When you don’t want to do something, there are many reasons: “I don’t have time.” “I’m the only one on the team.” “Our audience needs new content.”
But are these the real reasons? Or are they an excuse for you to eliminate your fear of the strange, the unexpected, and the unknown?
If it’s the latter, try some of these tips to get over the uncomfortable feeling and address these five things in your content marketing plan:
1. Talk to your ideal customer
Why you’re afraid of it: I admit it. This is a concern for me because arranging interviews with members of your target market takes time. Their feedback can also be horrific. Your ideal client may not tell you what you expect, but that’s why you should understand their needs, challenges, and things they need to do better. Without detailed and well-researched buyer personas, your content may not be up to par in terms of relevance and engagement.
Possible steps:
- Involve the entire marketing team Document detailed buyer personas Align with your content strategy.
- Analyze your organization’s existing customer base and market research to understand your ideal customers.
- Talk to your target market members to understand their pain points, learn more about their needs, and explore what they have to work on. Arrange an interview Have a detailed conversation or Send survey for quick reply.
- Incorporate research into comprehensive buyer personas that detail their pains and challenges, goals and motivations, work to be donepreferred channels and content types, and other relevant points of interest.
2. Pause new content and refresh existing content
Why you’re afraid of it: Many marketers worry about spending less time creating new content and more time editing already published content. This shift goes against what they have been taught about publishing frequently.
I’ve never had this fear. From my first year in the content field, I Refresh content I go there often whenever I can. I write two original articles each month and then analyze past articles and edit them accordingly. This approach improves rankings and reader engagement.
Actionable steps:
- Evaluate each content asset’s key indicatorssuch as traffic, engagement, conversion rates, and search rankings. Identify the best-performing content, often only a few in a large content library.
- Use SEO tools to re-evaluate your target keywords See if interests have changed or if the term has taken on a new meaning in search.
- Establish criteria to prioritize content to refresh (e.g., high-potential keywords, evergreen topics, content containing outdated information).
- Update content assets by making any necessary changes and improving their quality.
hint: Run these content reviews and refreshes regularly. Pressed for time? Set an expectation to update one content asset each week, whether done in-house or outsourced.
3. Seek honest feedback from industry peers
Why you’re afraid of it: No one likes to hear negative comments about their work, especially harsh ones. It can knock or damage your confidence. impostor syndrometime constraints, or a lack of peers can be a problem for many marketers. Some people worry that asking for feedback might expose their weaknesses or expose ideas that their colleagues could use.
Actionable steps:
- Recognize that the content marketing community is large and supportive.
- Establish a network of industry peers. Attend live networking events, participate in online forums, and join relevant social media groups on LinkedIn or Facebook.
- Talk to peers you meet. Post a group message or connect directly with people you know. Chat informally or schedule a call to discuss a pressing challenge or something cool you just learned.
4. Run your content through a plagiarism checker
Why you’re afraid of it: do you think your Ideas and wording are unique And don’t want to discover people who have already posted similar content. You don’t want authors, partners, and other internal and external collaborators to think that you doubt them. But with so much information out there, it’s likely that someone has already thought of what you’re about to post, and may even have used the exact words.
If you work with writers, partners, and other external collaborators, checking for plagiarism should be mandatory. Plagiarized content can seriously damage a brand’s reputation, lead to a loss of audience trust and lead to potential legal issues. In addition to possible penalties from Google, there are legal implications to keep in mind.
Actionable steps:
- Admitting plagiarism is a dangerous possibility that can damage your audience’s trust, be penalized by Google, or lead to litigation.
- Use plagiarism checking tools such as Duplicate landscape or grammar to ensure your content is unique. Microsoft has a built-in “similarity” checking function in Word’s editor tool.
- Review the assessment to determine if the text needs rewriting and new citations, or if it is sufficient because “plagiarism” is actually the use of common sense phrases, idioms, etc.
hint: Use a plagiarism checker on the content you publish to see if other websites have copied the content in its entirety or posted snippets.
5. Reach out to your internal team for assistance
Why you’re afraid of it: You don’t want to bother their developers or customer support representatives. You don’t think your request will be supported or understood. You may also work for an employer whose organizational structure does not include cross-functional assistance.
Actionable steps:
- Specify your needs and determine which require input from your internal team. Do you need technical insights, customer feedback, or creative ideas? Which team members have expertise relevant to your needs, such as developers, customer support representatives, or designers?
- Make clear requests. Explain why it’s important and how their opinion can make a difference, which can inspire them to do so.
- Make the process easier for them and communicate deadlines. For example, ask a developer to write a post for your technology blog and outline the core idea. Edit their work so they can prioritize writing down their ideas.
- Organize interdepartmental meetings and brainstorming sessions Promote cooperation. Consider projects that require input from various teams so that everyone feels valued and involved.
Overcome fear with new technology
These strategies may seem daunting, but doing the things you’re afraid of doing can significantly improve your content marketing. You can ensure that your brand distributes original content that reflects a deep understanding of your audience. You’ll benefit from prioritizing quality over content, and gain the value of feedback from your industry peers and input from your in-house team.
Which fear are you going to address next?
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
