Sometimes, the marketing industry sounds a bit like a crowded room (or one of those monkeys with the cymbals who’s had a good night’s sleep). There’s so much noise coming from every corner, telling you how content marketing should be. There’s also noise coming from your assumptions about marketing.
Here’s the deal: All of this noise has the potential to hold your business back. It can paralyze you. It can cause you to overthink every step you make towards sharing what you do with the world.
How can you cut through the noise and move forward? By taking part in a little myth-busting.
5 Content Marketing Lies To Stop Believing Right Now
Lie #1: You’ll See Instant Results
You won’t see instant results, plain and simple. Instant results are for tomorrow morning’s oatmeal. Quality website content takes time to produce and promote. It takes time for your content to impact Google and other search engines in a way that increases your search rankings. It takes time to build a trusting relationship with your target audience.
In sum, content marketing isn’t a one-and-done thing. It takes consistency—showing up every single day on behalf of those who need you.
How long will it take until you see results? There’s no single answer. Regardless, by creating consistent content that truly connects with your audience, you’ll soon see growth that will continue to build on itself.
Tip: It’s important to have a system in place that allows you to see what content works and what doesn’t as you create it. For example, use an analytics tool to track which blog posts gain the most traction. Then, continue creating content that resonates best with your audience. 
Lie #2: Content Is Nothing But a Sales Tool
This lie arguably does the most harm. Not only is it keeping you from creating content that speaks to your customer, but it’s also treating your customer as nothing more than a puppy following a bone on a stick. Gross. And totally ineffective.
Your customer is a human being. And your content’s responsibility is to connect with them. Your audience is no longer looking for the next best thing…they’re looking for the right thing. Is it you?
Tip: Get to know your customers and their fears, desires, goals, challenges and more. Fill your copy with these things to build a true connection. As a result, your audience will say, “You get me,” which is a surefire way to grab those conversions.
Lie #3: Create as Much Copy as Possible, as Fast as Possible
If anyone ever tells you that churning out copy as fast as possible is the way to success, run—don’t walk—away. The content you create should be valuable to your audience. It should be of high quality. It’s much better to turn out one valuable blog post each week than 10 subpar posts.
Also, churning out content to try and “game” search engines won’t work either. Even Google believes quality is critical:
“Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your Home page. This is the single most important thing to do.”
Tip: Create a simple content strategy with goals you can achieve. For example, aim to publish one blog post each week. Next, schedule ample time on your calendar to create the content and honor it. Do not give short shrift to your content creation process.
Lie #4: Just Do (And Over-Do) What Your Competition Does
Sure, you can learn a lot from your competitors. We even conduct basic competitor research when helping our customers define their ideal customer avatar (ICA). Yet, every single business out there, including yours, has a unique audience with specific needs.
Copying every move your competitors make won’t work. Using their copy and content ideas won’t help you connect with your specific audience. Plus, plagiarism isn’t cool (or legal).
Tip: It’s perfectly okay to feel inspired by a competitor’s content. When you see something you like, ask yourself these questions: Will this type of content resonate with my specific audience? What in this content can I dive deeper into for my audience? Asking these questions will help you brainstorm audience-focused content you can create for your business.
Lie #5: If You Write It, They Will Come
Creating content is only the beginning of the content marketing process. There are literally millions of websites and blogs out there that publish content daily. To make sure your content is noticed, you’ll need to promote it. You can’t just publish it and walk away.
Tip: Start small. Try promoting your content on your Facebook page or LinkedIn profile. Or send your content each month in the form of an email newsletter. Over time, you’ll get more comfortable with promotion and start to see what works best for you and your audience.
Bonus Lie: What I Have To Say Has Already Been Said Before
We have to admit, we’ve fallen victim to this thought before. The marketing industry is saturated with content from your competition and thought leadership from experts. Sometimes, it feels as if we have nothing new to share with the world.
This is wrong. So wrong.
You see, everyone has a unique voice. So, while a certain topic may have been covered a trillion times online—it’s not yet been covered by you. The world needs your perspective. Your thoughts. Your creativity. Your voice. Don’t be afraid to share it.
Let’s Push the Lies Aside and Get Down to Business
Are any of these lies holding you back from your true potential? We get it. When you’re surrounded by noise, it’s easy to give in. Let’s put our noise-canceling headphones on and get to work. Send us Word Nerds a message!
