10 Spooky Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

In our opinion, nothing is spookier than watching a company initiative or a product launch fall flat in the marketing graveyard because of some boo-tacular content marketing mistakes.

Content marketing is arguably one of the best investments any company can make. If executed effectively, content marketing can increase traffic, leads, and sales.

In a crowded marketplace where digital search competition is fierce, you need to get it right the first time to achieve optimal results with customers while maximizing the ROI of content marketing efforts.

The first step is to mitigate these 10 spooky marketing mistakes that could haunt your company’s content marketing strategy.

1. Ghost Town Instead of Viral Success

Without setting goals or key performance indicators (KPIs), you will have no way of knowing if your content marketing strategy is successful. Goals truly help identify the why behind your content. Goals and KPIs will keep your content focused and will ensure it delivers a purpose for your audience and your company. When you end up with a blog ghost-town because you didn’t have a plan, that’s scary!

2. Spooky Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

Spelling and grammatical errors are glaring to consumers and could convey a perception that your company is sloppy. Always have someone such as an editor review all copy and content before it is published.

3. Terribly Tone-Deaf Messaging

Messaging that is insensitive to what is going on in the world can damage a company’s brand. The message may have been relevant or even clever early in development. Then, something captures news headlines – like a global pandemic – and suddenly that messaging is no longer appropriate. Successful content marketers have their devilish pulse on the political and cultural landscape of their communities to ensure messaging is appropriate and timely.

4. Sending Your Call to Actions to the Afterlife

Calls to action are simple and effective ways to engage your customers and ultimately boost sales. In fact, most people expect a call to action (CTA) in either advertisements (i.e., “Call Now”) or on websites (i.e., “Click Here”). Think of it like this: Your content serves to help readers take the next step. Without these CTAs, your content does not serve a purpose, and your customers are more likely to ghost your company.  

5. Assuming Your Audience Are Demons When They Are Witches

Assuming you know your audience when creating your content marketing strategy could be costly. An eerie mistake companies make is spending a lot of money on a product or campaign only to learn the audience has no interest in the product or doesn’t understand what you are trying to sell. You need to take the time to see the world through their eyes. A key to effective content marketing is researching and connecting with your target audience so you can offer them something of value.

6. Unintentionally Publishing Hair-Raising and Frightful Content

Not everything you publish will translate well into other languages or cultures. For example, the “okay” hand gesture is considered offensive in some countries and was recently listed as a hate symbol in the United States. Even words such as “gift” and “mist” have very different meanings in some cultures. If you plan to execute a global content marketing strategy, be sure to research words and symbols that could have different meanings to different audiences.  

7. Not Howling Your Message

Many companies will waste effective and inexpensive opportunities to enchant their audience. While a company blog and social media are great ways to deliver messaging, you should not just stop there. First, most companies including your competitors are using those exact platforms. 

Streaming and Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms, guest blogging, thought leadership pieces, are just a few ways you can howl your ghoulish messaging to a larger audience. While not every company needs a frightful Pinterest board, you should always find creative ways to reach and engage your audience that goes beyond the content marketing status-quo.

8. R.I.P. Content Diversity?

If your content looks like a page from a textbook, then you need to break it up with visuals such as graphics, videos, pictures, and even infographics. In fact, images are a great way to boost your visibility on search engines. The more visual and diversified the content, the more engaging and appealing it will be to your bloodthirsty audience.

9. Believing SEO is Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

Speaking of search engines, believing SEO is just a bunch of Hocus Pocus is another ghastly content marketing mistake a company will make. Your content will likely be online in some capacity, so search engine optimization is crucial. Besides keywords, you want to add headings, sub-headings, and images to boost your online presence. Part of your content marketing strategy should include SEO best practices. 

10. A Post-Filled Crypt

Whether it is social media or the company blog, more isn’t necessarily best. First, the quality of the content begins to suffer if you are so focused on the quantity. Instead, take the extra time to develop authentic and memorable content that will allow you to connect with your audience at a deeper level.

Writing blog posts and engaging content need not be spooky. We have a team of supernatural writing magicians that can write for you before you can say “trick-or-treat.” Schedule your free consultation with Comma today. We have the spells to create enchanting, data-backed content that will get ghosts and goblins coming back to read more.