I suppose it is because I love to eat, but kitchen proverbs have always resonated with me. You’ve probably heard the saying: Too many cooks in the kitchen will spoil the broth. I have a new saying: Eating the same bowl of soup every night is boring! I doubt my new saying has a chance of being as memorable as the "too many cooks” quotable has been over the years, but it is no less true, especially when it comes to marketing.

Too often, trends in marketing have everyone jumping for the newest thing that will be sure to bring leads-o-million to your front door. Right now content marketing is that thing. Since search engines are basing their ranking on content engagement, it seems like everyone is writing blog posts. I have nothing against using a blog as a tool (you are reading mine right now!), but so many of them are just worthless information. I have long since tired of wading through all of the below-average advice that populates the blogosphere in order to find something spectacular which I can use in my business. If you are churning out one bland blog post after the other (that no one ever reads) thinking it will boost you to the top of a Google search, you need to consider doing one of two things: either hire a writer who can make your boring stuff sound exciting or change course and stop wasting your time. Posts that no one reads do you little good. And if you started posting blogs, but ran out of steam so long ago that a year or more has gone by since you last posted any content, you need to read on.

The point of content marketing is to engage your target market and get them interested in your products and services. However, it is not a sales pitch. Content marketing is not an advertisement. It is awareness marketing through information that is useful for the customer. It allows real people the ability to comment or share your content. This is a great tool as long as you can write something that grabs and holds the attention of the people that make up your target market. But here is where all of this breaks down. I commonly come across business leaders who have the following obstacles in their way.

· They really have not defined their target market

· They have no idea what their customers really want, so they cannot engage with the unknown needs of these customers

· They don’t see the connection between content marketing and sales

· They believe their products/services are too mundane to write about

Let me address all of this. First, let’s talk about target markets. These are simply groups of people who are likely to buy from you. Every now and then I have a business leader who tells me everyone is their potential customer. Unless you are selling basics of living like water or toilet paper, not everyone is going to be inclined to buy what you are selling. If you are going to be successful with content marketing, you have to know for whom you are writing. Not only do you have to know them by their demographics (age, gender, marital status, where they live, etc.), but you also have to know where they have needs. Content marketing should speak to those needs and give solutions.

When a reader finds an answer to their problem on your web site, you have just cleared the awareness marketing hurdle. What is that hurdle? It is credibility. This is where content marketing has its greatest impact. If the potential customer has found a solution in a post, they are inclined to buy from you. This is where we get into my second point. All marketing is leading to a sale, but not all marketing takes a direct path to the cash register. I am a firm believer that in today’s business environment, where we have so many choices for everything we purchase, a potential customer has to become aware of your product/services before they will listen to your sales pitch. They have to feel confident you are telling them the truth (the credibility hurdle) and are an expert at what you selling. And they have to believe you can authentically take care of their needs. Content marketing helps get people to this point in their thinking.

This brings me to my third point. What you do may seem routine to you, but you may be too close to your business to see that it may be interesting to someone who is seeking a solution to a problem. If your business is based on fulfilling a need, content marketing is a way to get that word out. But if you have trouble making what you do sound exciting, I would urge you to hire a good writer who can do that for you. You might be surprised at the response you get when you post good content with a great photo. To make it all work, you have to post on a consistent basis.

Here is another old kitchen saying: Variety is the spice of life. Add a little variety to your content marketing efforts. Don’t post the same old stuff. Gear all of it to problems and solutions that would resonate with your target market. Do it well and people will engage with you. Do it so-so, every once in a while, when I get to it… don’t bother adding to the myriad of below average junk that clogs the blogs.