Even if you are a skilled marketer with years of experience behind you, content marketing can be draining and challenging. Find out how to turn the tables around and start focusing on the good in some of the biggest content marketing challenges!

For any business or industry, succeeding without content marketing is hard. However, getting to that point of success can be downright exhausting.

I talk with content marketers on a daily basis. What I hear almost all of the time is “This is too much, I can’t handle this”. If I had a dollar for every time a heard a phrase like that, I’ll be up there with Musk and Bezos fighting for the richest person alive spot.

However, here’s a funny thing about content marketing: no matter how hard or complicated it is, it’s still the best way to both advertise your business and convert leads into customers.

So, as a content marketer who knows exactly what you’re struggling with, today I’ll be looking at the three biggest content marketing challenges and look at solutions on how to overcome them. Let’s go!

#1 Content Marketing Challenge: I Suck!

Imposter syndrome is real. When you’ve been grinding and pumping out tens of thousands of words every week, without getting anything in return, you might get the idea that you and your content suck.

Don’t worry – there are a million things you can do to improve!

1.1. Do SERP snooping for improvement of content quality

Do this in case: you are getting clicks, but readers bounce once they get there.

If you’re succeeding in attracting traffic, but visitors just seem to not be converting, it’s time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat.

To start with, you can Google your target keywords using Google search.

Once you’re there, check out the top results for that keyword. You will most likely notice that they all have something in common. This can be:

• the topics they are covering

• the tone, style and voice of the content

• the format and media type

When you look at our example, you’ll see that the top results are mostly listicles.

When you dive deeper into these search results, the next step you should take is to identify weak spots in the content of your competitors. Are they failing to address or cover certain topics? 

Another great idea is to turn to community forums such as Quora or Reddit to see what kinds of questions people are asking.

Go, Sherlock, go!

1.2. Use creativity to stand out and attract readers

Do this in case: your readers start engaging, but bounce after going through ¼ of your piece.

In the popular Netflix show Firefly Lane, Tully’s mom says a sentence that should be your mantra when creating content: “Steal their attention and don’t give it back”. Here’s how you can do that:

• use a tone that’s unique and recognizable

• take advantage of interactive content like quiz games

• add more visual content, GIFs and videos

• talk about your own experience

You can also experiment with other content formats depending on your budget:

• doing interviews with industry leaders

• presenting case studies

• using interactive content such as infographics

But don’t worry, even if your budget is really stretched, a unique approach to content writing can go a long way in attracting your audience’s attention.

1.3. Improve the quality of your content by outsourcing

Do this in case: you don’t have the time to work on your content writing skills.

Business owners that run their own content management are bound to come across issues during the content creation process. This is perfectly normal for anyone who is not a professional content writer. However, your budget might not cover a full-time, in-house writer.

Still, you can’t afford not to do content marketing. You can see exactly how much low content ROI affects your business. 

So, what else is there to do?

You can sign up with Writebudy..

#2 Content Marketing Challenge: Measuring the ROI of your Content

Every DIY aficionado will tell you: measure twice, cut once.

This famous adage is applicable both to crafting your new bedside table and your content marketing strategy.

But, what do we mean when we say measure in content marketing? In content strategies, ROI is the most precise way of measuring content’s success and effectiveness. Nevertheless, many marketers struggle with precise ROI measuring. It’s important to identify the right metrics. This is crucial because content will have a huge impact over your entire sales funnel.

2.1. Calculating the ROI for your content marketing efforts

Start by adding up all the costs necessary to produce the content (money, time, other resources). Don’t forget to include marketing and distribution costs, such as paid ads, content tools, SEO.

Then, analyze your metrics in detail. Take a look at:

• how many direct sales your content generates

• how many indirect sales your content generates

• how many leads you got and the quality level of those leads

• increases in website traffic

To properly understand all these metrics, you will need a good analytics software. Google Analytics is considered to be the most basic tracking software to do this. Remember to utilize URL tracking tools – they will help you find out how someone got to your landing page in the first place. With the help of analytics tools, you can also create maps of your customer journey.

Implementing tracking tools and processes should always be done sooner than later. Therefore, if you haven’t done that already, this should be your first order of business. Tracking will show you how customers respond to your website and points where they convert.

Indirect sales and leads are another important aspect of content marketing. Here is how you can access the quality of the leads you generate from your content:

• Do leads understand the details and basics behind your product or service?

• Have they understood all the perks and benefits of using your product?

When you have answers to these questions, you will also have an answer to whether your content is serving its true purpose: to educate and to convince.

Every content marketer should perform in-depth analysis of their website traffic.

Traffic heat maps such as HotJar are an awesome tool to get a deeper understanding of a customer’s behavior on your site. These tools allow you to examine smaller details than just how and when a lead landed on your site. 

Heat maps are an awesome tool to help you spot where you’re losing your readers or where you peak their interest the most. 

2.2. Is my content ROI good or bad?

OK, now you have an understanding of the metrics so you can easily calculate your ROI. The next big question is how your ROI stacks up to others in the industry. The general rule of thumb is: as soon as your ROI is positive, all is good.

However, you should keep in mind that the ROI for content marketing is typically high. If you’re constantly seeing dips or decreases in your ROI, you should check out the first section of this post to find out how you can improve the quality of your content. If you want to boost your ROI (and who doesn’t?), you can do this:

• Re-assess your promotional channels – Which content marketing channels are your golden egg? Which ones achieve that perfect balance between low costs and decent returns?

