88% of organizations use content marketing, but only 30% think they’re effective at it. Content marketing is not just doing traditional push marketing using content, it's a whole new way for marketers to research, create and engage. Unlearn these 7 content marketing myths to be successful.

1. 7 Content Marketing
Myths Dispelled
1

2. Myth #1: Content Marketing is a big unknown, too expensive and
not as effective as push marketing.
Content marketing generates 3 times
as many leads as traditional outbound
marketing, but costs 62% less.
SEO leads have a 14.6% close
rate, while outbound leads (such
as direct mail or print advertising)
have a 1.7% close rate.
Marketers who have
prioritized blogging are
13x more likely to enjoy
positive ROI.
$20K
is the average companies save
per year by investing more in
inbound marketing vs. outbound.
In fact, NOT doing content
marketing is the much more
Expensive choice!
54% more leads are
generated by inbound
tactics than traditional paid
marketing

3. Myth #2: Content Marketing can only be done by experts in
the industry/field/sector.
• Breadth of Knowledge: The content marketer is actually the best person
to ideate digital content, because they have a holistic view of a market,
which a specialist like a scientist or financier doesn't necessarily have. A
content marketer has the ability to curate, both in terms of social content
or blog, and has his or her finger on the pulse of knowing which expert to
speak to for commentary on a specific topic or issue.
• Relevance: A marketer spends each and every day immersing themselves
in the space and in our social media accounts talking to our customers and
potential customers; he or she knows what content is most popular and
relevant to our specific audience.

4. Myth #3: Content Marketers do not need to be thought leaders (TL) in the
space.
Unfortunately, there can be no “adequate” in content marketing. In fact it would be
better not to blog or do social media at all than to do it ineffectively. Without a
level of thought leadership which is gained by using best practices like Google alerts,
efforts to blog or do social media cost any company a great deal of money and wastes
everyone’s time!

5. Thought leadership and content marketing
go hand in hand, you cannot have effective digital marketing
without actively engaging online.
• Content marketers need to be familiar with the news and trends in
the industries they service on a daily basis or our content stands to
become irrelevant and ineffective.
• If they do not know what happened at recent industry events or this
week’s hot news, they will not be able to effectively post and
engage with our audience on social media, or strategize content to
drive relevant traffic.
• Any content marketer can help to position your company or
organization as a thought leader by using best practices such as
Google Alerts as well as keeping up with industry publications and
blogs.

6. (a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
From “2016: The Year of Thought Leadership Driven Content
Marketing” by Manish Balla

7. Posting chosen
strategically (c)
Was able to respond
informatively. (b)
Acquired useful market
research/UGC for new
content creation ideas. (a)
This is thought leadership AKA content marketing.

8. Myth #4: Our digital marketing assistant/manager/etc. is NOT
a content marketer.
• A digital marketer is typically planning and posting things that will
be put live online.
• He or she is producing or influencing the production of a Tweet or a
blog post that will be viewed by all of our partners, speakers, and
current and potential customers.
• People will comment - that’s our goal - and our marketers will need
to respond informatively. Every single Tweet, blog post, email etc.
is “content” and crucial to positioning your brand as a thought
leader and generating engagement. The only change from the push
marketing we are doing now to content marketing of tomorrow is
process and planning.

9. Myth #5: If we write blogs, it won’t be as
credible/reputable/authoritative as other bloggers.
• I am not suggesting a marketer is the right person to write a blog
on hard science such as “The Pros and Cons of Molecular Assays for
Screening of Viral Contaminants”, however content marketers like
myself most certainly have the ability to write content about
trends, discoveries and regulations in this or any sector and to
plan high level content as well with the occasional help of
experts for fact checking.
• In fact as content marketers we need to be doing this to
continually test topics so that we can best target more
expensive long-form content.

10. We need to empower our marketers to see that this big scary
thing known as “Viral Marketing” is doable. In fact just as many
things that have gone viral were by mistake, and done by non-
professionals as were the “Oreo” and “Old Spice” mega brands
of the world. This is the mantra: “I don’t need to find an
expert or use some secret formula, I am the expert and I know
the best practices. Best practices work. Therefore I have the
potential and the ability to make a piece of content go viral,
even if viral means shared by 5 thought leaders. With those
learnings I will make it better and next time it will be shared
by even more people.”
Myth #6: Our content could never go viral; only hip, trendy
agencies can do that sort of marketing

11. • This is the old school, push marketing way of thinking – and
it’s proven to NOT WORK. Content marketing is about
positioning our brand as a thought leader in an area and
providing content of genuine value to our audience.
• The goals are to be at the top of mind on social media and at
the top of search engine results for keywords that apply to
our audience. We need to create content accordingly. It’s
about them, not us!
Myth #7: Content Marketing is about using content about our product to
market our product. (Any digital links should ALWAYS be about us/go back
to our site for lead generation)

12. Great (Content) Marketing Requires:
Intellectual Curiosity
Determination
Competitive Nature
Entrepreneurship/Innovation