Buying behavior has changed dramatically in recent years. Consumers prefer to self-educate before they interact with a salesperson or purchase products online. This shift means content is incredibly important for connecting with prospective customers and moving them through the buyer’s journey.

But how do you know if your content is working? When do you look for help?

The first step is recognizing you need help. The second is getting it. For every step in your journey to high-quality content that converts, Refactored is here to support you.

Let’s start by identifying the 5 key signs you need help with content.

1) You Have Limited Time to Produce Content

Is your marketing team constantly getting pulled in multiple directions? Does your team lack the resources or time to consistently produce high-quality content to fuel your marketing?

Those are common challenges facing B2B marketing teams today. While savvy teams know content marketing can generate powerful results, many plans fall short because producing quality content  takes time they just don’t have.

If your team struggles with time constraints, look for a trusted content partner who can deliver the ongoing, high-quality content support you need.

Surface-level relationships won’t cut it; look for a partner who invests time upfront to develop a deep understanding of your brand and business goals.

With this essential background, they’ll be able to produce compelling content that demonstrates to your target audience that you truly understand their problems – and are the best choice for solving them.

Managed content services provide benefits like:

• Consistent, publish-ready content that meets deadlines

• Improved SEO

• Leverage your product and subject-matter experts more (SMEs)

• Translate technical concepts into everyday language

2) Your Content Isn’t Fresh.

Look at your site. Is most of the content from when you originally built the site? Are your blogs outdated? Do you lack content that covers modern issues facing the industry? Those are serious problems.

Even if you’ve published content recently, it may not be enough to satisfy the needs of your target audience.

Customers need valuable information throughout their buying journey to make informed buying decisions. Great, timely content helps them view your brand as a trusted source. Once you’ve earned trust, customers’ hard-earned money usually follows.

Note: Not all “old” content is bad, though. If your website analytics reveal a blog post from seven years ago is still performing well, don’t delete it just because it’s reached seniority status.

Learn from your data and customers – why does your target audience revisit this blog? What value is it providing? What essential questions does it answer for your customers?

Thinking about your audience and creating content around their needs is key to fresh, valuable content. An experienced content marketing partner can help you develop robust buyer personas and deliver content that matches those profiles.

3) Your Bounce Rate Is High.

High bounce rates are only cool if you’re a Harlem Globetrotter. For websites, they’re a serious problem. Why?

Because a high bounce rate often means your site’s visitors don’t see enough value to spend time reading your content.

A high bounce rate can indicate your content is not:

• Easily scannable with plenty of header tags

• Answering customer questions

• Written well

• Converting customers

If this is a problem for you, it’s time to give your content a lift. Enlist the help of proven writers and strategists who can revamp content to be more accessible, relevant, and engaging for your target audience.

4) Google + You = Page 2.

Visibility is everything on the World Wide Web.

Imagine this scenario. You enter search terms related to your products and services into Google. You hit “enter.”

You scroll down the page and what do you see? Your competitors. They’re on top – literally – and your brand slid to page 2.

If you want to be seen, you need to create content that will improve your search engine optimization efforts (SEO).

Content pillars are a great, cost-effective strategy for increasing organic traffic to your site. This approach starts by identifying a group of keywords (a “cluster”) you’d like to rank for on search engine results pages (SERPs). Then you create a topical set of webpages with high-quality designed to tell a powerful and connected story.

The results include: increased traffic growth, better click-through and conversion rates, and better SERP rankings. Once you create a content pillar, you’ll experience lasting momentum that results in recurring returns.

5) You Have No Plan.

Chew on this. According to recent research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 25% of B2B marketers don’t have a defined strategy for their content marketing efforts.

That’s a large percentage of businesses with no plan. As you can imagine, no plan means pursuing disparate tactics that yield unsatisfying results. Tactics like more paid marketing without complementary content, which has a high cost per lead acquisition and often a lower ROI.

Consider the alternative: a comprehensive content marketing plan that maps your buyer’s journey and pinpoints the pains of specific personas. This is what produces results that matter. Purpose-driven content that meets your customer’s needs.

Even if your company has a content marketing plan, there’s always room for improvement. Identify any gaps with a content audit. Learn how to create content that coverts all stakeholders of a multiple-person buying group.

The Signs Are Clear: Talk to Refactored

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms above, it’s time for step 2 – getting help. The faster you get it, the quicker you’ll realize step 3 – incredible results that provide real momentum for your marketing.

By leveraging Refactored’s quality managed content services you can improve engagement, increase conversions, and accelerate your pipeline.

Let’s start with a free consultation to identify how we can improve your content offerings.