Earlier this month Michael Brenner published a good article on his Marketing Insider Group site outlining some common content marketing pain points. Brenner is a former corporate CMO who became an early evangelist for the content marketing approach. I talked about his prediction for native advertising back in 2014.
His list of seven problem areas would have any content marketer nodding (or wincing) in recognition. They are:
- Pressure to publish less than top-quality content
- Getting the right data/analytics
- Conflict between client sales and marketing departments
- Blending storytelling with education
- Building non-marketing employee engagement
- Automating the content marketing process
- Unrealistic publishing schedules
Building off Michael’s excellent piece, here are some ways StoryTech Consulting has worked to mitigate these content marketing pain points.
1. Call for mediocre content – the agency is in a stronger position to address if there was a thorough vetting process during the new client onboarding process. If you are viewed as a true consultant by the client rather than an order taker, then you can give counsel on how higher quality content will better achieve the aims of the program.
Obviously the talent of your content team plays in here as well, how well they can communicate the client’s key messaging in fresh ways. Disagreeing a bit with Michael, I’ve found that incorporating keyword research into your editorial calendar can help assuage this issue. By demonstrating that you are adhering to the issues and terms prospects are searching for, clients often are reassured they can trust your team for effective execution.
2. The right data – I’ve written previously about tools that provide reverse IP lookup, so clients have a better understanding of who is visiting and consuming content. More StoryTech clients are using HubSpot as well, which provides excellent and relatively intuitive reporting.
3. Sales and marketing don’t get along – this is a tough one and unfortunately all too common. According to a 2018 survey by Market Connections, 34 percent of marketing staff at large B2G contractors said it was “very or somewhat challenging” to work with the sales team. There is only so much an external partner can do to improve the internal dynamics of an organization.
That said, we’ve had success in building bridges between sales and marketing by pushing hard to include front line sales people as content subject matter experts (SMEs). When sales and BD people feel part of the process and see their feedback incorporated into thought-leadership content, they are more likely to stay engaged and supportive of the content marketing effort.
4. Mixing storytelling and education – Brenner is on the mark when he says different content formats can address this pain point. For example, a placed byline or native article will lean far more towards the storytelling side, light on technology and heavy on opinion with an evocative description of client problems solved. A white paper or solution sheet might pertain to the same topic, but present the information in a more granular and specs heavy fashion. Videos can serve either purpose well, but it’s best if they address one or the other – entertainment or information. Often we do an entertaining video that then leads the prospect to one more informational in tone.
5. Employee engagement – per point #3 above, not an easy one to improve from the outside. StoryTech has seen progress when the content being published is formatted as a newsletter and shared with all employees. This makes sure the content marketing effort is visible to those outside the marketing team. Over time this can also play an internal communications role. The messaging of the organization is regularly presented to employees in interesting and relevant ways, promoting understanding of the company’s values and differentiators.
6. Automation – we’ve seen this occurring but more slowly in the B2G space than B2B. StoryTech has a client now who centralizes everything with HubSpot and uses Uberflip to publish content in multiple places at once. One of our clients uses Terminus for content distribution. Another client uses Contently to centralize all content work in a single location and requested that StoryTech use the platform for content development.
7. Unrealistic publication cadence – we’ve actually not seen this much with our clients. Most clients understand that quality trumps quantity as long as the publication schedule is regular. With marketing teams smaller than in the past, sometimes clients would like to publish more often but can’t approve content any faster.
To me a larger question that relates to all of these content marketing pain points is – how often do you try and push a client out of their comfort zone? My philosophy is the effective consultant must find the right balance. If you don’t regularly bring new ideas and strategies to the table, you’re not being innovative enough. If you’re bringing things to the client they rarely or never agree with or can execute, then you are demonstrating you are tone deaf to their reality. Sometimes a client happy with the status quo needs a nudge. Other times it’s entirely appropriate that they are satisfied because things are going well.
Find that balance and you’re in a strong position to overcome any of the content marketing pain points, and have a long and mutually beneficial client relationship.