8 Content Marketing Struggles You Need to Know in 2018

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”- Craig Davis (British marketing pro)

There is no denying the importance of great content in the increasingly competitive environment of the current times. Living in the digital age, content marketers are no strangers to demands of producing better content. Engaging more people through superb content means increased business, and who does not like the ka-ching of increased revenue?

However, dishing out awesome content every day is no mean feat. In all likelihood, content marketers are prone to mistakes and goof-ups as well. In fact, creating gripping content on a regular basis is just one side of the many struggles that they face every day. With the entire world switching to the trendiest digital marketing tactics, even the best content marketers find it quite a challenge to keep up with the pace with the rest of competitors at times.

8 content marketing struggles you need to know

Brands like KISSmetrics, Buzzfeed, QuickSprout, GoPro, TED, and Close.io are just a few of the names that are rocking the content world with their suave marketing tactics and mind-blowing quality of content.

But the journey has not been paved with roses for them. Reaching the zenith of such success is an uphill task indeed.

So, here are the 8 struggles that content marketers of the current times face, along with some suggestions on how to overcome them.

1) Keeping up with consistency

Content marketers need to keep the content compelling and unique, so it has more engagement rates than ever. They have to keep it upbeat and in tune with the trends of the industry as well. The sheer intricacies of churning out consistent content require oodles of skill and a sharp analytical brain, so here is how you can overcome this particular challenge.

• Keyword research is crucial to overcoming this setback
• Try introducing first-hand accounts or experiences for more engaging and relatable content
• Always keep a plan B handy for any content that you create for a fresh angle might work wonders
• Go for diversification of content – introduce infographics and visual content to go with your regular blog posts or try an interactive poll on consumer opinions, for a change
• Enforce stringent editing and proofreading processes to maximise the relevance and impact of the content

2) Marked rise in competition

With the advent of advanced digital communication systems, there seems to be no end of content marketing firms cropping up at every nook and corner of the web. The competition for almost all industries – especially in terms of content marketing – is stifling indeed.

Obviously, you would need to have some effective strategies if you want to survive in a staunchly competitive market.

• Always place more emphasis on quality than quantity when it comes to creating and curating content
• Keep a track of relevant content marketers in your domain and beyond
• Take a leaf out of the book of experts or the ones who reign supreme when it comes to content marketing – that are, the experts

3) Lack of resources for content creation

Be it time or money, content marketers are always running out of resources needed for creating superb content. The tasks keep coming, and the pressure slowly mounts as the content marketer runs out of time for creating flawless and remarkable content suited to the current trends. Sometimes, five other projects in the pipeline seldom get to see the light of the day due to budget constraint issues.

However, it is best to overcome this challenge of (seemingly) never having enough time or money for creating compelling content suited for your target audience.

• Organise the tasks in order of priority, so that completing each takes you one step closer to the goal
• Make sure that you have acquired plenty of time management hacks and tricks before you organise your tasks
• Convince the investors to loosen up their taking strings so you can hire more creative minds to help you with creating relevant content that creates a splash

4) Failing to identify consumer needs

Gone are those days of jotting down the needs and problems of the customers and the ways that you can solve them. If you want to be a content marketer suited to the new age, you must be in the very shoes of your consumers to identify the exact problems that they are facing. Your job as a marketer is to make sure that they feel like you are the go-to guy for all their problems.

Put your thinking cap on, and get ready to think as your consumers do. You can try the following to make sure that you get closer to deciphering what’s going on in the minds of your customers.

• Follow Reddit closely to keep a tab on the trending conversations and communities. This will help you develop better content ideas suited to the trending topics of discussion.
• Quora is also a goldmine to find what the latest buzz is all about. Give it some time, and you will find threads worthy of keeping an eye on so you get to pick great content ideas from the conversations.
• Make sure your brand can identify and solve the pain points that your customers present on social media or else your content marketing tactics will fall through.

5) Originality issues in content

The internet nowadays is filled with content that is a copy of a copy of a copy. Originality remains elusive as far as content is concerned, and that plagues content marketers more than anything. Spinning off popular posts will not be of any use. Instead, you can try repurposing the same if a blog on the web piques your interest.

