Today’s post is about major content marketing mistakes, as revealed by 29 individuals who are experts from the worlds of b2b marketing, public relations, professional speaking, writing and communications.

These folks were interviewed by internet entrepreneur, Eugene Farber, who then summarized their answers to the question below in a post on his content strategy hub blog.

“What is a common content strategy mistake that business owners make?”

Here are five of the major mistakes I identified from the post:

1) Joe Pulizzi is right on the money when he states that: “we love talking about ourselves.” Joe goes on to say that aiming for expert status in your prospect’s mind by using a content strategy that’s big on educational marketing is going to win trust and therefore buyers, when the time’s right.

2) Forgetting that content can be re-purposed and published a number of times. This is Robert Rose’s assertion and it’s a good one. For example, not every new visitor will read (or even find) that ace blog post you wrote from two months ago.

But they might be an iTunes podcast subscriber.

They could be following you on Twitter, FaceBook or Google+.

You’ve therefore a marketing duty to circulate your content widely and frequently so that target audiences have a chance to read it.

3) Forget, “this will do. I’ll tidy it up later.” Ann Handley is one great writer and her admonition is to produce great content, even if it requires more work. People do notice the great from the merely average or downright mediocre.

4) And yet, even with great content, there’s no guarantee that people will show up to see it. There’s just too much competition and great content for visitors to find yours because of search engine optimization wizardry alone. Instead, you need to go where your audience is already hanging out. Let them see you on their terms and, in time, they’ll come visit your digital home.

5) A real simple one from Francisco Rosales. Create a content strategy editorial calendar and stick to it.
I can’t tell you how much ‘creative freedom’ a calendar can give a b2b blogger to get on with the tasks necessary to research, write and publish excellent content. It just works.

What did you get from Eugene’s post?

- Mark McClure

PS – This post was originally published on technologymarketers.com but is included here because of a change in business plans by the fine folks at technologymarketers. I very much enjoyed working with them and hope our paths cross again.

I came across some polished video skits on You Tube from a tweet by Aruba Networks.

At less than two minutes, these humorous videos parody IT stereotypes, as hapless and busy users are left speechless by the ‘bad guy’ IT staffer’s response to reasonable requests.

Saving the day was the ‘good guy’ helpful attitude, along with the appearance of a plug’n'play wireless widget and a few constructive words on how the CEO can navigate a simple portal sign-on process.

To their credit, Aruba have resisted any temptation to add sales or marketing links in the video’s description field. I think this works well because it’s a simple click on their You Tube user name and up comes other Aruba videos containing product content and demonstrations.

Here’s one (71s) that had me smiling before seeking out their other videos:

The CEO and his iPad — “Hold on, Let Me Check”

- Mark ‘white paper writer’ McClure

2011′s underway and I thought I’d start with a post about giving customers what they want.

Take a look at how my local Japanese supermarket went about serving their customers in the final days of 2010.

This is a slightly blurred (sorry!) photo of a double-sided, A3-sized ad that was delivered to our house.

The black headline in the middle refers to the “end of year” and clearly states (in red) the 9am opening time on 30 and 31 December.

Some scarcity and urgency is also introduced because only shoppers present between 9 and 1 will get triple points on their store loyalty cards.

Starting from the top left hand corner, and moving clockwise, all the traditional Japanese favorites are shown, along with their prices.

Sashimi, sushi, fried food (chicken), tempura prawn with ‘long life’ noodles (soba), a selection of beers and sakes and, in the bottom left hand corner, thinly cut slices of meat for ‘shabu-shabu’.

Interestingly, the fact that the meat was domestically produced is quite visible. There was some Aussie and American meat for sale but not a lot.

Taken together, this Ad’s a great example of making it real easy for the customer to know (and see) what they’re buying, how much it will cost, and what benefits there are to being first in the queue.

Attention! Marketing Managers in the Business of Selling Computer Networking Solutions…

1) What types of solutions do you need from freelance technology writers this year?

