Content marketing is the craze these days, and it’s here to stay. It’s no surprise that there’s a wealth of information, and disinformation out there when it comes to best practices for creating top-notch content. With that to say, here are some of the biggest marketing myths to be aware of  and why believing them can be harmful to your overall business goals.

Myths of Content Marketing #1: More Is Always Best

More isn’t always best. On the contrary, sometimes less is more. In all instances of content marketing, it’s much more important to create consistent quality content than it is to create a ton of content that’s only mediocre. Back in the day, many content mills tried to push out as much content as possible to get page views. This was an effort to make sure that pay-per-click (PPC) advertising would be profitable. This led to a lot of valueless content, causing readers to grow weary.

The moral of the story is simply this: Quality > Quantity.

Myths of Content Marketing #2: Writing Great Content Is Easy

Take it from a writer – creating stellar copywriting is not easy. Don’t get us wrong – anyone can fill up a website with a lot of words. Sometimes the fluff-filled copywriting can be successful. However, it takes time, talent, and skill to create the kind of content that will develop a long-term following. For all of your heavy-duty content needs, you should always hire a pro with a writing background.

Think about it- you wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t have a background in economics and math to handle the accounting position at your business, would you? Then you shouldn’t add content writing onto someone’s plate who isn’t comfortable and confident, either.

Myths of Content Marketing #3: You Should Promote Like Crazy 

It’s been said that “Traditional marketing talks to people… content marketing talks with them.” Read that again. How powerful is that? A common complaint from consumers is that companies market to their audience on social media in a way that sounds way too promotional.

The main purpose of content marketing should be to engage with your target customers. Perhaps you’ve been making this mistake- what should you do differently? For starters, spend less time talking about your business only. Provide more value to your customers instead. For example, you can find the challenges they’re facing as consumers and offer sound tips to help your readers overcome them. You should be the number one source and best answer on the internet for your audience.

Myths of Content Marketing #4: Content Marketing Can Be Cheap

Once again, false. When the purpose of creating content is generating valuable leads, you’ll quickly see that good content is worth its weight in gold. We don’t mean to keep repeating ourselves, but it’s not easy to create content that has a high conversion rate. Outsourcing content to the lowest bidder is a mistake that’s made all too often, and as we saw with myth number two, not everyone can create good content.

It is worth it, if outsourcing, to find the best content copywriter in your niche. You can find one that’s affordable who will do great work- even if that means you can only afford one or two high-quality pieces of content a month. This will be much better than 20 quick and poorly-written cheap articles.

`Myths of Content Marketing #5: Content Marketing Is Just a Fancy Way of Blogging

We’ve talked a lot about copywriting, but content marketing actually involves a lot more than just writing up a post. A good content marketer will know how to work with SEO, and create calls to action that compel readers to do more. Great content marketing also involves creating pages on your site that are informative, well-written, and search-engine optimized.

A good marketing consultant will advocate for you to be involved in the content creation process. Together you should be able to share your marketing process, goals, and analytics to date.

Myths of Content Marketing #6: Content Marketing Has a Quick ROI 

Eh, not necessarily. At least you shouldn’t expect the entirety of the Internet to knock at your door the moment you share a post. Instead, be aware that it can take a certain amount of time and a certain amount of consistency for content to reach your target audience.

The good news is that once it does, you can then create a positive relationship with your audience, and that my friend, is a very effective tool for generating leads and conversions.

Myths of Content Marketing # 7: Visuals Don’t Really Matter

A lot of online content consists mainly of text. You may have heard about how search engines can easily crawl text, so therefore it typically ranks higher in the search results than other types of content. If a page on your website has little or no text, there’s a good chance that it will rank lower. This is all true and important. However, it doesn’t mean that visuals don’t matter. In fact, visuals are crucial.

Images, graphics, videos, slideshows, and infographics can end up promoting higher rates of user engagement. By providing visuals, your audience will likely read and engage with your content that you’re posting up. This doesn’t mean that your text-based content has to go away completely. You can still create text-based content, but make sure to consider adding a few visuals along the way to improve its performance.

Myths of Content Marketing #8: Good Content Should Be Long

This really depends on the kind of content that you’re creating. Content should always be varied. A good general rule is that content should be as long as it needs to be for you to make your point or share the information- and it shouldn’t be any longer than that. You shouldn’t create long content just for the sake of creating long content. You should be as brief as possible, but also as long as necessary. This will help you appeal to a variety of readers.

Myths of Content Marketing #9: The Same Strategies Will Yield the Same Results

We understand why you might think this, but it’s simply not true. While it’s a great idea to study a variety of successful content marketing strategies, it’s important to remember that all audiences are different. Instead, take what applies to your audience and forget about all else.

Eventually you will learn what your audience responds well to. You don’t have to (and you shouldn’t) follow every fad that pops up in the marketing world. However, you should be aware of the popular trends, and have a clear understanding of why they will or won’t work for gaining the attention of your specific audience.

Myths of Content Marketing #10: Email Marketing Isn’t Important 

It seems to be that a lot of marketing agencies are focusing less of their efforts on email marketing campaigns. The reasoning behind this is the existence of social media. It seems like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn are where everyone is at. However, there are people in your target market who have email and use the internet, and purposefully  choose not to be on social platforms. This is why it’s so important to leverage email marketing. If you don’t, it could be a massive missed opportunity. Sources like Mailchimp or Constant Contact are a great place to start.

Myths of Content Marketing #11: Content Marketing Works Only for Certain Businesses

Come on, now… Content marketing is for everyone. We repeat, everyone. You may feel like it’s a stretch to create content, or like you may not need it for your company, but that’s an incorrect assumption. Quality content will go a long way toward reaching people for all types of different kinds of businesses. Not to mention, your competition is using content marketing to generate leads and build relationships. We guarantee it.

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Myths of Content Marketing #12: It’s Better In-House 

While there could be some potential cost-savings benefits to handling content marketing in house, it could hurt you in the long run to not outsource it. In fact, outsourcing will allow you to leverage the talents and experience of professional content creators who are really good at their skill. For many businesses, outsourcing content marketing can deliver a higher ROI than if you handle it in-house.

Myths of Content Marketing #13: You Will See Instant Results

Unlike other forms of outbound marketing, such as paid advertising, content marketing doesn’t deliver you instant results. We know that you may want to see results right away, but content marketing can take some time. It takes a while for your content to be seen, to get the reaction from your audience, and for your numbers to reflect that your marketing efforts are working. Be patient, and keep trying new things. You will crack the code and see the results you desire eventually.

The Bottom Line

Buying into myths like these can cost a business thousands, possibly even tens-of-thousands in missed opportunities. We know that it can be overwhelming to wrap your head around. Content marketing comes with a steep learning curve, but you’ll find that it’s well worth learning about all of this in the long run.

As always, for all of your content marketing needs, Dalex Design is here for you.