Look for ways to incorporate great ideas that you find on the internet but do not fall prey to dishing out duplicate or unoriginal content. Coming up with new ideas everyday sounds nearly impossible indeed. You can always take help of digital tools and resources to repurpose existing ideas or coming up with new ones.

• Try using tools like BuzzSumo, Portent’s Content Generator and find the trending topics. They work closely in association with keywords, so you will find a whole load of relevant posts with keywords that you should work upon.
• It is better to be safe than sorry. Run all the copies through a state-of-the-art plagiarism checker to ensure that each is 100% original in all aspects of the content.
• Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your team to come up with new ideas. Encourage your team to keep a content journal to jot down their ideas. Whenever you are at a loss for ideas, consult the content journals to come up with the best solutions.

6) Integrating cross-channel content

Multiple channels of content publication – such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blog posts, webinars, podcasts – make matters worse for content marketers. Synergising content for all platforms or channels is sometimes quite a tricky task. Since each channel requires a different layout and type of content, making sure that the content published on all platforms has some sort of parity is thus quite a handful job for content marketers.

To make sure that you achieve the best possible outcome for this challenge, you will need to keep in mind the following tips.

• Have a focused approach for each channel that you wish to invade with your content and create a publishing schedule at the very outset
• Make sure that you include tweeting options or buttons in your blog, so it serves the social sharing purpose of your content
• Similarly, try Twitter cards that summarise a bit of your blog when shared on Twitter that appears right below the original tweet
• Establish a two-way communication between all your content everywhere on the Internet. You will see a marked increase in traffic from the very first day after you try this.

7) Measuring effectiveness for content

Quite a few content marketers admit having faced the challenge of not being able to measure the impact of the content that they publish. The metrics of measuring content effectiveness depend on a few factors, and once you update yourself on the SEO basics, you will be able to overcome this challenge with relative ease.

The best way to combat this challenge is to hone your SEO skills fast. Here are some ways that you can do so.

• Invest time in doing your SEO research correctly. You need to increase your knowledge base beyond the matter of keywords and website traffic.
• While there is no need to fill your mind with technical jargon of CTRs and the like, make sure that you get your head around the seven metrics of measuring content effectiveness.
• The seven metrics to keep in mind when measuring the effectiveness of your content are traffic, sales, conversion rates, SEO rank, time on your website, feedback from customers, and subscriber growth.

8) Managing a flawless publishing schedule

One of the challenges that content marketers regularly face yet very few admit is that they are usually too overwhelmed with too many publishing tasks. Managing an error-free publishing schedule is actually a tough task because there are plenty of other things to manage besides the task of putting content live. In between writing, coming up with new ideas for content, meeting new clients, training young hires, revising previous copies, indulging in research, quickly checking how SEO is looking for the day and whatnot, it’s okay if you lose track of your publishing tasks.

Creating a content schedule extends so much more than merely setting reminders and publication dates. It can help you get a grip on your entire schedule for the day.

• Try project management tools such as Trello or Feedly will help you get sorted when it comes to scheduling your content publishing tasks.
• Give it a bit of time, and you will learn how to plan your entire day around the scheduler. Leading content marketers swear by the digital scheduling tools for they do a lot more than simple scheduling and reminding tasks.

From learning how to measure the effectiveness of content to training the new hires for creating top-notch copies, content marketers have their hands full with all sorts of jobs. The future of marketing relies heavily on content marketing, and it is best to be prepared for what lies ahead. While challenges make the workplace much more dynamic, it is also essential to know of the tactics that will help you tackle them with ease.

Author bio:

[thrive_testimonial name=”” company=”” image=”https://dsim.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/jijo.jpg”]Jijo Thomas, a London-based marketing professional, offers unmatched assignment help via MyAssignmentHelp.Com. Closing deals with clients and helping students overcome their study woes are two of his favourite things to do. Follow him on @thomasjijo1 for more updates on his writings.[/thrive_testimonial]