Why Content Marketing is not attracting clients for your business

There are many reasons why content marketing is not attracting clients to millions of businesses online, despite their best efforts.

As someone trying to get the best out of effort and resources put into creating content, you should be concerned about the things that can stop your content from delivering on the best possible outcomes.

Because, the main reason people engage in content marketing is to build an audience who’ll most likely become fans. And then over time, paying clients.

It’s unfortunate! Majority of content creators do not get any tangible results out of the content they create.

Apart from the few that manage to garner a handful of readers, most new content marketers don’t ever build any audience that end up becoming paid customers.

This is the sad reality. And the main reason why 95 percent of bloggers give up and abandon their blogs after a very short while.

You don’t have to get the same miserable results like the top 95 percent. So, in this post I’ll be sharing with the top reasons why most marketers, freelancers and small businesses fail to build any audience after creating content for a long time.

And you’ll also learn in the following paragraphs, how to avoid these mistakes and get to build an audience for your business through content marketing…

No Well Defined Audience

The number one reason content marketing is not attracting client to your business is because you don’t have a well defined audience.

And this is due to the fact that you don’t even know who should be in your audience. Or who shouldn’t.

So, you create content for everyone. And crating content for everyone technically means creating for no one. For this reason, no one really cares about the stuff you create.

And after spending the whole time writing great content, you find little to no engagement and then it becomes very disappointing.

Think about the United States Presidential Aspirant taking his campaign to Russia to tell the Russians about his agenda for the Americans…

After spending 100M USD on expenses and everything, he gives a rousing speech that gets a thunderous applause.

Now tell me, no matter how much he spends on this campaign and how wonderful the speech would be, do you think the Russian campaign will bring in the votes?

Definitely not. Because the people that will vote for him are in the United States.

But that’s how most new content marketers work out their marketing. Targeting just about any kind of reader. This doesn’t work!

What to Do

Your Content marketing strategy should be focused on meeting the needs of the target audience you want to attract to your blog.

So, if you’re selling beef, you want to attract to your blog, people that eat and like beef. Not everyone. Because everyone includes vegetarians and non meat lovers.

If you’re marketing a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to working class guys between 25-35 years, your content marketing should focus on this group and how the device can fit into their lifestyle. That’s your audience.

How to Identify your Target Audience

To identify your target audience, you want to start with creating a persona for your ideal audience. And building your content based on that persona and the kind of content that matters to them.

See him/her through your minds eyes while creating your content.

Be able to imagine their needs, fears and aspirations. Paint pictures of their struggles and aspirations in your mind’s eyes and let these personal details guide you toward building content that connects with and meets their needs.

Zero Content Strategy

Another reason content marketing is not attracting client is because you don’t have any content strategy.

Now, a content strategy is a well mapped out plan of the particular goal you want to achieve with your blog at a certain time, including the steps you’ll use in achieving those goals.

Your content strategy embodies things like;

Your goals, the kind of content you want to create based on that goal, the number of times you’ll post in a week, the platforms you’ll promote the posts. And even the length of each post.

Most content marketers don’t bother about creating a content strategy. But it is important you put this in your bucket list, if you’re thinking of getting an impressive result with your content content marketing effort.

Because it’s your strategy that will help you to map out your audience and find out who (say a particular sub segment) to target with a particular content.

With this in place, you’ll be able to acknowledge the particular audience’s journey, and find out the post that will be suitable to them at any point in time.

No Connection with your Audience

Lack of connection with your audience through your content is one of the reasons why content marketing is not attracting clients to your business.

Even when you get to define your audience, your audience need to know, like, trust you and really get to connect with your content, if you’re planning to have them take on your call to action, after coming across your content.

Now there’s something I want you to understand.

Most content creators make the mistake of creating the kind of content they have in mind, without trying to understand the real needs of their target audience.

This happens especially with bloggers. So you wake up one day and because you felt so sad with your life and you begin to talk about your feelings.

