Should businesses really give up on content marketing?

They’re often the guys who advise companies to build their own blogs and lobby to hire technicians to create their own content. Making the build a strong portfolio of effective content always pays off.

According to a new study, less than 10 percent of marketers believe their content marketing is effective. Sixty-three percent of the 150-odd respondents it reached out to said their content marketing strategy was either not very effective or only somewhat effective, compared to just 35 percent in 2017.

This is concerning because marketers swear by the craft. The fact that good content is getting more and more attention from an increasingly cautious audience is proof that the value of content marketing hasn’t eroded.

While 75 percent of respondents said that either lead conversion or sales opportunity conversion was the most important content engagement metric, two-thirds said they were either not confident or only somewhat confident that their content is driving revenue results.

Fortunately, there was still 13 percent of respondents who said they’re very confident that their content was driving the desired results. For the remaining, here are a few pointers to help create better content in the future:

# 1 | Be unbiased

Content that makes an impression on readers is content that is unbiased and speaks to the audience with respect.

Nobody wants to be marketed to. That’s why content marketers must be careful about how they craft their content and what they tell the audience.

Sometimes, marketers must work with leaders and influencers in the market to establish a certain position in the market and put customers at ease.

# 2 | Be interesting

No matter how boring the subject matter, content marketers don’t have to be boring and create long-format articles that hammer on and on about a certain point of view.

Instead, they could create pieces of advisory pieces, videos, and other kinds of content are more interesting — not only because they would wow the audience, but also because they allow the brand to better connect with the audience.

In a crowded digital and social media world, content marketers must work hard to be interesting. That’s easier said than done, but it has to be done if content marketing has to be meaningful.

# 3 | Be authoritative

Content marketers need to be authoritative. Period.

If the work they produce able to speak to an informed audience from a place of knowledge, then they’re not going to be able to move the needle far enough to make a sale.

Authority is almost synonymous with influence in the digital world, and in order for content marketers to make a great first impression, every piece of content speak with confidence and share information in a clear and crisp fashion.