CONTENT MARKETING

Downsides of content marketing your agency isn’t telling you about

By our News Team | 2023

Agencies will often push content marketing as a way to generate leads and improve brand visibility. But there are pitfalls.

In the trend-obsessed landscape of digital marketing, one strategy that often takes the spotlight is content marketing. Agencies promote its virtues, promising lead generation and heightened brand visibility.

Bernard Jansen, founder of Firejuice, a marketing consultancy focused on small-to-midsized companies in Africa, says there are unspoken downsides your agency probably hasn’t warned you about. Among them:

Photo by Leeloo The First from Pexels

The drain on resources

As businesses embark on the content marketing journey, they’re greeted by a resource-intensive monster.

Crafting top-notch content that resonates demands time and effort, often from already busy executives. Agencies, however, tend to downplay the additional burden content marketing places on clients.

They might envision churning out weekly articles based on basic keywords, sprinkling them across the website and social media platforms. Yet, this approach often clashes with the client’s desire for oversight and customisation, heralding the unravelling of the strategy.

Taking over your website

Successful content marketing often necessitates handing over significant control of your website to the agency. Suddenly, the website that was your brand’s online headquarters transforms into a content circus, manipulated to appease the algorithms of search engines.

Agencies might restructure site architecture, alter calls to action, and overhaul writing tone, all in the name of appealing to the digital overlords.

As the cornerstone of this digital presence, your website is a prime target for the agency. If you, understandably, want a say in how the site is managed, it quickly becomes a drag on the agency’s efforts. And if you give them free rein, chances are you won’t recognise your website soon.

Measuring the unmeasurable

Content marketing’s allure is amplified by its promised returns in the form of leads streaming in. Yet measuring its ROI can feel like chasing shadows. The uncertainty of quantifying the value it brings muddles the investment justification.

Agencies may paint a rosy picture, but the results often remain elusive. There are poor quality leads and a lack of short-term results. As the agency will certainly point out, content marketing takes time to work. But how long?

“As businesses navigate the dynamic waters of digital marketing, remember that a well-crafted strategy will steer you clear of pitfalls and ensure that the tail does not wag the dog,” Jansen advises.

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