7 Pesky Challenges and Easy Fixes for Local Content Marketing

Are you a small or local business owner looking to transform your content marketing strategy? You are not alone in the struggles of writing engaging content for blogs and social media.

The good news is that you can easily overcome these barriers with a Chicago content marketing agency.

This article highlights seven pesky problems and their easy fixes:

• Overly generalized content.
• Easily drowned brand voice.
• Disconnected or unrelatable brand.
• Lack of budget or time for campaign expansion.
• Poor local SEO prevents content from reaching audiences.
• Outdated content marketing strategies.
• Thin content that adds no value.

Learn more about these issues and their actionable tips below. Let’s go!

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1. Too-Broad Content That Lacks Local Nuance

Have you come across geo-targeted articles that feel off? You immediately know that the author has never been to the place or has limited knowledge about the area after reading what is written for just a few minutes.

This content type will not win in the search results or with the target audience. It is less likely to pass the E, which stands for “experience,” in Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines.

Because it does not have any firsthand information, the copy now sounds less credible and authoritative. It will rank much lower with search engines when placed against a similar copy written by a local author.

Further, the lack of experience makes it harder for the writer to connect with the readers. Without that connection, the content quickly loses its relevance.

Solution: Incorporate target-oriented nuances. These include local vernacular and cultural references. It helps your copy sound more authentic and gives it a “local feel.”

2. Unclear Brand Voice That Online Noise Can Easily Drown Out

Brand voice is the distinct personality and tone of communication your business adopts to engage with its audience. It covers the consistent style, language, and emotions conveyed through all brand messaging, whether written, spoken, or visual.

It defines the brand’s character, values, and how it wants to be perceived by its target audience. Overall, a well-defined brand voice creates a unique identity, fosters brand recognition, and helps build a strong connection with customers.

When your brand lacks clarity in its messaging and fails to articulate its values clearly, its voice becomes weak. Rivals can then easily drown it out and even rob your business of its unique identity.

Solution: Define your business’s core values, personality traits, and target audience. Develop brand guidelines outlining the preferred language, tone, and communication style. Regularly review and refine them to ensure consistency.

3. Lacking Deep Local Connection That Makes the Brand Less Relatable

Content marketing goes beyond educating or informing your audience. More than anything, it involves building a long-term partnership with the target audience.

You cannot achieve a partnership if your prospects feel disconnected from your brand. This breeds apathy or indifference. In other words, they will not care about your brand’s products or services. From the beginning, they were disengaged.

Although you can still encourage them to notice your brand, it requires more resources.

Solution: An expert Chicago content marketing agency always recommends complementing your online campaigns with offline efforts. Get involved in the community. Sponsor events. Network with local influencers and list your business in local directories.

4. No Budget and Time That Can Help Expand Your Campaign

The most successful online advertising plans treat local content marketing as ongoing. This is where many small businesses struggle.

This means that you need to allocate a budget and time that can help expand your campaigns. In addition, consider the following:

• If money is tight, you have to split your marketing expenses across other digital advertising tactics. These include paid ads, banner advertising, and affiliate marketing.
• The more content you produce, the more copies you should track. Although analytics tools are available, interpreting results still takes time.

Solution: Take advantage of technologies such as artificial intelligence for marketing to automate certain tasks. These can be content planning, ideation, and research.

5. Poor Local Optimization That Prevents Content from Reaching Target Audience

Let us say that you own a Chicago cooking school. If you type "cooking classes in Chicago" and cannot find any of your pages, especially on the first page of the search results, you have a problem.

This could mean that your optimization strategies are not working. That happens for several reasons:

• Using the wrong keywords.
• Better competitor strategies.
• Errors in technical SEO.

Solution: Conduct a technical audit to identify the issues that hurt your online presence. Create a consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number). Consider matching keywords with user intent.

6. Outdated Content Marketing Strategies That No Longer Work

Just because certain content marketing tactics worked in 2021 does not mean they will still work in 2023. Some outdated ones include:

• Keyword stuffing
• Content spinning
• Lack of mobile optimization
• Copies with no visuals
• No audience targeting and personalization

Times change, and so do algorithms and consumer behavior. Equally, your content production and promotion methods should follow suit.

Solution: Avoid common local content marketing failures by working with a Chicago content marketing agency that keeps current with trends and best practices. These can include user-generated content (UGC), brand storytelling, and short-form content.

7. Thin Content That Does Not Add Value

Thin content refers to pages or articles without substance, value, or depth. Unless you deliberately do this to manipulate search engines, this copy does not result in a manual action or penalty.

However, it hurts your ranking in the following ways:

• It creates an unsatisfying customer experience. Users do not want to spend time looking through information that is not helpful to them.
• The articles do not showcase your expertise or knowledge. In other words, you do not sound credible.
• Domain authority is usually low because of poor backlink profiles.

Solution: Follow search engine guidelines and best practices. For example, Google has a helpful content update system. Consider topic clustering to provide more in-depth information and strengthen your link-building strategies.

Summing Up

Local content marketing can be a tricky field to maneuver. However, every problem has a solution.

Implementing these easy fixes can help brands establish themselves as authorities in their respective niches, build trust with their customers, and ultimately thrive.

If your problem is more complex, Digital Authority Partners (DAP) has the expertise and experience to help you create a solid local content marketing strategy that drives results. Contact us today to learn more about our services.