Novo Writing: Is Your Content Marketing Program Scaring Off Prospects?

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. - Oct. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- With Halloween just around the corner and the new year quickly approaching, it’s a good time to revisit the effectiveness of your content marketing program.

Does it scare away your prospects before you even have a chance to speak with them? Are they running into the arms of competitors who consistently create and share valuable content? Do the articles you publish on your company’s blog help or hurt your brand?

These are all questions you need to answer before you implement a content marketing program.

The Best of the Worst Content Marketing Tactics

Bad content rears its ugly head in many ways, and it’s not just about the quality of the writing itself. Sure, poorly written articles are going to damage your brand and reputation. That’s obvious. But you also need to consider a few other things that can make your articles scary. Beware if you have:

·      Useless content: Think about your target audience before you write an article. What specific challenges do they face? How do they view the product/service you offer? How do you want them to view it? Cater your content to the needs of your prospects and give them valuable information they can actually use.

·      Copy that is hard to scan: Always break-up your articles with subheads, bullets, and short paragraphs. Your readers will likely be scanning your articles so you need to make it easy for them to be able to quickly digest your content.

·      Overused keywords: Don’t listen to content marketers who tell you SEO is dead. It’s not. Keywords are still important to the success of your content marketing program. After all, the search engines need a way to find your articles in the first place. Just don’t stuff your articles unnaturally with keywords. Search engines spot keyword-stuffing immediately and penalize your blog for it.

·      No images: The right image can instantly grab the attention of your readers and quickly communicate the content of your article. They make your articles visually appealing and are another great tool for breaking-up text.

·      Too many links: Remember that your prospects’ attention is short and fleeting, so you don’t want to include too many links in your articles to distract them. In addition to being distracting, lots of links give your readers more opportunities to click away from your article to competing websites. Add a few links to other content on your website, such as another blog post or a product page, but avoid including any type of link that sends your prospects away from your site.

·      Self-promotional content: Whatever you do, don’t be blatantly self-promotional in your content marketing program. Your prospects clicked on your article link to learn something, and this is your first chance to demonstrate your expertise. Don’t disappoint them and lose the opportunity to gain their trust. Focus on the value you can deliver, not selling your product/service. That will come later.

·      Not delivered on the promise in your headline: Your headline is one of the most important parts of an article. After all, the headline is your first and only chance to grab your prospects’ attention and compel them to click on your article link to learn more. Failing to provide the information you promised in the headline is a sure way to lose credibility and trust, as well as send your potential customers elsewhere to find the educational content they seek.

These are just a few of the many tactics that will scare off your target audience, make your content marketing program ineffective, and even harm your reputation. Stay focused on helping your prospects and becoming a go-to resource. If you continue to provide them with valuable content, they may reward you with their business. And that’s the best treat of all.

What content marketing “tricks” work best for your business?

Start Improving Your Content Marketing

If your own content marketing frightens you, now is the time to plan your strategy for next year. See what a comprehensive content marketing program can do for your business by visiting www.ContentMarketingProgram.com.