Top Five Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Compared to more old school marketing tactics like billboards and paid ads, content marketing can seem like a lot of work. And, well, it is. Inbound marketing is inherently more labor-intensive than outbound marketing, but if done right, it can also be much more effective.

If you’re new to the game of content marketing or want to tighten up your existing strategy, here are five of the most common mistakes to avoid:

Not gating anything

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: gating is a controversial topic. So controversial, in fact, you may be tempted to just avoid it altogether. While this might seem like a safe bet, in reality, gated content is an essential part of capturing leads and not taking advantage of it is a huge missed opportunity.

Gating everything

That being said, gating too much is equally dangerous. In an ever-growing quest for MQLs (marketing qualified leads), some companies get a little greedy and begin gating everything. Not only does this turn off your audience, it also prevents other publications from linking/sharing your content–a critical part of building your brand and organically generating leads outside your network.

Placing quantity over quality

Let’s be honest, there’s no shortage of content on the internet. Every second of every day, thousands of companies are pumping out their own blog posts, e-books and white papers–and the vast majority of them will never get seen. Instead of churning out high volumes of “meh” content, focus on producing smaller amounts of high-quality, informative content that stands out from the crowd.

Publishing inconsistently

Once you’ve determined your optimal amount of content, you need to create a set editorial calendar so you can put that content out on a consistent basis. An erratic publishing schedule makes it much harder to build a stable audience, since your readers won’t know when to expect your next piece and may abandon visiting your site altogether.

Always creating content from scratch

Once you’ve got some solid, high-quality content under your belt, don’t let it go to waste. Repurpose old content by updating it to include new information and republishing it at a later date. As long as the core foundation of the piece is evergreen, you should be able to repurpose most of your content at least once.

Interested in learning more? Download five bonus mistakes to avoid, here!