This is just one of the several awkward questions that I always seem to be answering. And don’t even get me started on the other questions about content marketing that are thrown at me. But truth be told, I’m also happy that at least brands have started asking these questions now.

We need good content to be created for our brand, can you suggest some quick & cheap options?

But what exactly is Content Marketing? 

According to CMI, Content Marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

I think the definition in itself is clear, but a lot of content marketing efforts still end up in the wastage of time, money & resources. 

So to make things clear, here are 6 common mistakes that brands make while marketing their content:

1. Focussing on quantity and not the quality

Another funny question I’m often asked is “How many articles should I publish on my blog in a month?” I wish I had a magic formula for this. My answer to this question is that the amount of content you create is not important. What’s important is how good it is. Do pieces that interest your readers and is useful to them.

tartan

2. The content is an extended advertisement

Advertorials are not content marketing. Period. 

If you’re still trying to sell through your content, it’s an utter wastage of time. Educate them first and try to sell after that. Include the brand’s name close to your call-to-action button. I know it takes a lot of courage, but for God’s sake, don’t create long advertisements and call it content. 

digitalgov

3. Content has no value if not distributed well enough

My content is already great and people will automatically share it” is another bubble that brands live in. Good content has no value if it does not reach out to potential customers. With the help of technology, there are a lot of platforms available which can help you in distributing your content to a wider audience. 

healthmedical

4. No authority on subject

When you’re sick, will you take advice from a mechanical engineer? I have seen brands making this mistake of creating content on topics about they have no subject knowledge. If you’re a shampoo brand, please stick to Hair Care content, because that’s what you know better than other topics, right? 

linkedin

5. Same content for every channel

Brands need to do something about this because they have been making this mistake of creating one piece of content and plastering every channel with it. They need to understand the differences between Content for Mobile v/s Content for Desktop, Content for Social Networks v/s Content on Other Portals and so on and so forth.

den.nl

6. No content calendar in place

I publish content whenever we are able to make it ready for publishing” is another mistake that is affecting a lot of brands. Regularity of content sharing by creating a content calendar as part of your strategy is a must before you even start this journey. Think of it this way: if you’re in a habit of reading the newspaper daily, what if the publisher changes frequency of its newspaper from daily to whenever they want to publish. How would you feel?

distilled

How can Content Marketing Summit Asia help?

CMS Asia 2016 is a platform where all key stakeholders of content marketing ecosystem come together and try to learn from each other about how to use content marketing to reach out to their users effectively. Tech enablers, content producers, agency partners & brands join hands every year at CMS Asia to discuss the opportunities of content marketing in India.

To find out more about the summit, click here.