Not everyone is a pro.
If you've been doing marketing for as long as I have you may recall when the Macintosh came out in the 80s. It was a landmark in personal computing. And it opened the floodgates for countless amateurs trying their hands at design.
Suddenly, everyone was a graphic designer. A rushing river of poorly executed logos, newsletters, and marketing communications projects of every kind were created by amateurs. The phenomena has continued ever since with typography, photography, video, and well, everything.
It's content marketing's turn.
Today, nearly every business is attempting to become a content marketer. The results ain't pretty. The noise is deafening and while there's plenty of great content, every industry is being bombarded with junk-cheap imitations of the idea of content marketing-create original, compelling, helpful content. You can trace the problem to a long list of problems. In an effort to sound the alarm, Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi created a "13 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail."
I took 10 points on Joe's list that resonated with me and created a List.ly list. Familiar with List.ly? Here's how it works.
Listly claims to be a "multiplier." The simple service allows bloggers to embed lists in posts to amplify exposure.
Listly is a 2-way street.
The cool thing about List.ly is it's interactive and dynamic. That is, you can contribute to the list, comment, and share. Try it. Right here, right now. When you get to the bottom of this list of "Content Marketing Killers," add to it, share it, comment, join a community of content marketers aiming to inform newcomers of the mistakes they should avoid if they aim to create effective online marketing.
Content Marketing Killers
Joe Pulizzi wrote an article titled "13 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail," which inspired this list. Let's have a look at some of the points he makes, share the advice, and contribute the content marketing death traps you know of.
- crowd rank
- curated
- alpha
- newest
- queue
All about you
Customers care about themselves, not you. Content marketing is not advertising. If it doesn't deliver value, it has no value to your marketing.
0 0I can help 00Playing it safe
If you're afraid to take chances with your content, you'll travel down the middle of the road and become roadkill in the noisy media.
0 0I can help 00Perfection paralysis
You publish too infrequently for fear that everything has to be perfect.
0 0I can help 00Low standards
Too many marketers just contribute to the clutter and noise with their content. Aim high and aspire to be the premier voice of authority in your industry.
0 0I can help 00Talent shortage
Your content planning and creation team should comprise experienced strategists, writers, designers and producers. If you don't have them, hire them.
0 0I can help 00Disconnected
Content marketing efforts backfire when they take place in silos, that is different departments and entities within your company fail to integrate efforts. You need to tell a consistent story.
0 0I can help 00Actionless
Your content should provide clear direction regarding what you want the reader/viewer to do. Use a call to action that maps to your marketing objectivces-every time.
0 0I can help 00Fire. Ready. Aim.
Enormous problem: marketers think channel before strategy. Joe says "Stop thinking Facebook. Think about the problem you are solving for your customer." Establish where your customer is, what they're doing there and create your content accordingly.
0 0I can help 00Unbelievers
If your C-suite, fellow marketers, or peers don't faithfully join the party, you're doomed.
0 0I can help 00Too broad
Content marketing is niche marketing. You'll fail trying to be the expert in everything or an overly broad subject. Focus.
0 0I can help 00