You see, that’s a great thing to do. Because it relieves your heart of whatever stuff it is you’d probably had to deal with.

Why content marketing is not delivering results
Successful content marketing demands a very strategic and consistent approach | Image Credits: Walls.io

But the point is, does this add any value to your client? Will it make them feel like coming to you for more?

These are the obvious questions your content should be able to answer before you hit the publish button.

Don’t get me wrong. Some personal stories helps you to create a better connection with your audience…

But these stories can only create real connections if you have a way of wrapping them around content that appeals to your audience.

Because whether you like it or not, people are moved by self interest. So they’ll only head over to where their interest is best served.

Instead of focusing on yourself, your content should be focused on your audience. And the things that matters to them. Because they are the reason you’re here.

Otherwise, you can focus on yourself if you’re running a personal blog or where your blog’s mission is to share your life’s journey with your readers.

If your blog is not cut out for any of the above, focus on creating content that meets the needs of your audience specifically.

Expecting Readers to Come without Effort

Of course readers are supposed to come to you. They are the ones with the problem you have solutions to.

But, having this kind of mindset is one of the reasons why content marketing is not attracting clients to your business.

Yes! Although, clients might come to you in the brick and mortar world. Especially, if you have a popular brand like the Apple, Samsung or Coca Cola etc.

But you see, you are in the online world. And you’re not yet well known. So, you have to go out there and get your audience over to your blog before expecting to convert them into clients.

To get around this, learn about and use the right keywords combination in your content before sharing them on your blog. This is very important.

Also, beyond using the right key words, go ahead, share and promote your content so it can get across to readers out there.

Promoting the Wrong Way

Lack of promotion could also be one of the reason why content marketing is not bringing clients to your business.

But apart from complete lack of content promotion, a lot of content creators promote the content the wrong way. And this leads to zero results.

From using the wrong platform to using an incorrect strategy, most creators are consistently getting less than their expected outcomes.

For example, as a content creator, its natural you’ll focus on promoting your content on a social media platform you’re already comfortable with. Or the one you have the most audience.

But, sometimes; these platforms might not have the right audience for you. So, all your promotional effort might end up not yielding any results.

That’s why before embarking on content promotion on any social media platform, you have to study and identify the platform with the largest number of the people in your target audience.

Identify these platforms and use your best strategies to promote your content there.

Final Words

In conclusion, content marketing is meant to attract an audience that will be converted into paying clients for your business.

Where this is not happening then that means the whole purpose of your content marketing activity has been defeated.

If you ever get to this point, creating more content will not bring any solution. It will only lead to a waste of your time.

If you ever get to this stage where your content is not delivering results for your business, you have to take a step back, audit your approach and then use the strategies listed here to revamp your content marketing results.

So, there you have the solutions to fix your content marketing outcomes. To get even better results and learn all the bolts and nuts about successful content marketing, sign up for a certificate course at the Smart Content College Here.

Now, it’s over to you. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve experienced so far, in your journey as a content marketer? Drop your comments below.

2 Responses

  1. I would add that it is also important to be consistent with your content marketing efforts. This means creating new content on a regular basis and promoting it effectively. By following these tips, you can attract and retain clients through content marketing.

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Victor Winners

Victor Winners

A Nigerian trained Law graduate and British LL.M candidate, using his widespread experience in tech, law and innovation, to evolve cutting edge and growth driven solutions for brands and businesses in Africa and beyond.As a Law-trained tech expert, Victor brings in over 7 years experience working in the Digital Marketing, SEO, Web Development, Online Publishing, Social Media and Legaltech sectors, to create result driven content and innovative solutions to brands and businesses.Named as one of the top 50 Web Design Influencers Globally, Victor Winners started one of Africa's most widely read blogs on Digital Marketing and Strategy.With this platform, he has impacted the lives of over 2 million readers spanning more than 135 countries in 8+ years

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