Brands today simply don’t have the luxury of sitting back and hoping that their brand identity will be enough to bring customers their way. Not only is transparency increasingly important in the modern world of marketing, but consumers today demand increased interaction – if your brand isn’t able to deliver this type of interaction and transparency, it’s likely that you’ll fall behind the competition. And more often than not, the best way to meet such expectations is through content.

The goal of content marketing is to grow your audience, build trust, and establish relationships with prospective customers. Statistics reveal the importance of content in modern marketing – according to the CMO Council, 78% of consumers believe that a brand offering content desires to establish a relationship with them. Marketing Profs further points out that after reading a brand’s content, 70% of consumers feel closer to that brand. Given such data, the importance of content in a robust marketing strategy cannot be denied.

Unfortunately, many brands still experience difficulties in establishing a content marketing campaign. Regardless of how many challenges your brand faces, the fact remains that you can no longer afford to ignore the importance of content marketing.

Failure to Launch

One of the most common and biggest challenges faced by brands when it comes to developing a content marketing program is simply not knowing where to begin. Whether it’s trying to figure out which platforms to focus on or what to include, many brands remain unsure about how to get their content marketing strategies off the ground. Facing a blank sheet of paper is intimidating, but it’s important to get started on planning your strategy. Prior to that, do your research to determine who you want to target.

Along with identifying your target audience, you also need to know where to find your target audience. Today’s online world can be dispersed across a broad spectrum of platforms, including various social media networks. Rather than trying to target everyone, everywhere, it’s important to drill down your metrics to determine the best places to find the customers most likely to be interested in your content.

Developing a list of the content that you wish to create and a publication calendar can also be a good way to get started launching your content marketing campaign. This method will also help to keep you accountable for ensuring your content is published on time. If you need more assistance in publishing your content, consider making use of the many tools available today, such as TweetDeck, SocialOomph, or Crowdbooster, all of which will allow you to schedule and streamline your content publishing schedule.

Budgetary Limitations

Content marketing is a great way to drive business, but it’s not necessarily free of cost. You’ll need to either outsource the work or invest the time and skills required to handle it on your own. This naturally comes at some cost, which can put a strain on your budget, especially if you are just launching your business. The reality, however, is that you can’t afford not to invest in content marketing. By not doing so, you’re giving your competitors an edge.

When your budget is tight, yet you know you need to implement a strong content marketing strategy, one of the best ways to stretch your resources is to focus on quality rather than quantity. Many new companies fall into the trap of thinking that the more content they produce, the better. While more may be better in some areas of life, that’s not necessarily the case with content marketing. By focusing on producing a few great topics in a consistent manner, rather than churning out a lot of inferior content, you’ll be able to save money and do a better job of promoting your brand.

As challenging as it may be to get started with a content marketing program, overcoming those obstacles is essential to succeeding in today’s competitive market.