There are two words that will turn every consumer’s head at any time: “ad-free.”
Everywhere you look, people are more resistant to ads than ever. They’re paying extra for their streaming services to watch their favorite shows without ads. They’re installing ad blocking software in their browsers.
People don’t like to feel like they’re being “sold to” and manipulated. When you’re trying to advertise your business, don’t get discouraged. Get creative by hiring a content marketer instead.
Is a content marketer the next step your business needs to take on the road to success?
Signs You Need to Hire a Content Marketer
If you don’t have a content marketer on your team or a content marketing agency available, you may not realize how much your business is missing. Look for these tell-tale signs.
Your Website Has No Blog (Or a Sparse One)
A blog is one of the best things you can do for your website. It needs to have a steady flow of valuable, well-written content about relevant topics.
When we offer this advice, the same question always follows: how often do companies need to post on their blogs? The answer varies from one website to the next.
Overall, it appears that blogging every few days is optimal. However, it all depends on your site and your audience, so you need to experiment and watch your site’s metrics to find your “sweet spot.”
Or a content marketer can oversee that process for you.
Your Blog Posts are Snooze-Fests
Merely having a blog with frequent posts isn’t enough. Those posts have to be riveting. Spectacular. A TED Talk on the page.
Maybe they don’t all have to be masterpieces but your blogs should be engaging and interesting to read. The information they hold needs to be practical and applicable as well.
Not sure if your blogs fit the bill? Reach out to someone in your target audience. Ask them to browse your blog posts and give you their unvarnished opinion.
You can also see the evidence by looking at the average length of time users spend on your blog pages. If it’s a few mere seconds, you’re losing their interest.
You Aren’t Getting the Traffic You Want
One of the easiest metrics to track is website traffic. It’s easy to track over time and most importantly, it’s easy for you to see when it drops off.
If your numbers aren’t living up to your dreams, your content could be to blame.
Content that is optimized for search engines can pull in traffic like a magnet. It will use keywords that are searched frequently and that will land your site on the first page of search results.
If the lack of traffic is your problem, make sure you find a content marketer who has extensive SEO knowledge.
Your Social Media Following is Stagnant
Most of your content will live on your website, but its influence doesn’t stop there. To get more mileage for all the glorious content you produce, you should be sharing it on social media too.
If you do this, it also gives you one more way to tell if you need a content marketer.
When your content is strong, people will notice it. Then they’ll notice you and start following you.
If your social media engagement and your follower numbers are dropping or sitting still, it could mean your content isn’t attractive enough. A content marketer can turn that around in a hurry.
Your Blog Roll Sounds Like an Ad Campaign
When you’re producing content for your website’s blog, your ultimate goal is to drive revenue. That won’t happen if your content is too “on the nose,” though.
Let’s say you run a dog grooming business. When you look at your blog roll, it shouldn’t be full of titles like, “Why you need dog grooming,” “Why dog grooming is the best,” and “Why dog grooming is important.”
A few straightforward self-promotion blogs are fine here and there. The bulk of your content, though, should be genuinely valuable information readers are searching for.
For example, better titles would be, “How often should I groom my dog?” and “The hottest dog haircut trends in 2019.” A content marketer can find those valuable topics and craft expert blogs for them.
You Don’t Have a Dedicated Content Strategy
When content marketing first started taking hold, it was a cutting-edge luxury. Today, it’s essential for any business that wants to be proactive in reaching and gaining customers.
No matter how strong your business is today, you need a content marketing strategy. It should be a distinctive part of your marketing plan.
That content marketing strategy should spell out the overall message and image you want to portray. It should also outline different campaigns and focus areas throughout the year.
Finally, your content marketing strategy should have a decisive content calendar. It should include the types of content you need to produce, when to produce them, what purpose they serve, and more.
Feeling a tad overwhelmed by how much you’re missing? A content marketer can design your strategy from start to finish.
What to Do if You Can’t Afford a Full-Time Content Marketer
Let’s assume you fit some of the criteria above and you’ve confirmed that you need a content marketer. The problem is, you don’t have a full-time employee’s salary and benefits sitting around in your budget.
The solution is simple: hire a content marketing agency instead. You’ll only pay for the work you need and there are no benefits or additional workspaces to afford.
As an added bonus, you get the expertise of the entire agency that has trained the person building your content. Compare this to the knowledge a single content marketer has.
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