The Real Cost of Following Popular Content Marketing Advice

A lot of the content marketing advice out there sounds helpful, right?

Why most marketing content repels buyers (even the "helpful" kind)

What your buyers are really thinking before they ever contact you

And how to fix it without posting daily or chasing trends

That advice is NOT wrong. But sadly, it's often incomplete. And for a lot of businesses, that gap is costing more than they realize.

If content creation feels like you're doing everything right but still not seeing the results you expected, this may shed some light on things more.

There's a lot of content marketing advice out there that sounds helpful, right?

Start posting. Be consistent. Use video. Write about your process. Document everything. Tell your story. Share client success stories.

Maybe you've done some of that. Maybe you've even gotten good engagement, some positive feedback, or a small spike in traffic.

But then, like with most businesses, it flatlines.

Or worse, they’re stuck on the hamster wheel of staying busy to stay visible, but buyers don’t seem to be swayed to trust much more than they have before (especially, if the competition is following the same advice). 😬

Read this if you follow the marketing advice that most well-meaning businesses do.

They're often just incomplete.

Most of them focus on visibility, not necessarily being in-tune with how buyers make their decisions. (That's you. That's me.)

There’s a lot of focus on creativity.

On what the algorithm wants.

But not always about what the buyer actually needs to feel confident about moving forward.

And it comes with a cost. Not just in time, but in opportunity...

And it can inadvertently erode trust. (I know, that one hurts).

Every week spent posting what feels helpful, but misses what your buyer is really asking, is a week they might choose someone else. Someone who gave them a clear answer. Someone who helped them feel ready.

It's not the hours spent writing. It's the leads you never hear from. The trust that never fully forms. The sales cycle that drags on longer than it should.

Because here's what most popular advice skips: The foundation.

What are the actual questions your buyers are asking? Where are they getting stuck? What are they afraid to ask out loud?

If your content doesn't address that, it doesn't matter how creative, consistent, or clever it is.

There's a quote I often return to...

"Methods are many, principles are few. Methods always change, principles never do."

Popular advice is full of methods. But methods WITHOUT principles, without a time-tested framework...

that all leads to busywork that doesn't produce a real ROI.

That's why the most effective marketing strategies start with timeless buyer psychology, not tactics.

They reflect how people make decisions, what they need to see, hear, and feel to move forward.

If the results aren't matching your effort, maybe the advice wasn't built to serve your buyer in the first place.

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