$0

$25K

$25K $100K

$25K

3 months

Multi Touch


Example: A Program Designed to be Measureable

955 shares (blog)10.8K downloads440 new names$35.7K MT pipeline


Track All Touches Across All People


‒ Set goals at the start of any content asset‒ Build measurement into your process‒ Track content beyond early-stage metrics‒ ITERATE: Use your metrics to make future content

decisions

@egomes1019

Top 8 Mistakes Content Marketers Make 1. Not Knowing Your Audience2. Not Defining Your Strategy3. Not Understanding What Content Already Exists4. Falling Into the Trap of “More”5. Producing Content on an Island6. Falling Behind the Times7. Not Distributing Your Content Effectively8. Not Tying Your Content to ROI @egomes1019

Top Takeaways (or, how to avoid mistakes):• Research & understand your audience• Write your content strategy & process down• Understand the content you already have• Create content for impact, not volume• Be a content collaborator• Trendy IS valuable• Make sure your content is seen—have a solid distribution plan• Set goals early, measure your impact & iterate

@egomes1019

Questions?

@[email protected]

Thank You!

8 biggest mistakes content marketers make and how to avoid them

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