The downsides of blogging?
There are hundreds of articles out there and everybody is speaking about the very same 3 “important” downsides of blogging & content marketing ...
1. Everyone else is doing it already.
2. Is hard to learn.
3. Is hard to measure.
Well, I will say it loud and clear: I respectfully disagree with these opinions.
1. Everyone else is doing it already.
It’s true. Content marketing is an extremely popular and widely used marketing approach. According to Content Marketing Institute 80% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy. Why? Because is the most efficient long-term marketing strategy on the planet.
Ok, so everybody is doing it. So what? If this is a downside, you shouldn’t ever use email marketing or social media anymore.
And there is one more thing: according to IMN Inc 82% of marketers curate content. In other words, only 18% is focused on creating new content! And that could be only 1% or 2% for your vertical or market segment. Or even less.
2. Is hard to learn.
Let me start this section with a logical question: how hard can it be if everyone is doing it already?!
Yes, there are a lot of things to learn. Yes, it takes time and effort. So what? Do you know any other extremely efficient “easy-to-learn” or “no-experience-required” forms of marketing? Can you become an engineer or a doctor in two weeks? No, you can’t. If you want to learn a new skill-set or a new profession you need to make an effort. Period.
Is this a downside? No, this is how life works.
3. Is hard to measure.
Honestly, I think this is a huge and basic conceptual misunderstanding. Content marketing is not a stand-alone tool! Content marketing is a vital component which must be integrated in your overall marketing strategy and as a result content marketing will have a major impact on every single element of your marketing mix.
You are going to leverage the incredible power of content marketing writing better emails, crafting more engaging marketing copies, creating irresistible and shareable social content, etc. Your content marketing efforts will influence your overall marketing results, therefore you shouldn’t even try to define stand-alone quantifiable metrics to measure your content marketing results.
If you want to analyze and to optimize your content marketing results, you’ll have to use and measure the “usual” key performance indicators: website metrics, social media metrics, SEO metrics, subscriptions, lead generation metrics, sales metrics, outreach, engagement, etc. These indicators – and only these indicators – will reflect your content marketing results.
What do you think about these "disadvantages"? Am I wrong?
Recent Comments
39
Everybody has their own way of expressing themselves. This is one of the many reasons there are so many sites and many of them are successful.
Derek
Thanks for the informative post! I need to develop my marketing skills. I do believe it will happen here at WA. I visualize what it will feel like. Just need to chip away at my dream to reveal the sculpture.
You have hit the nail on the head my friend, i will have to keep looking at this post from time to time, because i felt like you are addressing me.
As a newebie, i do ask such qusetions sometimes, i sometimes say: will i be able to do it like other people are doing it?, English is not my first language, would i be that efficient in dealing with it?... buy yeah as you said you can't get anything without trying and failing. Thanks for posting it.
Wow, everyone else is blogging so you shouldn't? Crazy! That's just like saying that everyone is using their mouth to talk so you shouldn't. Everyone has something to say whether it's straight from the mouth or just writing it out. Excellent post!
Great post. I'm finding the content bit easy thus far but do you think that can change with the amountof content you produce? I love this form of writing and with the tools in WA now it makes writing a blog post really easy. If that's all marketing consisted of I'd be happy. It's when you have to use psychological tactics like playing on emotions etc that I think I will struggle. Then again, I'll just put my faith in WA as they have managed to aleviate my keyword research worries in one single lesson.
If everybody is doing it then there must be a reason why. I very much doubt that reason is to waste their time and their life in front of a computer. Of course people will have varying levels of success.
Tried and tested methods. We just need to apply them correctly.
Thanks Zed for sharing and have a good day.
Cheers,
Paul
Really great information. I agree with you on all fronts. When I joined, I k ew this was going to take time, patience and hard work. I understood that I was getting into something I have no experience in. But, I knew that because so many people were doing it that I could too and I still believe it.
When I think of the arguement "everyone is doing it" I think of those statistics you posted the other day that only 30% of bloggers post at least once a week!
If that's the case then I just know I need to post at least 4 times per week and I am going to be in the top 5% of content producers!
If you can be in that top 5% then you WILL be successful and beat EVERYONE else!
Thanks for the great post!
Chris
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You are spot on. Well said.
Justin
Thanks Justin!