The Light or The Dark Side of the Content Marketing. How to choose the best one?

Any person involved in content marketing business will tell you that the profession is not just about fun. To outsiders, it may look like an easy job to do with all that knowledge on the Internet that online marketers use. Content creation activities may also appear like a piece of cake. However, the reality is much more complicated. Being good with words is not going to win you anything in this business.

Content marketing is a science driven by analytics, surveys, and planning. All decisions made in this business (at least effective ones) are supported by data because the opinion of the online audience is not to be neglected.

In this article, I will review an awesome infographic  titled “The Dark Side of Content Marketing” that was made by Scripted. It presents the Light side in the conclusion as well and shows why content marketing profession is not just games and fun. I promise it’ll be fun if you work in marketing, here we go!

The Dark Side

This awesome infographic begins with the Dark side, saying that it is ignored by many people involved in the field. However, this is wrong move because the data don’t lie. For example, the infographic says that 86 percent of B2B organizations use content marketing in their digital promotion and 27 million pieces of content are shared daily.

That’s huge. It seems that businesses really know how to take advantage of content marketing benefits, right? So many content pieces get shared, and so many businesses realized the importance of using latest content techniques in their marketing strategies. Well, wrong.

The infographic proceeds to reveal some findings that will make any content marketing concerned about their effort. For example, only 21 percent of marketers are positive about their successful measurement of Return on Investment and content marketing efforts. That’s heavy! Only a small share of marketers knows how to effectively measure the performance of their effort…

Next, the stats are getting even darker. The infographic uses the data provided by the CMI Benchmark Report 2015 to provide even more concerns. Listen to this: 48 percent of content marketers out there don’t have a documented strategy! Does that mean that most of their efforts are going down the drain? Exactly. It can be compared to driving without knowing the destination: you’re burning fuel and wasting precious time.

According to NewsCred, marketers with a documented strategy are five times more likely to succeed than those who don’t have it. Believe me, you want everything in you marketing strategies documented because otherwise you won’t have any goals, strategy, and eventually success.

The next stat described by the infographic is just as astonishing: 62 percent of marketers believe that content marketing strategy of their organization is “ineffective.” This means that their efforts are useless because they use outdated or incomplete strategies. As the result, millions of dollars are spent without any returns!

When I read the following stat, I wanted to scream. 74 percent of online consumers get frustrated with websites the content of which appears irrelevant to them. Wow. This fact should drive any marketing strategies out there. You need to create only relevant content, people!

After listing these “dark” stats, the infographic proceeds to identify the key takeaways. For example, it states that one must document content strategy, set content goals, repurpose useful content, create an editorial content, publish only relevant content, study target audience, and determine the measurements of success beforehand. Indeed, these are great pointers that every online marketer needs to learn.

The Light Side

Finally, the Light side comes after all that darkness, as the infographic shifts attention toward the rewards that come after effective marketing effort. These rewards are great pointers for those that need tips on improving their marketing campaigns.

Take this stat for example. People who receive email newsletters generally spend 82 percent more. That’s big. Indeed, there are many examples of amazing email marketing campaigns out there and they bring a lot of benefits for companies. Read this Hubspot’s guide to creating an email newsletter people actually read to get started on improving your campaign today.

Another stat worth our attention is related to lead nurturing. The businesses that are good at it generate 50 percent more sales-ready leads at 33 percent lower cost, says the infographic. A good reason to start learning how to use this powerful marketing feature and come to the “Light” side, right?

“An organic lead generation is a complex thing,” says Michael Thompson, a senior content marketer. “For the last campaign I developed for a pro essay writing service, I used targeted content, personalized emails, and multi-channel lead nurturing to achieve success.” I like how Neil Patel explained the whole deal, so check out his article.

Does your CEO has a social media profile? If not, your company might be losing up to 77 percent of potential customers. The era of CEOs remaining in the shadows is a history because building a rapport with customers requires the effort from them as well. There are many strategic ways in which CEOs can take advantage of using social media profile, such as showing personality, spreading brand awareness, and thanking customers.

The Bottom Line

Clearly, content marketing is not just about games but also about stats and data. However, now that you know about both Dark and Light sides, you can make a decision on joining the best one.