Rand Fishkin discusses the common reasons why content marketing fails, emphasizing the misconception that good content alone leads to success. He stresses the importance of building relationships, community support, and proper amplification strategies, alongside leveraging SEO for content visibility. Additionally, he highlights the need for persistence, as successful content often comes after multiple iterations and learning from failures.

1. Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
Why Content Marketing Fails

2. Download this Slide Deck
bit.ly/mozcontentfail

3. Failure Sucks

4. Most Content Efforts Will Fail
Spike of
hope
Flatline of
nope

5. You’ll Invest with the Best of Intentions

6. You’ll Launch
with Excitement

7. And it Will Suck

8. And You Won’t
Know Why

9. Why Your Content
Marketing Will Fail
5 Reasons

10. You Believed the Biggest
Myth Content Marketing Ever
Told the World
#1

11. We Imagine Content Marketing Works
Like This…
Let’s go see
what’s on the
Internet today,
shall we?

12. I wonder what this post Kieran
tweeted is all about.

13. That was an interesting. I should sign
up for this free ebook download while
I’m here!

14. And I’ll just fill out their contact form
with my information….

15. Oh! Better not forget to follow all their
social profiles while I’m at it.

16. You might laugh, but a lot of companies invest in
content marketing on the assumption that this is how
it works!
Me make
content.
Humans click.
Them buy. Me
get money.

17. In Reality, It Works Like This:
Let’s see
what’s on
Hacker
News… Meh.

18. How about
Facebook?
Oh, right. Baby
pictures.

19. Let’s try Twitter.
Meh.

20. Maybe Google+?
Actually… This
looks kinda
interesting.

21. After seeing 400+ links I
could have clicked, I
finally chose this one. It’s
a good article, and this
example, naturally,
resonated 

22. I wonder
why I like
this blog
so much?
About a week later, I
caught a link to
Beardbrand’s blog.

23. No magic trick to
grow a thicker
beard?! Dammit!
I’d followed them on
Google+, so I watched
this video they
shared, too.

24. When my lovely wife told me that I might need to look
into some mustache wax, I thought of Beardbrand. But I
couldn’t remember their name!
Lovely Wife
Imminent need for
mustache wax
Who were those
guys that made
the cool beard
stuff?

25. So, naturally, I searched
Google:
Nope
Nope
Nope
Yes!!

26. A Perfect Match!

27. Say goodbye bushy
handlebars!

28. This is How Content Marketing Really Works:
Caveman Rand
explain.

29. This is How Content Marketing Really Works:
Me Make
Content.
Humans click.
If them like, them
remember.
Maybe them see
more content I
make. Visit
again.
Me build trust,
relationship
with humans.
When them
need me
product, them
come back.

30. Content marketing not
about convert 1st visit. Or
2nd. Or 3rd. Only foolish
humans think it work like
this.

31. Content marketing
about earning
familiarity, trust, and
relationship.

32. Maybe sale come. Maybe not.
Smart cave marketer no care.
Smart cave marketer know
every visit chance to build
relationship. Maybe earn fan.
That good enough.

33. The Obligation Rests on
Marketers to Set the Right
Expectations with Our Teams &
Clients

34. You Made Content
Without a Community
#2

35. Does Content Spread Simply Because
It’s Really, Really Good?
If this content’s really good,
it’ll just spread “virally,” right
guys?

36. OK, Probably Not
Ha! That’s a good one,
Rand!

37. In My Experience, Content Spreads Because It
Inspires a Community

38. It Reinforces a Belief

39. Refutes an Opposing Argument

40. Starts (or Renews) a Passionate Discussion

41. Is in Someone’s Financial/Promotional Interests

42. Leverages Group Inclusion Dynamics

43. Makes the Sharer Look
Smart/Important/Worldly/Etc

44. “Good Enough” Content Often Performs Well when
a Community Is Behind It

45. Only the Best 0.1% of Content Can Go “Viral”
without a Pre-existing Community

46. Don’t Bet Your Marketing on
Being the 1 in 1,000

47. Before you create content, ask
the question: “Who will support
& amplify this content and
why?”

48. You Invested in Content
Creation, But Not in its
Amplification
#3

49. Content Must Reach People in Order to Reach
Its Potential

50. Channels for Reaching the Right People
Depend on Your Audience

51. Most Amplification Methods Fall Into These
Three Buckets:
Broadcast 1:1 Paid Promotion

52. 1) Broadcast (often via Social Media,
Email, or through Events)

