The Content Marketer - Why content marketing doesn’t work

This might get a little controversial … 

Some people have been completely burned by content marketing projects. 

Yet others have had insane success from content (like us). 

The debate over whether or not content marketing works is the top objection we hear.

“And nobody likes paying for products that don’t work”

But we know for certain that content marketing works. Our traffic doubles every year from content alone. 



So how can content marketing work for some people, but not others? 

Reason 1: They didn’t execute properly.

Content marketing isn’t easy to do right. 

As a matter of fact, only a tiny fraction of content generates any results at all!

Why does this happen? 

Content marketing only works if it's data-led. The actual creation of content should be 10% of the work.

90% of your time should be spent on:

• Keyword research (40%).
• SERP inspection (10%).
• Sub-topic research (20%).
• Content briefing (20%).

Without doing the up-front work, you’re simply writing content for the sake of content, and getting mixed in with all the other noise out there. 

Reason 2: They don’t have the right expectations.

Some people assume content marketing will automatically generate leads. 

This is like saying buying running shoes will get you in shape. 

Content marketing results completely depend on the types of content being created. When it comes to lead generation, check out what drives 99% of our leads: 

• Blogs = No leads. 
• Infographics = No leads. 
• Social media = No leads.
• Video = No leads.
• Commercial landing pages = Mostly leads. 
• Email marketing = Mostly leads. 

Expecting blogging to generate leads, then getting upset when it doesn’t is just silly. 

Reason 3. They don’t know how long it should take.

This is a major problem, for both clients and content creators. 

Clients want to know: When will content marketing start working?

But many content experts have no idea what day content marketing will start working.

Good question, bad answer. 

Fortunately, we ran a massive SEO study that was published on Moz to answer this question. 

The answer: Content marketing takes between 100-150 days to work.



We found that 90% of all new content takes a minimum of 100 days to generate results. 



So, it’s pretty easy to see why people would think content marketing doesn’t work. It requires a ton of skill, the right expectations and a lot of patience. 

Let me know if you have any questions about what works, and doesn't work with content marketing.

Cheers, Michelle 

Brafton Inc. | 2 Oliver Street | 2nd Floor | Boston, MA 02109 +1 617-206-3040