5 Critical Signs It’s Time to Revamp Your Content Marketing Strategy

If you’re like most businesses, it took you a long time—and a lot of hard work to knock out a successful content marketing strategy.

Just thinking about revamping it is a challenge. But it’s a must if you want your strategy to succeed. Think about the revenue you’ll miss if you don’t at least evaluate your content marketing strategy to see if it needs a makeover.

Here we’ll explain the critical warning signs that it’s time to revamp your content marketing strategy. (And if you’re interested, hit the contact us link above and we’ll do a free content marketing strategy audit for free!)

Quick Takeaways:

• Know the critical signs that indicate that it’s time for a content revamp.
• Identify most effective ways of communicating your brand message.
• Track content publishing trends to determine the types and formats of content that work for you.

1. You See Flat or Declining Numbers

The goal for your content marketing is to build trust in potential and current customers, bring more qualified prospects to your website, and increase sales. You will know that a change in your content marketing guidelines is needed when you look at the numbers and they show that one or more of the following is happening:

• Your content isn’t attracting more shares on social media or other sites.
• Page views are the same or declining.
• Your revenue is going down.
• People are spending less time on your website.
• Page viewers aren’t qualified prospects.

To solve this problem, you need to analyze your data with more scrutiny. Specifically, look at your best-performing content and your so-so or badly performing content.

Discover what the best content has in common. Do the same for the other content.

Next, create new content that has the characteristics that your best-performing content has. Analyze the new content to see if it performs well, too.

If you can, revamp the poorly performing content to better resemble the well-performing content. Then, update your content strategy to include guidelines to help your content creators produce better-performing results.

2. Your Search Results are Dropping Off

If you were ranking high in the search results for your products and services and you’ve dropped out of the first few results, it’s time for a thorough SEO checkup.

Again, drill down into the data and do some research on Google and other search engines’ updated guidelines. See if you’re missing some keywords that potential customers might use to search for your products or services.

If you need to update your target keywords, do so. Refresh your current content to reflect that new strategy—and create new content around those keywords and the ideas they represent.

As for your overall content strategy, you need to scrutinize it more often. Keep up with search engine algorithm updates and refresh your content to meet the search engines’ new guidelines. Keep a sharp eye on your content’s performance.

Look at other reasons, too, why your content isn’t rising to the top of search results. It could be that you need to update your mobile responsiveness, or it could be a site speed or structural issue. If so, you’ll need to bring your IT team in to tweak your site accordingly.

3. Your Content Is Too Self-Promotional

Back in the day, content creators often stuffed a site with keywords and blatant self-promotional content. If your content isn’t helping your customers conquer their most vexing challenges, restructure it so it does.

Today’s customers demand helpful information from a business before they even consider a purchase. In fact, 74% of them buy from the first company who provides the value and insight they need.

Add some white papers or how-to articles to your content calendar that showcase your expertise without the self-promotional fanfare.

When you post helpful content, you build trust—a crucial ingredient in a consumer’s decision to buy. Instead of boasting about your expertise, use that expertise to solve problems—and watch the customers pour in.

4. Your Site Attracts Qualified Visitors But Not Paying Customers

If your products and services aren’t selling, you need to see if your content is not readable enough, not understandable enough, or if it’s difficult to find what they need. After all, you’re in business to make money, not to line the pockets of your web hosting service.

Usually, content suitability is an easy fix. If your field is a highly technical one, but your customers aren’t tech-savvy, using highly technical terms can turn off people.

When they can’t understand what you’re selling, you won’t build the kind of trust content requires to trigger a purchase. Revamp your current content to communicate your products’ and services’ benefits to topic novices.

In addition to content updates, you might enlist the help of your development team to create a more user-friendly experience. If customers can’t find the content they need, they’ll go elsewhere.

Making all your teams aware of the importance of content marketing can help them frame that content in a more digestible form, be it on your website or through sales teams in your store.

5. You’re Not Growing Your Social Media Presence

If you’re not reaching enough people on social media, you need to examine some common reasons why your social media content isn’t as attractive to potential customers as it should be. One reason might be that you need to hunt for more niche audiences that are a good fit for your business.

Brainstorm with your team some neglected audiences that you might be missing. Create content that would appeal to them and promote those posts through Facebook ads that target that demographic.

Try new ways to present information. Choose formats and content that appeal to your target customers, as well-known business writer Grace Carter points out. If you’re trying to attract traveling salespersons, post links to podcasts or webinars that they can listen to on the road or in the air. If you want more physicians to buy your diagnostic machinery, write white papers that report these machines’ effectiveness.

Videos, infographics, and images need to be a huge part of your content. Statistically, they receive higher engagement rates. They can convey information in a more digestible form than some types of written material.

In fact, you can create companion videos to go along with written material to help reinforce your message, particularly on topics that are difficult for your target audience to digest.

Look for new audiences to reach on different social media platforms, too. Find visually dazzling images to post on Instagram or images plus do-it-yourself instructions on Pinterest.

When your content isn’t performing as it should, look for these telltale signs. If you see one or more of them, examine the reasons behind the symptoms—and cure the underlying cause.

Finally, review these indicators often. Search engine algorithms change often, as do customer content consumption preferences. Keep informed on current content publishing trends, so you can publish the most effective content for each of your target customer groups.

If you are ready to attract more qualified customers to your site, you’ll need to publish quality content consistently. Let me help. Check out our new Content Builder Service. Arrange a quick consultation with me, and I’ll send you a free PDF version of all my books. Don’t wait. Generate more traffic and leads for your business.