Here’s Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is Totally Failing
I talk with a lot of people who are frustrated with the fact that their content marketing strategy doesn’t seem to be working.
In fact, in some cases, their entire content strategy seems to be an abject failure.
Why is this the case? If content marketing is such an important marketing method, has proven success, and is used by nearly 90% of businesses, then why do so many businesses feel like their strategy is useless and ineffective?
There are some common trends that characterize many of these “failed” content marketing strategies. In most cases, the strategies haven’t “failed” at all. The “strategy,” whatever that is, wasn’t clear enough to guide the business to achieve its goals.
Instead, what the strategy needs is a hard reset and some new programming. That new programming comes in the form of SMART goals.
Why I’m concerned about ‘strategy’
Content marketing is something that everyone is doing, but not many people are very confident about it. You may have read CMI’s industry survey, which explained that only 9% of B2B marketers think their organization’s use of content marketing is “very effective.” That leaves the vast majority of the industry in a situation where they are not totally confident about their efforts.
This is a problem. If content marketing is the wonder technique that we think it is, shouldn’t we have a bit more confidence in it?
The core of the problem seems to be with strategy. The proof is in the data.
What we’re facing is an industry in which “strategy” – whatever that is – is either not working or nonexistent. Why? Because there isn’t a strategy at all.
This is an issue that I covered in depth in my Kissmetrics article, 10 Common Reasons Why Content Marketing Isn’t Working for You. The issue to notice here is that there’s actually no strategy. None.
If this is the case, then it’s no wonder your content marketing strategy is failing. You don’t have one. The problem is more common than you might think.
The percentage of B2C marketers who have a documented content marketing strategy is 27%. You might get hopeful, because 50% of marketers have a strategy. (It’s not written down, that’s all.)
That’s a huge problem. If it’s not written down, then it probably doesn’t really exist. Sure, it exists in people’s minds, but how clear is that? How can a strategy that exists in people’s minds guide an organization’s cohesive efforts?
Content marketing is a method that takes a team to carry forward. If the organization’s individuals are holding some nebulous strategy in their minds, that’s not really a strategy at all. That’s just some thoughts on content marketing.
I’m also concerned about this statistic: Only one-third follow their documented strategy “very” closely, with 57% following it “somewhat” closely. Why document your content marketing strategy if it’s not valuable enough to follow closely?
The problem seems to lie with the word “strategy.”
“Strategy” is a fuzzy word. Frank Cespedes wrote in the Harvard Business Review:
Ironically, after years of books, articles, and MBA programs dedicated to strategic thinking, that’s the danger with how strategy is used in business meetings. It’s too often a way of sounding smart or leader-like and used to avoid necessary choices.
People conflate business strategy with the aggregation of tactical plans … Studies show that a big problem with strategic planning processes is that the resulting ‘strategy’ is a bland compilation of capital budgets that, in turn, are a compilation (not integration) of separate functional initiatives.
OK, so most businesses don’t have a strategy – let alone a good one. Now, we need to talk about what “strategy” is. The HBR article explains it this way:
So, what is strategy? It’s fundamentally the movement of an organization from its present position to a desirable but inherently uncertain future position. The path from here to there is both analytical (a series of linked hypotheses about objectives in a market, where we do and don’t play among our opportunity spaces, and what this means for the customer value proposition, sales tasks, and other activities) and behavioral (the ongoing coordinated efforts of people who work in different functions but must align for effective strategy execution). And the trail always begins with customers.
That’s basically a complicated way of saying that we need to have goals.
I would argue that “strategy” should really mean “goals.”
“Strategy” sounds smart and sexy, but how different is it from goals? Goals are a much clearer way to look at the issue of strategy. I suggest that we stop trying to come up with an innovative “strategy,” and instead focus on goals.
I talk with a lot of people who are frustrated with the fact that their content marketing strategy doesn’t seem to be working.
In fact, in some cases, their entire content strategy seems to be an abject failure.
Why is this the case? If content marketing is such an important marketing method, has proven success, and is used by nearly 90% of businesses, then why do so many businesses feel like their strategy is useless and ineffective?
There are some common trends that characterize many of these “failed” content marketing strategies. In most cases, the strategies haven’t “failed” at all. The “strategy,” whatever that is, wasn’t clear enough to guide the business to achieve its goals.
Instead, what the strategy needs is a hard reset and some new programming. That new programming comes in the form of SMART goals.
Why I’m concerned about ‘strategy’
Content marketing is something that everyone is doing, but not many people are very confident about it. You may have read CMI’s industry survey, which explained that only 9% of B2B marketers think their organization’s use of content marketing is “very effective.” That leaves the vast majority of the industry in a situation where they are not totally confident about their efforts.
This is a problem. If content marketing is the wonder technique that we think it is, shouldn’t we have a bit more confidence in it?
The core of the problem seems to be with strategy. The proof is in the data.
What we’re facing is an industry in which “strategy” – whatever that is – is either not working or nonexistent. Why? Because there isn’t a strategy at all.
This is an issue that I covered in depth in my Kissmetrics article, 10 Common Reasons Why Content Marketing Isn’t Working for You. The issue to notice here is that there’s actually no strategy. None.
If this is the case, then it’s no wonder your content marketing strategy is failing. You don’t have one. The problem is more common than you might think.
The percentage of B2C marketers who have a documented content marketing strategy is 27%. You might get hopeful, because 50% of marketers have a strategy. (It’s not written down, that’s all.)
That’s a huge problem. If it’s not written down, then it probably doesn’t really exist. Sure, it exists in people’s minds, but how clear is that? How can a strategy that exists in people’s minds guide an organization’s cohesive efforts?
Content marketing is a method that takes a team to carry forward. If the organization’s individuals are holding some nebulous strategy in their minds, that’s not really a strategy at all. That’s just some thoughts on content marketing.
I’m also concerned about this statistic: Only one-third follow their documented strategy “very” closely, with 57% following it “somewhat” closely. Why document your content marketing strategy if it’s not valuable enough to follow closely?
The problem seems to lie with the word “strategy.”
“Strategy” is a fuzzy word. Frank Cespedes wrote in the Harvard Business Review:
Ironically, after years of books, articles, and MBA programs dedicated to strategic thinking, that’s the danger with how strategy is used in business meetings. It’s too often a way of sounding smart or leader-like and used to avoid necessary choices.
People conflate business strategy with the aggregation of tactical plans … Studies show that a big problem with strategic planning processes is that the resulting ‘strategy’ is a bland compilation of capital budgets that, in turn, are a compilation (not integration) of separate functional initiatives.
OK, so most businesses don’t have a strategy – let alone a good one. Now, we need to talk about what “strategy” is. The HBR article explains it this way:
So, what is strategy? It’s fundamentally the movement of an organization from its present position to a desirable but inherently uncertain future position. The path from here to there is both analytical (a series of linked hypotheses about objectives in a market, where we do and don’t play among our opportunity spaces, and what this means for the customer value proposition, sales tasks, and other activities) and behavioral (the ongoing coordinated efforts of people who work in different functions but must align for effective strategy execution). And the trail always begins with customers.
That’s basically a complicated way of saying that we need to have goals.
I would argue that “strategy” should really mean “goals.”
“Strategy” sounds smart and sexy, but how different is it from goals? Goals are a much clearer way to look at the issue of strategy. I suggest that we stop trying to come up with an innovative “strategy,” and instead focus on goals.
