Many brands are doing content marketing these days. Yet what are some of the challenges faced by content marketers? Today’s post will illuminate five of the most pressing challenges.

First things first… definitions.

According to this website, the term “content marketing” is defined as:

“…a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Content marketing these days includes infographics, webpages, podcasts, videos, and books. They also include white papers and speeches at B2B seminars.

Content marketing is also commonly linked to the concept of “thought leadership”, defined as:

“an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.”

What this means is that companies usually do content marketing in order to be distinguished as a thought leader in a particular field. With this in mind, let’s now talk about the challenges specific to content marketing:

Challenge #1. Convincing management that there is a need for great content marketing.

Scenario: Sometimes management doesn’t understand why there is a need for content marketing. “Is it not just hype?” They might ask. Alternatively, management might want to do content marketing just because other firms are doing so, without giving much thought to the strategic function of it.

As digital marketers, we know intuitively that there is a need for great content marketing in order for the company to stand out in the minds of visitors. Yet how do we do a good job in convincing management that there is indeed this need for content marketing, considering that the ROIs are so difficult to measure?

Solution: Answer the question “why”.

Why do you want your organisation to allocate resources for doing content marketing? What is in it for them–is it to capture a new market or to engage existing clients more?

Why and who are you targeting? And why should the organisation care–can you justify the reasons in numbers?

Challenge #2: Credibility and authority.

Scenario: Can readers trust your content? Writing volumes of high-quality content is useful, but the content has to be trustworthy, credible, and authoritative.

So how can you create content that is trusted by your readers?

Solution: It is always possible to gain credibility by association. For example, you can choose to interview respected thought leaders in the field, cite only credible and recent sources, and do plenty of research before penning the article. To be extra careful, make sure your data is are verifiable with a cross-reference. As much as possible, also stay very objective in your discussion. Don’t try to be sneaky to put in a sponsored mentions or two though–readers will almost always find out!

Challenge #3: Creating a buyer’s personas.

Scenario: We have previously written about how to create a buyer’s personas here. Sometimes as content marketers, we don’t know exactly who we are targeting. This often happens to small-and-medium-sized companies–exactly how can we reach out to our customers?

Solution: Use LinkedIn. If you are running a B2B business, you can target your prospects by their title, industry, and profession. By looking at their current interest, professional groups, educational background, and past experiences, you can adopt their language, tone, and write content that they love. Alternatively, just add your prospects on LinkedIn to find out the sort of professional posts they share, read, and write!

Challenge #4: Make your content memorable.

Scenario: You have worked extremely hard on your content and tried to make them as accurate as possible. Your content is now filled with a well-researched hypothesis, facts, and diagrams.

However, your readers do not share the blog posts or videos that you have spent so much time on! What should you do then?

Solution: Find ways to make your content memorable.

For example, try methods to spark the imaginations of your audiences. Use stories, metaphors, and imagery. We are all visual creatures, so when you are doing your website, make sure that the content is visually appealing. Pay close attention to fonts, the resolution of pictures, infographics, and make sure that everything is beautiful.

Alternatively, identify the deepest pain and pleasure points of your audiences. If you can appeal to the emotions of your readers, it is likely that your content would be memorable. It is indeed an art to package substance well, so that your readers can digest them the way you want them to. So as much as content is important, packaging and an understanding of how to make the points memorable is essential, too.

Challenge #5: Thinking that other firms do better content.

Scenario: Sometimes we feel that our fellow industry partner or friendly competition is doing better content marketing than us. They seem to have better visuals, more creative marketing approaches, and stronger online communities. What should we do then?

Solution: Remember that good content marketing is always relative to your own strategy. If you need to compare, compare to your own past track records. Of course, use your industry’s best practices and examples to inspire you, but at the end of the day, remember to stick to your own vision, mission, and strategy.

You only need to engage and protect the interest of your tribe, not others! So stay focused. 🙂

We hope you have enjoyed this post! Have fun doing content!