Content Marketing Mistakes

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Last week
, we took a look at two mistakes that may be impacting your content marketing, giving up too early and not marketing your content. Continuing with our theme, and thanks to Content Marketing Institute for their inspiration, we’re going to look at another two mistakes today.

Mistake Number One: Your Offerings Have Become Passé

This mistake is really about two things – not producing enough new content, and not thinking outside of the box with your existing content offerings. Both can be problematic.

Not Producing Enough New Content

I am a firm believer in quality over quantity when it comes to content. Yes, I write a lot myself, but that doesn’t mean I advocate it for everyone – it’s just what works for me.

But when you’re producing content, it’s all about “what have you done for me lately?” If you’re not reminding people that you’re out there, and providing them with value, they just won’t think about you at all. It’s as simple as that.

So you may not need to publish a new blog post or produce a new video every week. But you can’t let months go by without offering NEW content of value. And there is SO much that you’re already doing that can be fodder for good content that there’s really no excuse.

  • Sit down and give yourself the writing prompt “I am often asked…” What is it that your clients regularly ask you about the law that you’re always answering for them? Turn that into a blog post or a whitepaper – if a few of your clients are always asking you something, the likelihood is that others who are NOT your clients but are in the industry are wondering the same thing. Why not share your wisdom and expertise with them?
  • When new legislation comes out or cases are decided, do you email some of your clients with the impact that will have on their business? Take the content of those emails and turn it into a general article or blog post that you can use to explain to a generic company in the industry how the same legislation or court decision may impact THEM. It just takes some tweaking and removing of any confidential information to repurpose something you’re already doing.
  • If you’re speaking at conferences on a subject, take your presentations and share them on SlideShare. Turn them into a series of blog posts. Pull out the most salient points and create a short video around them.

Continue Reading 2 [More] Mistakes that Are Killing Your Content Marketing

LJIZlzHgQ7WPSh5KVTCB_TypewriterRecently, someone said that “content marketing” is a recent phenomenon in law firms. And I almost fell out of my chair.

Content marketing is NOT new to law firms. In fact, law firms are some of the original content marketers – firms have been producing content for years! What IS new is producing strategy around it, and formulating distribution plans that are measured and further refined based on those measurements. We’re getting more strategic, and it’s that strategy that’s new.

But that doesn’t mean that the road isn’t rife with mistakes – it is. The Content Marketing Institute recently published a book with 13 Content Marketing Mistakes, and highlighted a few in a recent blog post – we’ll be taking the next few weeks to look at these in the context of lawyers and law firms.
Continue Reading 2 Mistakes that Are Killing Your Content Marketing

I’m rather liking this theme of content marketing for our Two for Tuesdays posts, so we’re going to be sticking with that for a while!

Since the post I linked to last week offered us four mistakes to avoid when doing content marketing, and we touched on two of them, it only makes sense to revisit it to look at the final two in this week’s post. As a reminder, the post was by Amanda Jesnoewski, owner of Velocity Media + Communications, on Startup Smart, who discusses "Four content marketing mistakes you need to avoid." Let’s dive in.

Tip One: Write Your Own Content…But Use Others for Inspiration

This is a fine line – the best bloggers out there are the ones who are able to find inspiration in someone else’s content and put their own spin on it (and subsequently create relationships with those amplifiers and influencers whose content they’re linking to). 

But it’s a delicate balance.

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: More Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Focusing on content marketing for last week’s Two for Tuesdays worked so well that I’m doing it again this week. Today, we’re looking at mistakes that you want to avoid making in your content marketing. I found this great piece by Amanda Jesnoewski, owner of Velocity Media + Communications, on Startup Smart, where she discusses "Four content marketing mistakes you need to avoid.

Her piece is excellent, but all of the marketing speak may scare of some lawyers – I’m here to tell you that her advice applies to you too. We’re going to focus on two tips today. 

Tip One: Think Like a Publisher, Not Like a Lawyer

How many times do you watch a medical show on television, and see someone ask the doctor to "tell it to them straight," meaning  give them the diagnosis in layman’s terms without all of the medical jargon? Lots, right? 

It’s not because the person isn’t smart enough to understand what a subdural hematoma is, it’s just more efficient to tell them that it’s a brain bleed. 

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid