Content marketing can be tricky to define. This can even make it difficult to distinguish good content marketing from bad content marketing sometimes.
Since content marketing is about building an audience for your brand by establishing trust, what works for one business may not work for another. This means that some content marketing examples that seem bad may work great for a specific group of people if you know who you’re creating for.
On the other hand, some content marketing is downright cringeworthy no matter who it’s intended for. While it can take some fine-tuning to strike the right note with your content, today we’re sharing some types of content marketing examples that you want to avoid no matter what.
Content marketing example number 1: The hard sell
While content marketing pieces, whether it’s a blog, white paper or a podcast, can be branded or unbranded, they’re not supposed to be straight-up advertisements. The primary goal of this approach is to provide useful information that your audience needs. Sometimes this will involve your products or services and sometimes it won’t. But if you come right out of the gate shouting about your wares, chances are you’re going to turn off a lot of readers.
Content marketing example number 2: Who is this for?
These are content marketing examples that are trying so hard not to be “salesy” that you can’t understand who they’re for and why they exist at all. For example, if you run an accounting firm, maybe don’t post a blog about your top 10 movies of all time. This isn’t to say your content can’t be fun if you have an accounting firm; it just needs to be relevant. How about “Five movies about people who needed better accountants” and demonstrate your financial expertise that way?
Content marketing example number 3: Missing the bandwagon
“Everyone is doing podcasts now!” doesn’t always mean “I need to do a podcast now!” Does your audience listen to podcasts? Is podcasting a good way to get your message across? Does anyone in your organization have a “voice for radio”?
This is just a hypothetical example. A podcast may be exactly the right piece of content for your brand, but before you try to jump on the latest trend, it’s important to be able to answer fundamental questions about both your brand and your audience. If you know what you’re trying to say and who you’re trying to reach, it’ll be that much easier to know what formats will work best for you.
Content marketing example number 4: Just plain bad
Misspelled words, low-quality images, Comic Sans font. Some things aren’t debatable. At the very least, any piece of content should achieve minimum standards of professional quality. If you’re putting out poorly produced content, it can have negative long-term consequences for your brand and business.
Burg & Co. Marketing — digital storytellers who will find your brand’s message
Our experts pride ourselves on balancing brand and audience building with achieving a return on your content marketing investment. We’ve worked with a wide range of businesses and understand how to create compelling and useful content for all stages of your marketing funnel.
To learn more about how we can help you with content marketing, and how to create an integrated digital marketing strategy, contact us today. We’re happy to offer a free marketing consultation with our team of experts.
