Content Optimization Mistakes by Brands By Elijah Pollesch

In the article "5 Mistakes Brands Make in Content Optimization," written by Jean Templin, she emphasizes the five major mistakes brands make when they try to produce or market content online. From this, those five being:

Taking Too Long

"Comparing someone’s attention span to that of a goldfish isn’t fair — chances are, it’s much worse than that. On average, consumers’ attention spans have now declined from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8.25 seconds in 2015, according to research from Statistic Brain — much less than the fish in your tank."

Brands and marketers in a traditional sense, would love to provide a long, precise narrative to consumers to establish that all their selling points come across in the correct manner. The only problem is that todays generations live in a "fast-moving world of constant stimuli and rapid-fire judgements about the value of content." This requires brands and their marketing teams to turn their four-hundred page narrative on why their brand is so great, into a four page book to catch the attention of passerby's. This condensing of content lends to many other facets of the marketing strategy.

Sticking With Text

"A picture tells a thousand words. The Internet that began life in the 1990s as a low-bandwidth, text-only medium is now a rich, visual one. A recent GumGum survey found 88 percent of marketers in the U.S. believe sight is the most influential of the human senses when it comes to influencing consumer behavior."

Just posting a condensed version of your 400 page narrative about your brand wont cut it either. That four page book needs to be filled, if not completely made, with pictures/media. A compelling picture will bring people begging to look at the meaning behind it. A recent trend with video content marketing has been called "Click-Bait," which is where a video publisher will post the screenshot of their video with a compelling image and headline that may have nothing to do with the actual events of the video. Say what you want about the ethics behind it, but it gets people to click on the video!

Relying on Gut Instinct

"In the old days of Mad Men, marketers tended to rely on a deep, hubristic feeling about what kinds of creative would best resonate with a target audience. Today, we no longer need to rely on this hocus pocus, so toss out your gut feelings. Advanced analytics can surface new insights about how consumers pay attention and, even more importantly, where they don't pay attention, to different elements of branded content."

The shotgun marketing approach from the 40's and 50's is no longer a relevant approach to get consumers to purchase goods. The ability to track everyones response to articles/Ads has giving marketers the ability to react and mold new ads to fit a broader audience spectrum. Would you continue to to use a TV made in 1940's to showcase your brands ads or a sparkling new, 55 inch 4K HD TV? Using the new technology afforded your company by the year 2016 should not be intimidating, rather an opportunity to expand your business to places you never thought possible.

Being Overly Verbose

"You wouldn’t recommend War & Peace as someone’s introduction to the French invasion of Russia. Likewise, you don’t want to slow consumers up with content that is too long and cumbersome. Your audience members are only human, so empathize; understand they have a busy day, just like you do."

Emphasize, Emphasize, Emphasize... this is what gets the point across. The meandering of some brands ads lead consumers astray from the point they are trying to get across. Putting the meat and potatoes of the Ad under a magnify glass gives consumers the brevity they need while not insulting their intelligence.

Not Measuring Your Content

"You wouldn’t spend and spend without knowing how much was left in your bank account. So why wouldn’t you monitor your content marketing campaign to check on its health?"

Analytics technology is the pinnacle of marketing resources available for companies trying reach their primary demographics. Instead of going fishing on a lake and trying to remember the exact spot you caught that the huge bass, you could pin it on Google maps or a Fish Finder (GPS for Fishers) and find it every single time you go out. The ability to see how many consumers clicked on your Ad, how long they were on each page of your website, or simply what images customers respond more favorably to, puts you leagues ahead of companies who do not use analytics.

Written By: Elijah Pollesch, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Senior Cross Media Graphics Management

"My mission in life is to learn and experience as much as I am physically able to, and if I can share some of those with you then even better. My time at UW-Stout coupled with my time in the military and two separate internships, have provided me with an intriguing outlook about what makes institutions and groups run properly and what cause the gears of a business to grind to a halt because of archaic business practices. Whether you as a business choose to change with the times or not, the times will change regardless. The difference between the companies that choose to change, and those that do not, ranges from compelling profit margins, consumer outreach capabilities, and overall ability to produce and reach the demographics of the 21st century. If you enjoyed the article let me know, Id love to hear what you think."

Source Article: Templin, J. (2016, August 26). 5 Mistakes Brands Make in Content Optimization. Retrieved December 14, 2016, from http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/57570/all/

Credits:

Created with images by The Wild Blogger - Digital Marketing Blog - "Content marketing" • obpia30 - "clock time stand by" • Potztausend - "scrabble letter board game" • Lucas Guimaraes - "vintage" • HiggySTFC - "Magnified" • yoursql719 - "web page visitors graphic"

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