Content marketing is far more than just a passing trend.
Over the course of the decade, it's established itself as a staple of digital marketing strategy.
Just about every brand is creating content of some kind or another.
From dry, technical B2B companies, to hip fashion lines and other fun, sexy B2C companies, the phrase “content is king” is so old now that you hardly even hear it anymore.
Content marketing is definitely here to stay.
But despite its incredible prevalence, content marketing is one of those things where it's sometimes hard to figure out what's true and what's not.
There are tons of myths and misconceptions floating around about what content marketing is, how it works, what it entails, and whether or not it's truly effective.
In a recent blog post, marketing guru Neil Patel lays an impressive 41 of these myths to rest, once and for all.
Here are eleven of the most common, and surprising, content marketing myths.
1. Content marketing is free
Content marketing isn’t free.
You can do a lot of content marketing on a shoestring budget, but it’s not free.
If you want your content marketing to work, you can’t just have someone posting on Facebook and Instagram. It’s more than just social media.
[image source: Neil Patel]
You need to pay someone to create your content marketing plan, manage your social media accounts, create an email newsletter, and perform many other tasks.
Content marketing isn’t free, but it also shouldn’t break your bank account.
2. People don’t read
People do read! More than ever, people are reading to research topics that interest them.
When they have a question, they look online for the answer.
Why shouldn’t they find that answer on your website?
[image source: Neil Patel]
People might not be reading books, but just think about how much you read in a day.
Online articles, blog posts, emails, posts on social media, links that you find on social media, books, news articles, and so much more.
Content is everywhere.
People might skim an article, but if it interests them, they’ll read at least part of it.
People do lead busy lives, so you can’t just churn out content for your blog and assume that people will read it.
People read quality content. They don’t bother with content that is uninteresting or uninformative.
3. ROI on content marketing is nebulous
If you’ve created a good content marketing strategy, you will have a return on your investment.
Those who say that content marketing has a low ROI probably just don’t know how to measure it. And they’re not alone — 60% of small business entrepreneurs have trouble measuring their ROI.
[image source: Neil Patel]
Those who are telling you that content marketing isn’t successful or that they saw no return on their investment didn’t do their content marketing correctly.
They likely had no plan, didn’t know their brand voice, and didn’t know which customers they were targeting.
Without a plan, content marketing won’t work.
When you have a plan and know the goals of your content marketing, you’re sure to see a return.
It’s also possible that content marketing naysayers just don’t know how to measure their content marketing success. Or they don’t know which tactics are the most effective.
[image source: Neil Patel]
If you don’t know what metrics to look at or what those metrics should look like to denote success, you won’t know if you’ve got a return on your investment from your content marketing.
For example, if you get 100 new followers in your first month, is that a good ROI for your brand’s content marketing?How much did you spend on content marketing? How much new business did you gain from your new followers?
How much did you spend on content marketing? How much new business did you gain from your new followers?
If you don’t know the answer to those questions, you won’t know if you’ve generated ROI.
Set goals for yourself, know what metrics to look at, and know what you want. That’s how you’ll know if your content marketing has been successful.
4. Video is too expensive
Video is one of the many important tools and media you should use when creating a content marketing strategy.
Your content marketing should include video because it’s becoming a popular medium. 48% of content marketers are planning to add YouTube to their list of active channels next year.
[image source: Neil Patel]
Instead of reading information, people want to watch a video.
This is especially true for how-to content and anything that would translate well into visuals.
Some people are hesitant to try video as they believe that it’s too expensive. This is a myth.
Your video production doesn’t have to be high-quality or overly expensive. Many companies are shooting their videos on cell phones, doing a little bit of editing, and then posting them online.
You don’t have to invest in camera and lighting equipment or post-production video editing software.
It’s OK to create low-budget videos.
If you do decide to invest in video or equipment, think of your ROI. Your videos might garner more leads and customers than a blog post.
So even if the video costs more, your ROI might be higher.
5. Content, content, and more content
You’ll hear it over and over again on content marketing websites: Content is king.
This is true, but creating and posting article upon article without any purpose won’t get you anywhere.
For reference, 77% of content marketers intend to create more content next year.
[image source: Neil Patel]
The content you create and post should be part of a strategy and incorporate a goal.
Content shouldn’t be the only part of your content marketing strategy.
You need to make sure to include and consider other media. This might include photos, GIFs, memes, videos, and more.
6. My content must be super long
You’ll notice that, on my blogs, all of the content is very long.
This is a choice that I’ve made for my brand. I provide in-depth material that covers every detail of a topic.
That doesn’t mean that every brand needs to create super long content.
The average length of content for the top 10 results varies.
[image source: Neil Patel]
This is what works for my brand but that doesn’t mean that it’s what will work for your brand.
Some brands only produce short content. Some brands produce a mixture of short and long content.
You must look at what would fit your brand to decide if you should produce long, short, or a mixture of content.
7. Content marketing isn’t natural
This is a common thought for those who are newly introduced to content marketing.
And it’s understandable.
When everything is curated, planned in advance, and optimized for the highest return, it can feel fake. It feels salesy.
If you focus on these qualities though, content marketing will feel more natural.
[image source: Neil Patel]
As you get deeper into content marketing, you’ll realize that planning ahead actually lets you present your best self to your customers.
Content marketing doesn’t mean that you can lie to your customers or that you should cover up mistakes. It just allows you to plan ahead for the future of your content.
Even with a great content marketing plan, you should still be posting organically and reacting to the world around you.
8. Content marketing is about creating a brand
Content marketing is only one minor aspect of creating your brand.
For most companies, their brand will be established prior to beginning their content marketing. So, content marketing is only used for managing and maintaining the brand.
For start-ups or new companies, you can use content marketing to create your brand image and customer perception.
When creating brand perception with your content marketing, it has to be more than a campaign. Which is how 76% of content marketers are doing it.
[image source: Neil Patel]
Your brand should be represented in everything you do, and content marketing can be one of those things.
As well, you want to be authentic when using content marketing to craft your brand. Don’t lie to your customers — be who you are.
9. We don’t have any stories
When you’re living the story, it’s easy to believe that you don’t have one. But that’s just not the case.
Every company has a story to tell — you just have to find it.
Telling your company story is a great place to start outsourcing your content. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes are needed to be able to properly see the unique traits of your company and what story you should tell.
Engaging content is a challenge, but one way to do that is to tell the unique stories of your company and brand.
[image source: Neil Patel]
Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone and ask them to help you identify your story and figure out how to best share it with your customers.
You can check out 30 more prevalent misconceptions about content marketing over at Neil Patel's blog.
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