Common mistakes business owners make when planning and creating content
When it comes to your business, you probably have a lot of things on your mind. You're working hard and trying to grow as much as possible, but it can be easy to forget that the foundation of all of this—your customers—are what will make or break you in the long run.
One way that businesses often fail to connect with their customers is by failing to create effective content for them. In this article, we'll go over some common mistakes that business owners make when planning and creating content so that you don't fall into these traps yourself!
Not knowing enough about your audience.
Your audience and clients are the VIPs!! Never forget that. The first step in creating great content is knowing your audience well. To do this, you have to know what they want and need, what their pain points are, how they think and feel about your business, how they make decisions, how they learn and—most importantly—what matters to them.
The second step is to apply that information by creating content that speaks directly to those needs. For example: if someone wants a faster computer but doesn't know much about computers or technology, then a video like "How To Buy A Computer" would be useful for them because it would teach them something new; however if someone already knows about computers but has no money for one right now (and therefore can't afford any kind of online learning), then maybe an article titled "How To Save Money On A Computer" might be more appropriate because it offers ideas on how not only save money but also still get what you need despite financial limitations.
Not mapping out the customer journey.
One of the most important parts of creating content is mapping out your customer journey. The customer journey is the process that a person goes through when interacting with your business. It starts with awareness, moves into consideration and ends in purchase.
Mapping out your customer’s entire experience can help you identify areas where there are gaps or opportunities for improvement in the buying experience for them.
No call to action.
A call to action is an explicit request that a reader take some kind of desired action. If you want someone to buy your product, go somewhere, or learn something, ask them!
It’s important to make it clear exactly what you want your audience to do next. A good way to do this is by using a clear and simple direct call-to-action (CTA). Make sure that the CTA is immediately visible after reading your text so they can’t miss it. Don’t be afraid of asking directly for the sale or contact details when appropriate; if they’re not interested in buying now, they may become interested later on down the line or through further engagement with your content
Trying to reach everyone all at once.
When it comes to creating content, you should focus on a specific audience. And when I say a specific audience, I mean a very narrowly defined one.
You want to identify who your ideal customer is and then create content that will appeal to them. You also want to narrow down what problem they have and what solution they need most. This will help you create content that’s relevant and valuable for them so you can attract new customers through organic search traffic or social media posts (like Facebook ads).
In order for this process to work effectively, it’s important that your messaging aligns with the goals of their marketing efforts so they won’t feel like you're wasting their time or money by providing something that doesn't fit those needs well enough for anyone else but themselves!
Not having an overall content strategy.
Content marketing is a constantly evolving field with new tips, tricks and tactics emerging every day. It’s easy to get swept up in the latest tactic and forget to take the time to create an overall content strategy that will help you stay on track over the long term. This can lead to poor creative decisions—such as creating irrelevant or low quality content—and ultimately wasted time and money for your business.
Not knowing what your target audience wants from you
Once you have a solid grasp on your business goals, it’s important that you also have a handle on who will be reading (or watching) those pieces of content in order for them to be successful at driving real results like sales or leads for example. Knowing who these people are will help inform what kind of information they need from you so it’s important that this step isn't skipped!
Creating content without branding it.
When creating content, you need to consider how it will fit into your branding. This is something that's important for both businesses and individuals. For example, if I'm a business owner named Mark who runs an auto repair shop called Mark's Garage, then my brand might be "Mark's Garage: We fix cars." As part of this brand identity, I'll have a logo that incorporates my name and the name of my shop into one design. In addition to having something interesting in the way of graphics or images on our website, we'll have some kind of tagline that explains what we do: "We fix cars." That's it—easy enough!
Without a plan, you'll struggle to create effective content that will make an impact on your business.
Even if you have a great idea for content, and even if you're sure it will work, there are still many ways that your plan can go wrong. Without a plan, you'll struggle to create effective content that will make an impact on your business.
To avoid this pitfall, follow these steps:
Plan what type of information to share;
Determine how often the content should be published; and
Choose a schedule for publishing your content on social media and elsewhere
In conclusion, creating and distributing content is a crucial part of any marketing strategy. If you’re serious about growing your business, then it’s important that you take some time to reflect on what your audience wants—and how they want to consume the content that gets created.
Interested in creating content that connects with your clients? Send us a message: hello@chutzpahcreative.com