10 mistakes Tech companies make with content marketing

Although being around for quite a while, content marketing isn’t fully understood yet. This leads to misperceptions that cause unnecessary trial and error, which are time and budget-consuming. These mistakes can be corrected with a simple mindset shift. The following are some of them:

1. “We need to be technical to show professionalism”

Getting too technical will chase people away. You’ve already exposed people to your content, now they’re one click away from leaving it. People don’t have time for too much information at once, so present mainly the benefits of your products, and be technical only for basic understanding. Present more technical information on a separate page.

2. “We have one strength”

Apart from your competitive advantage, there are probably more strengths that you can mention as part of your content. A company is an entity, an ecosystem, with a history and a variety of people with expertise. What else is unique about you? What special legacy do you have? Do you have combined expertise or someone with deep knowledge in a unique field? Did you work with a very large and known customer? Is your customer service exceptional?

3. “As professionals we must keep serious”

The initial point of the marketing funnel is getting people’s attention, and making them connect to you emotionally. You can also be light and use a language people relate to, humor, or other creative communication methods. Moreover, it makes you more approachable. All with good taste though..

4. “People will be interested anyway because we have a great product”

Not if they won’t get to hear about it. How will people know you have a great product if they don’t get to see your content? There are many good products out there trying to get people’s attention, you must be out there too.

5. “People will read our whole homepage”

Do you do that when you go through a website? Usually we scan through it, read the introduction, titles, bullets, and look at the images, and only then, if we like what we see we get more into it. Don’t assume people will read it all just because they are already there, building your homepage content the right way is imperative!

6. “We don’t need a content strategy”

Without a strategy you may run out of marketing budget because you’ll spend it on a lot of trial & error. You can also get less exposure, which might make you think your product isn’t selling. When you define your target audience, formulate your main messages and build your content according to your target audience’s needs you don’t waste valuable resources and get the right exposure.

7. “We must talk about our great company first”

Start your content with the value you provide to people, then move on to your company. It’s very tempting because you work so hard and your products are wonderful so you want to be proud about it, but do it one or two paragraphs after you show people that you have a solution for them.

8. “People understand what we do”

Look at your website. Is there a headline which simply tells people what you do? Try to read the text like you’ve never seen it before. If your website visitors will not understand what you do they might just leave. Be clear about what you offer, then expand it as you like.

9. “People don’t look at promoted content”

This is not correct. Didn’t you ever click on a promoted ad? When someone needs something you offer, they will click on your ad, you just need to make sure to show it to the relevant people at the right places. It doesn’t replace organic promotion, and can definitely promote your business.

10. “Our products are boring”

It doesn’t matter what your product is, if it has a market your customers need it, and want to hear about it. When you create content, focus on the end result which is the way your product will improve people’s lives and how it will make them feel. You’ll see for yourself how special and interesting it suddenly seems.

The idea is to show the value you provide, to make your text readable, and to see your content from the viewer’s point of view. It’s not easy but doable, and mainly worth it.