We’ve previously discussed what content marketing is and its benefits, but today we’re going to talk about the most common content marketing myths that can hinder your results.
We’re too small for content marketing
Content marketing isn’t just for larger companies. Businesses of any size can benefit content marketing because its purpose is to create a relationship with customers. A proper content strategy will outline the types of content you will produce, your targeted audience, and the channels you’ll use and promote on. Even a small marketing department can manage this!
More content is better
Creating content isn’t just a numbers game. While larger builders have the staff to focus on just creating content, that isn’t the reality for most homebuilders. Don’t fall to the pressure of publishing multiple pieces of content every week.
Many marketers panic when they encounter declining engagement rates and think that posting more will fix everything. Remember: your audience knows how to spot bad content and will avoid engaging with it. It’s better to consistently publish a single well-written post once a week than several mediocre pieces. If you find your audience isn’t responding to the content you’re creating, take the time to create thoughtfully researched and written content that provides value.
Long-form content is better
There is a lot of competing advice on the recommended length of your content. While there are countless studies that proclaim that longer-form content is a winning strategy, there are still specific situations where short-form content is a better performer.
Instead of focusing on creating one specific length, study your audience and see what content length resonates most with them. Your audience may respond to one type of content more than the other. This may even depend on where they are in the customer funnel. Focus on creating a mix of short and long-form content.
Content marketing delivers quickly
Content marketing is often mistakenly assumed to drive quick wins like paid advertisements, but that’s simply not the case. Unlike paid advertisements, you won’t immediately start seeing results. First, content marketing is a long-term strategy. It takes time for search engines to crawl and rank your website. Second, content marketing isn’t designed to drive sales. It’s meant to foster the “know, like, and trust” factor in your audience. By creating a sustainable content marketing strategy, your audience will begin to look at your company as a trusted source, which can eventually turn into home sales.
Content marketing has a short lifespan
Many businesses believe that content has a short lifespan; that once it’s been created and promoted, it’s done. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! With a proper content strategy, you can create content that can be repurposed. A blog post can be rewritten as a social media post or the foundation of a video series. If you have a series of blog posts that are about a single topic, you can put those posts together and create an ebook for potential homebuyers to download (after trading their email address).
And if you create evergreen content (content that remains relevant far past the publication date like topics on how to navigate the home buying journey), you can reshare those posts with minimal updates.
With the right content marketing strategy, you can achieve (and exceed) your marketing goals. If you need help putting together a winning content marketing strategy, get in touch with us.