Content marketing is one of the most effective means of reaching out and finding an audience most likely to purchase your products or services. However, there are certain marketing limitations that are built into this particular strategy as well.
Writing good content on a regular basis reaches out to potential new audiences that use search engines and the web to find content to solve problems or for entertainment. But like any other form of effective marketing, writing good content on a regular basis can be difficult.
Some marketing limitations occur from failing to maintain the interest level of their customers because the quality of their content slips over time. Other times, a regular schedule is not kept or not enough variation in the content or ideas happens and the audience becomes bored.
Content Marketing Limitations
So, how do you overcome content marketing limitations? The answer lies in addressing the major obstacles of content marketing and planning ahead to address the issues that arise.
How To Overcome Writer’s Block
One of the most common content marketing limitations is coming up with fresh, new material for your articles. This is because no matter how interested or passionate you are about a particular subject, there is only so much that you can write about based on what you currently know.
At some point, you’ll be staring at the computer screen at a complete loss as to what your next subject matter will be for writing your content. You will have reached a temporary marketing limit.
However, there are ways to overcome writer’s block with the most effective being staying one step ahead in your research and opening yourself up to outside influences as well.
To put it more simply, instead of waiting around for writer’s block to occur, you should instead gather up new ideas and write ahead of time so that any “block” that occurs will be minimised and far easier to overcome.
How To Retain Good Ideas
One of the most effective means of overcoming the content marketing limitation of writer’s block is by recording good ideas when the first arrive.
The sad truth is that even the best writers will forget many good ideas because they do not take the time to record them before the moment passes. The mind of a writer will go through many good ideas and unfortunately push many of them out when they focus on something new.
By writing down or recording your ideas when they happen, the capacity to retain content increases and thus lessen the chances of running into writer’s block.
Forgetting good ideas when then happen is one of the most common forms of content marketing limitations, so set up a system where you can retain a good idea when it strikes. It could be as simply as a notepad to write them down or recording the ideas on your phone for posterity.
Create Time To Engage Your Audience
Another way to help overcome content marketing limitations is by actively engaging your audience. Setting aside a regular time to open up a dialogue with those who are interested in what you have to offer means building up your audience.
It also means that you can generate good writing ideas as well. In fact, here are a few ideas of how you can include your audience in your writing on a regular basis with your content marketing objectives in mind:
- Run contests
- Create “best of” lists
- Write a guest post of the month piece
- Create a challenge for your audience
You can use this time for asking your audience to contribute ideas and even whole stories that can become part of your ongoing content. This is an excellent way to keep your blog fresh and promote ideas that you can use in your next articles, while reducing your overall marketing limitations.
How To Recycle Old Content
Your old material can be made new again which can help you overcome the marketing limitations of coming up with new content.
In fact, there are some innovative ways that you can keep reusing old content in new, fresh ways if you use a little imagination;
- Create a “looking back” section
- Update old content with new news
- Show how right or wrong your old content turned out to be
- Use variations of old content and incorporate that into new articles
You will need to be a little creative with your older content, but the result can actually be a lot of fun by demonstrating how on point or way off target your old predictions turned out to be.
You can also use it to compare how far you have come since the time you first wrote that older article, while incorporating variations of your older content into new material. All of these are excellent ways to overcome content marketing limitations if you have been writing for a while.
Always Have A Backup Plan
A good plan starts by having a back-up plan just in case things go wrong. When you are faced with writer’s block or other types of marketing limitations, then you will need a backup plan to help you get out of this jam.
Another form of contingency planning in online spaces is social media crisis management. Always prepare for the worst, but expect the best.
It all starts by writing as much material as possible well in advance of your publication date. When you first start writing content, you should also write features, background articles and so forth that are timeless in nature, but can be used when you are stuck for new ideas.
The more material you have on hand, the more time you have to plan, write and schedule your next blog articles.
You can also garner submissions from outside writers who can contribute articles to your blog or website, while you are preparing your new material.
You Must Think Like A Publisher
You are more than just a writer, you are a content publisher, so start thinking like one. You must think about your blog or website as the platform for content publishing and the marketing limitations that arise in doing so.
Remember, you are providing a valuable service to your readers as well as generating leads and sales. Plan ahead with your content and engage your viewers so that you can better overcome the marketing limitations that executing content management strategies brings about.
What do you see as your biggest marketing limitation?
This content was originally published here.