53. 2) 1:1 Outreach (via Social, Email, or In-
Person)

54. 3) Paid Amplification (many varieties)

55. A Process to Uncover Opportunities:
STEP 1: Find Successful Content in Your Niche

56. STEP 2(a): Find Where It’s Being Shared
http://buzzsumo.com

57. STEP 2(b): Go Beyond Social Networks
Google Search and https://freshwebexplorer.moz.com/

58. STEP 2(c): Find Who’s Doing the Sharing
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/ripples-bookmarklet

59. STEP 2(c): Find Who’s Doing the Sharing
http://buzzsumo.com

60. STEP 3: Identify What They’re Doing Right,
and What They’re Missing Out On
Data via Followerwonk

61. Don’t Make Your Sharing Just About You – Be
Generous & Help Others
Via Contently

62. Think of Each Channel Like a Muscle to Be
Flexed & Strengthened Regularly

63. You Ignored Content’s
Most Powerful Channel:
SEO
#4

64. Google Search Has Grown Massively
~6 Billion Searches/Day!
http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

65. While Search Traffic is Distributed,
Social is Highly Concentrated
http://www.simplereach.com/blog/facebook-continues-to-be-the-biggest-driver-of-social-traffic/

66. You Might Have Seen Re/Code & Buzzfeed Claiming
Google Search Traffic Was Dead
http://recode.net/2014/02/02/the-year-facebook-blew-past-google/

67. Here’s Define Media Group refuting that with data
from 87 publishers & 48 billion pageviews
http://www.definemg.com/hey-buzzfeed-search-traffic-is-doing-just-fine/

68. SEO is Also Critical Because of Intent
“Do things” mode
“Browse” mode

69. When Done Right, Content Marketing is the
Rising Tide that Lifts the SEO Ships
Without content marketing, it’s incredibly hard to earn
the types of links that will confer domain authority &
rankings in search engines.

70. When Done Right, Content Marketing is the
Rising Tide that Lifts the SEO Ships
But as content on a site earns links, it helps every other
page on that domain rank better in the search engines,
lifting the tide!

71. At the Very Least, Do Your Keyword Research
Be aware that AdWords may not show you all the relevant keywords:
http://moz.com/blog/be-careful-using-adwords-for-keyword-research

72. At the Very Least, Do Your Keyword Research
Use Google’s Search Suggest (just start typing and don’t hit enter!) or the UberSuggest tool

73. Better Yet – Gain a Deep Understanding of How
SEO & Content Work Together
4 Posts I’d Recommend:
• The Convergence of SEO & Content Marketing
• Link Building vs. Content Marketing
• How to Build a Content Marketing Strategy
• Build & Operate a Content Marketing Machine

74. You Gave Up
Way Too Soon
#5

75. The 0.1% Always Look Like Overnight Successes

76. In Reality, It Looks More Like This:
Geraldine’s Travel Blog: http://everywhereist.com

77. Geraldine started her blog in 2009
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

78. For 2 years, she never broke 100 visits/day.
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

79. Then she had a few posts get some attention
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

80. But traffic fell back down soon after.
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

81. This is where most people give up.
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

82. These days, she gets 100,000+ visits each month
In Reality, It Looks More Like This:

83. The Price of Success is
Failure after Failure after
Failure
* Hopefully, each of those failures provides an opportunity to learn.
*

84. Why Content Marketing Fails
Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com
bit.ly/mozcontentfail