5 Ways To Stop Sabotaging Your Content Marketing

Today, marketers create, launch, and leverage content faster than ever. But to stay at the top of their game they juggle many moving pieces, while working to avoid the common pitfalls that plague content creation. We've identified five common issues that sabotage a content marketer's efforts to create content that delivers value and supports the reader in their buying lifecycle. Avoid the following to secure your content's success.

1. Silos. This saboteur sneaks into an organization silently and can often go unnoticed. Content marketers know the inherent value of creating a content library that appeals to their whole audience. Content created in a silo does not include all your stakeholder perspectives or buying personas, which can mean you are losing some of your audience. Working with your internal stakeholders to create content that addresses your whole, broad audience will result in better ideas, more variety, and avoiding repetitive, bland content.
2. Planning too far in advance. Planning can be both your friend and your foe. Don't let it become the latter by making sure your content calendar is not too concrete. A successful content marketing strategy is flexible enough to respond to current events, but solid enough to reliably integrate into other marketing efforts. This balance is something that will be unique to your organization, but ideally you'll be able to map content around major events and holidays and be able to respond to industry events and news.
3. Not budgeting your time. Content creation takes time, lots of time. We're not saying you're not amazing or efficient, but there are only so many hours in a day. Biting off more than you can chew only means that you'll have a hard time managing expectations - and that you'll be resetting plenty of deadlines. Choose a realistic timeline and cadence of content that you can produce and you'll be happier and more successful in your content creation.
4. Not tying your content to goals. One of the best ways to sabotage your content is to not tie it to your goals. Know why you're creating content. What are the goals you're driving toward? How do you measure your success? Brainstorm, prioritize, and create content with an eye toward your goals. Use your content calendar to create a strategic mix that addresses your goals. And don't fill it with fluff.
5. No shared calendar. Just as silos sabotage content success, working without a shared, active calendar will make your content strategy more difficult to execute. Successful content marketing is part of an integrated marketing strategy. One of the fastest ways to doom your content marketing and diminish your marketing's effectiveness is by having multiple calendars in different places. This common communication issue is solved by a centralized calendar shared by key stakeholders that includes major events and milestones.

I hope these tips help you avoid some of the common pitfalls you can fall into as a content marketer. I'd love to hear if you've encountered (or combatted) anything not on this list.

Ellen Gomes is a content marketing specialist at Marketo. She's a news junkie and loves to stay up to date on the latest marketing trends and connect with new people over social media. Contact her at 650-376-2300 or follow her on Twitter @egomes1019. This article was originally posted on the Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.