2) Are these technical copywriting solutions what you’re looking for?

3) How can a freelance writer make your job less stressful – beyond delivering quality writing within agreed deadlines?

I have my own views on what the answers to these three questions might be.

However, I’m very interested to hear my customers tell me what they really, really want.

You can use my contact form or email me: samuraiwriter <at> gmail.com.

‘Replace the <at> with the @ symbol, and remove spaces between the words, samuraiwriter and gmail.

I look forward to hearing from you.

- Mark McClure

PS – My case study special offer is now accepting just two customers for January’s limited slots. The monthly offer finishes once the mentoring course is completed in March 2011.

Have you heard the buzz about Blogging Success Summit 2011 – the web’s largest online blogging conference?

Before I tell you how this virtual summit will help your business gain more exposure, more qualified leads, better customer engagement and more sales, let me share a story with you.

PROOF BLOGGING WORKS:

In October 2009, Michael Stelzner started Social Media Examiner, a blog for marketers and small business owners. Almost overnight, his site became one of the top business blogs in the world.

He didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of his traffic came from search engines.

Slightly more than a year later, he has nearly 50,000 email subscribers, a half-million page views a month, and has generated nearly $2 million in sales from the site.

Everything he does focuses around delivering high-quality content along with intelligent marketing.

Michael’s story is not unique. A significant 43% of U.S. companies will be marketing via their own blog by 2012, according to eMarketer.

Now the connection… Blogging represents a new marketing frontier because it bypasses all the costly middlemen and allows you to own your own platform, quickly engaging with your customers and prospects! AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

SO WHAT’S THIS ABOUT?

Michael (and his team) have been working for months to bring the best minds in blogging together in a fully online event called Blogging Success Summit 2011.

More than 4,400 marketers and business owners from around the world attended his last two summits. Businesses were transformed. In fact, 95% of attendees said they’d attend again.

This summit’s focus is to empower you to implement successful blogging strategies, grow a loyal following, generate quality leads and sell with your blog.

Twenty-three of the world’s leading social media superstars will be summit instructors.

Presenters include Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra, Scott Monty (head of social media, Ford), Darren Rowse (co-author, ProBlogger), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Michael Stelzner (Social Media Examiner), Debbie Weil (author, The Corporate Blogging Book), Douglas Karr (co-author, Corporate Blogging for Dummies) and experts from McDonalds, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony and Procter & Gamble.

Plus join Joe Pulizzi (co-author, Get Content Get Customers), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jay Baer (co-author, The Now Revolution), Chris Garrett (co-author, ProBlogger), Dave Garland (author, Smarter, Faster, Cheaper), Mike Volpe (VP of marketing, HubSpot), and Rick Calvert (CEO, BlogWorld)\just to mention a few.

Attendees at our two last summits included well-known organizations such as General Electric, American Express, Staples, General Mills, Intel, Harvard, San Francisco Giants, Kraft Foods, Hyatt Hotels, Stanford, IDG and Disney. But you don’t need to be a big business to benefit!

This is the world’s largest online blogging event designed to empower marketers and business owners to master blogging. And the great news is it’s a live online conference you can attend from your home or office.

Here’s to your business blogging success!

- Mark McClure

P.S. You can get 50% off if you act now. Twenty-three successful blogging pros will show you how to use blogging to market and grow your business.

Remember, the experts teach the sessions live (and it’s all online). So you don’t need to leave your home or office! Go here to see how this works: Web’s Largest Blogging Conference

P.P.S. As a way of saying “thanks” for checking out the summit, there’s a gift just for marketers called “Building Community with Facebook and Blogs” (valued at $59) waiting for you.

Note- I attended Michael Stelzner’s white paper success summit last year and have also been personally coached by him on b2b white paper creation and marketing; so I’m pleased to recommend his latest online summit extravaganza. Get in quick because the price does ratchet up as the event draws closer. The above links are affiliate links.