3 Common Content Strategy Problems – and How to Solve Them

Every marketer knows they need a strategy for the content they produce. Yet when we work with clients on content strategy, we see them having the same three major challenges time and again. If you recognize any of them in your own content creation efforts, here’s what you can do about them.

Lacking a clear sense of who your buyers are

A surprising number of potential buyers may know what your product is—that’s good news. But if they don’t know how it’s going to solve their problem, help with their day-to-day objectives—that’s a problem.

To remedy this situation, start by putting yourself in the mindset of your customer. Envision what it’s like to be them and put yourself in their place.

Better yet, talk to them, or someone who knows them well. Ask them why someone would buy your product. What gets better for them? Find out about their goals and achievements. What are they proud of? Why do they get promoted? The answer isn’t going to be something like “buying your server.” It’s going to be something more like “increasing revenue by X%,” or “decreasing downtime by Y%.” It’s going to be a rock-solid, undeniable benefit to them.

Your content needs to connect with them on their goals.

You don’t have a plan

If you find yourself ticking off a list of marketing tactics you need to accomplish and get the sneaking suspicion that the tail is wagging the dog, it probably is.

That’s understandable. Every day, you’re hearing “we need more leads for EMEA,” or “we need sales ready leads,” or “we’ve got a product launch,” and you’re responding by creating content for those specific tactics.

That results in content that’s often great at achieving specific objectives, but fails to holistically help customers through their buying journey. You’ve probably addressed different pain points well, but almost certainly not all of them or not the right ones.

So how do you ensure the dog’s doing the wagging?

Start with a broader sense of what your customers need as they move through their purchase, what their pain points are, and what influences them. Do the same for your own marketing goals. Determine your objectives, decide upon a messaging framework that will achieve those objectives, and then build a blueprint for content that will engage customers and prospects. Share that framework with all content creators so everyone has a clear sense of what’s important.

You produce content about your products, not about customers’ problems

Because Activate does content audits, we’ve read and analyzed thousands of assets and we see a pattern: the majority are middle- and late-funnel content pieces, such as feature comparisons and product-focused assets. There’s a lack of top-of-funnel content. Here’s why that matters.

If you’re not having those early-stage conversations with potential customers, you’re ceding that territory to Google, your competitors, social media or journalists, which means it’s out of your control. It’ll be up to which journalist covers you on what day or whoever has the best SEO or social strategy.

You have to produce content for the very top of the funnel, at the beginning, when you can influence the conversation early, before your product is ruled in—or out—as an option. If your content is bottom heavy, you’ll only attract folks who are already considering your product.

Think of it this way: we all know the digital buyers’ journey is two-thirds over before customers say they’re interested in hearing from you. So start the conversation early with content that addresses why they’re in the market to begin with and you can make a huge impact on everything that happens in your funnel thereafter.

A well-considered content strategy can help you drive greater awareness and popularity with buyers, not to mention putting your competition on the defensive. It leads to outcomes that everyone on your team, including the content creators, will benefit from.