Not getting the fast results you’re expecting from your content marketing efforts? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We talk to a lot of business owners and marketers, and many of them share that they feel like their content is often falling on deaf ears.
Here are five things you can to today to get more response from your content.
Find a More Intriguing Topic
No, we aren’t suggesting that you start creating content about something else entirely just because it’s a more popular topic.
But we ARE saying that you should do your homework to find the most intriguing angle on the topic you are writing on to give it the best chance at really resonating with your audience.
One way to do this is to look at currently trending stories related to your topic.
One of our old marketing mentors said that we should always “try to speak to the conversation that’s already happening in their mind.”
He meant that if you can find a way to relate your message to something they are already paying attention to and focused on, you’ll have a better chance at getting their attention for yourself.
Your challenge is to find a trending topic that’s already getting a lot of attention, and then tie your message to that topic in a creative way that doesn’t seem too forced!
How to find trending topics? One of our favorite tools is Buzzsumo, whose free version is powerful enough to add a ton of value.
Go play with it a bit and we bet you’ll be impressed!
Spice Up Your Headlines
In many ways, the headline is the most important part of a piece of content. It’s the cover people judge the book by, so to speak. In our current outspoken era, people may even sound off their opinion or share an article based on the headline alone.
There are a few things that help headlines sell:
- Topic Keyword Signals that trigger interest — E.g. someone frustrated with ad reach may perk up the instant they see a blog title that mentions “Ad Blocking”
- Clarity — A.K.A., does the reader understand clearly understand what the article will be about? Each headline is a promise
- Action Verbs — Try to eliminate linking verbs like “is” or “will,” and try and substitute strong action verbs or gerunds near the front of the headline instead. Not “According to Recent Study, Brand X Is Gaining on Brand Y” but “Brand X Pummeling Brand Y, Says Study”
- Length — Blog headlines should be concise and clear, but that doesn’t mean they have to be short. eMarketer data shows that blogs with headlines 90-99 characters long outperform shorter ones.
- Relevance with Article — Tricking someone into clicking on your article with deceptive “clickbait” headlines improves your views and CTR, but it hurts your goals. Always balance appeal with accuracy.
And then there are headline structures that are absolutely proven to work that you can put to use immediately.
BuzzSumo has some great data on top performing headlines for B2C companies as well as B2B companies. Use the following phrases and you are almost guaranteed to get more attention to your content:
- “How to…”
- “X ways…”
- “X things…”
- “The X best…”
- “This is why…”
- “This is how…”
Don’t overthink it – copy the headline formulas that are proven to work (notice that we did)!
Promote On More Channels
We’ve found that people that are really good at creating content are not necessarily the same people that feel really comfortable promoting their content.
If that describes you, it’s time to get passed it and become a promotion machine!
In today’s more competitive social and search environments, relying on organic distribution of your content is a fool’s strategy. Content marketing success practically requires paid promotion. Put simply, the more money you put into promoting your content, the bigger returns you can get from each asset.
That phenomenon is likely why companies that put a bigger budget behind their content find greater returns. According to a 2018 CMI survey, the average top-performing B2C company allocated 38% of their overall marketing budget to content, and top-performing B2B companies allocated an average of 40%. On the flip side, the least-successful B2B companies spent just 14%.
Make sure that you’re putting just as much enthusiasm and budget to the promotion of your content as you are to the creation. And if you find that you just can’t do it yourself, invest in an agency that can handle the promotion for you.
Need Help?
There are three tips that you can apply immediately to see better response and results from your content marketing efforts.
Do you think you could still use a hand?
If so, get in touch and we’ll provide a no obligation consultation to see if we are a good fit to help you!