• Check the quality of your content – This is something that should be done constantly. Are you losing conversions and leads from visitors without a proper explanation? How can you improve it?

• Establish goals – Everything that can be measured can be improved. If you’re serious about content marketing, you should establish ROI goals and benchmarks.

• Analyze the user experience – How good are your conversion rates? Are you directing users to the most relevant landing pages?

The conversion approach can sometimes be the problem with low ROI and this is something you will need to handle from the non-content side.

Here is one example: a user lands on one of the pages that are at the top of your sales funnel, explaining basic concepts like “What is content marketing”. On this page, you present a call-to-action for the user to hire you as their content marketing service provider.

Chances are this approach will not work. Why?

You haven’t “warmed up” the visitor.

As an example of good practice, it would be much more effective to ask them to sign up to your email newsletter where you discuss the concept into more detail. In this newsletter, of course, you can present to the reader how your content marketing expertise can help them achieve their goals.

Always make sure that the actions your leads are supposed to take are easy and logical.

If someone visits your page describing services in the tiniest detail, go ahead and spark a conversation with them – you can even jump on a call. However, when you’re dealing with a first-time visitor, things are done much more gently. Let them go through your sales funnel step by step.

#3 Content Marketing Challenge: My Content is Not Being Read!

Now, after a cup of coffee, or two (or eleven), you have finally created an amazing piece of content!

Good for you, old sport!

Well, what now? You’ve hit that ‘Publish’ button and ever since then all you can hear is the sound of crickets.

Don’t jump to conclusions! Here’s what might be going wrong:

3.1. How high is your domain authority?

You can’t spell content without SEO. Well, you can, but you know what I mean. In other words, you can expect your content to perform well if your primary distribution channel is search engines and you have no Domain Authority. Here is how you can check your Domain Authority Score.

A common mistake among new website owners is that they aim too high: you start a new website and the competitors to your target keywords are Forbes and Entrepreneur.com. That simply won’t work.

In order to compete in a high search volume market of keywords, you need to have a lot of backlinks. If you don’t, and you’re targeting super-competitive keywords, your website might get lost on the 19234814th page of Google results.

How do you fix that?

Focus on long-tail keywords that may have a lower search volume, but are more targeted:

You can use a tool like UberSuggest to find out the volume and competition difficulty for any given keyword. If you have a new website, it’s always better to aim for lower numbers.

This gives you an edge over the competition in two ways: it will be much easier to stand out – your audience will actually get to your content – and you will niche down to find specific, more targeted audiences.

3.2. Which promotional channels are you using?

IN OTHER WORDS: Where does your content go?

Search engines are the go-to promotional channel for content marketing. They are powerful drivers of traffic and every content marketer should prioritize them, but there are other channels out there, too.

Firstly, go to your Analytics tool and check the section which show your referrals and sources of traffic.

Where is your traffic coming from?

To go even deeper, you can compare the performance of your traffic channels in terms of acquisitions and conversions.

If all of your channels suck equally, you need to do something:

• trigger word-of-mouth advertising with referral and affiliate programs

• use employee advocacy

• use social advocacy

Remember, when you hit that “Publish” button, the content marketing work is not done, but it’s just starting. After every publishing, you should work on actively promoting your content in order to get the best possible amount of conversions.

Don’t stop at search engines: use forums, message boards, social media and all other corners of the Internet where you can find your target audience. Smoothly insert your company info and your content into the conversation.

3.3. Are you writing for the right target audience?

Beginners’ marketing is full of fallacies and myths. One of the most common ones is that you should target as many people as possible. However, when you’re new in the biz, this simply does – not – work. 

In order to succeed, you need to know your audience well.

ModernWeb is a good example of pivoting to a more narrow, specialized audience. When they started, they didn’t say “Our target audience are companies in the tech industry”. They narrowed it down to startup founders, small business owners and medium enterprises.

(Can you already tell what the problem with this approach was?)

Even then, they weren’t writing for their ideal customers. The problem is that by writing for everyone, they weren’t actually writing content that speaks to someone on an individual basis.

There are few people that can connect to that type of generalized content. In cases where they can, there is a bunch of competition and it’s simply impossible to compete. 

So, after digging ever deeper and analyzing their traffic, conversions and customer behavior, they finally narrowed it down: their content would be tailor-made for technology executives in enterprises.

That’s specific enough, right?

So, if you’re wondering why your content isn’t performing as well as you would like it to, the first thing to look at is your target audience.

Narrow it down as much as possible.

Know your customers in depth, understand their specific pain points and problems and offer direct and clear solutions.

Finally, when you get to writing content, write with that particular person in mind.

3.4. Hire professional help

Sometimes, the easiest way to solve all these challenges and more is to hire a helping hand who’s already experienced in writing for specific target audiences.

Basically, you’re looking for someone that will help you encapsulate your message in the best way possible and provide your customers with value.

You need someone to handle your content, and our Writebuddy team can help you soar. 

Writingbuddy.online has professional writers in any industry or niche: from marketing and tech to legal and technical. We use a sophisticated algorithm to pair you up with the perfect writer for your business.

You won’t have to worry about freelancers or hassle with fees and invoices ever again.