5 cringeworthy content marketing tactics

Is your blog full of sales pitches? Is it fine-tuned to the concerns and questions of your audience? How are you measuring success? Consider these strategic messaging essentials.

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We all make mistakes–and typos.

No one is perfect, but the following five practices could be digging a grave for your content strategy:

1. You are overly promotional.

The point of content marketing is to earn the trust of your readers.

People are bombarded with ads all day long. The last thing they want is to have another sales pitch thrown in their face while they’re trying to read a blog post and learn something.

Avoid using pushy language that encourages your readers to buy something from you right then and there. Try subtly showing your readers why they should buy something from you. You’re the expert, so educate them on what they need to solve their problems.

Instead of overtly touting your product or service, talk about awards that you’ve won or opportunities that you’ve received, such as speaking engagements or press mentions. That way, members of your audience still get the message that you’re successful without feeling like they’re watching a YouTube ad.

2. You’re using black hat SEO.

We’ve all put a filter on a picture to make ourselves look a little better—which is fine. However, tricking out your website to be something it’s not really isn’t a good look for anyone.

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