Mistakes cost money, and when you’re the one making the mistake, the bill is on you. Why not learn from other people so you don’t make the same mistakes they did back when they didn’t know any better? Here are a few basic things you can do to avoid wasting money unnecessarily when doing content marketing.

1. Know and understand your audience.

Right from the start, you must decide who you want to reach with your content or you’ll just be wasting your marketing bucks. The keywords are “know” and “understand”. If you do not know who your audience is, you’d be spending money on people who will probably never buy your product, no matter how good it is.  If you know your audience but you don’t understand them, there’s a good chance you still won’t get the engagement you want. Why? Because you’d be reaching them but you’re not able to connect with them. Before you even get started, find out these things:

• Who is my audience?
• What motivates them?
• What do they need?
• How do they behave?
• What are their challenges?
• What are their pain points?
• What are their goals?

2. Set a content marketing goal.

If you aim at nothing, you’ll surely get it. Even if you know and understand your audience, do you know what you want from them? If you’re not sure, then any effort at content marketing will fail miserably – a waste of time, money, and brain power. At the minimum, tick the box for your goal at this moment:

• Subscriptions (to your blog, channel, newsletter, or podcast)
• Leads (to find or qualify new prospects)
• Sales (to help customers decide to choose your product)
• Retention (to create loyalty to your brand)

Whichever goal you ticked above, decide on the specific number you want to reach and when you want to reach it. After you’ve set your goal, everything else will be a lot clearer. You know where you want to go, and every decision you make about your content should lead you there.

3. Make a plan for your content.

Every sane person who wants to get from point A to point B will ask for directions. With your content marketing, you might know where you are and where you’re going, but do you know how to get there? If not, then you might as well wear a blindfold and run around in circles. It won’t matter how fast you go, how hard you try, or how much you spend — it will be all for nothing. Here are a few basic questions you’ll want to answer to guide you in getting results:

• Who is your audience? (See #1.)
• What is your objective? (See #2.)
• What type of content will best serve your purpose?
• Which platform will be most effective for you?
• When and/or how often are you going to publish it?
• How will you know you’ve succeeded? What will be your key performance indicators (KPIs)?

Now, doing all of the above doesn’t mean you’ll never make a mistake ever again when creating content, but you’ll make less and less of them. Plus, the more you do it, the better you become at content marketing, and the more money you will save along the way. Lastly, always remember that these lessons are now free on your part because somebody else already paid for making the very mistakes you want to avoid.

Oh, and here’s a bonus…

If you feel unsure about your content marketing audience, goal, or plan, help is always just a click away. Copy Ninjas has a fully vetted professional digital marketing team ready to help with your copywriting needs. Visit Copy Ninjas at copyninjas.io for details.