Why is nobody engaging with my content? What am I doing wrong? And how can I fix my content marketing?
Fifty2M
June 27, 2025
If people aren't engaging with your digital marketing content, it's likely that is just isn't seen as valuable, isn't relevant to them at their stage of the customer journey, and that you're making it too difficult to access and enjoy. You need to be strategic and align your content marketing with the evolving wants and needs of your audience, supplying the right content, in the right form, at the right time.
Content marketing - the basics
Before we delve into your problems and how to fix them, let's start by quickly covering the basics.
Firstly, what is 'content'?
In the context of brand and performance marketing, content is shorthand for the array of digital media we use these days to communicate with our audiences, and includes:
blogs
organic social posts
email newsletters
videos
infographics
downloads
how-to guides
podcasts
reports and whitepapers
listicles
and more
So, what is content marketing?
Content marketing is the production and distribution of content with two sets of aims:
Viewed from the perspective of your intended audience, your content should exist to inform, educate, and add value.
From your perpective, your content should exist to attract, engage, establish credibility with, and even entertain your audience.
This is where most problems arise...and if left unaddressed, you're going to be endlessly frustrated and out-of-pocket (every minute you spend creating and promoting marketing content has a cost to it, which may never be recovered if your content isn't helping you achieve your goals).
Common content marketing mistakes
There are lots of mistakes, but we're going to focus on our top three.
Lack of value
If people don't see what they want or need in your content, they're just not going to engage with it.
This is the biggest mistake we come across.
To have any chance of success, you need to produce content that gives people something useful and valuable.
Good content answers questions and how to fix pains and obtain gains.
Lack of alignment to the customer journey
People's content wants and needs change according to where they are in the customer journey.
But most businesses and charities seem to create and distribute content without really considering the evolving requirements of their audiences.
Good content supplies audiences with what they need when they need it.
Lack of accessibility
When we talk about accessibility in this context, we mean that content is too often shared in a way that doesn't make it easy enough for people to access.
There's a general tendency to focus on driving people to websites and then hiding content behind forms so it can be used to generate leads.
Whilst understandable, that's not helpful. The more barriers you create, the less likely you are to engage people with your content.
Good content is easy to access and consume, shared in a way that aligns with the customer journey, and where only the highest value kind is locked away.
Can you see your content marketing approach described in these common mistakes?
Others include:
Content that just doesn't look attractive
Content that looks unprofessional
Content shared in the wrong format
Content shared inconsistently
Content that doesn't get found in search
Fixing the most common content marketing mistakes
Our top three content marketing mistakes are actually all linked, here's a roadmap to fixing them.
You may have come across the idea of creating 'content pillars' and 'content buckets'. As these are relevant to the fixing of content marketing problems, let's quickly look at them:
Content pillars: foundational content themes, the things you ultimately want to be best known for.
Content buckets: topic areas that you want to focus on, grouped within your content pillars.
Your content buckets each contain the different types and forms of content.
It's a useful way of conceptualising and ordering content.
But...you still need to build these around your audience.
Let's now look at how to address our top three content marketing problems.
#1 Identify the typical steps in your customer journey: Think about how someone with a need for what you sell or do might come into your orbit and how they'll progress.
Example:
Let's say you're an independent Volkswagon Audi Group (VAG) car repairs specialist. Until someone has the kind of vehicle you fix, they have zero need for you or what you do. But let's say they start considering buying an Audi TT Mk1 from 2002, a modern classic, suddenly that changes and whilst they're in the research phase of their journey towards buying this car, there's an opportunity for you to get in front of them with content they may find useul.
At this stage, their customer journey is focused on puchasing the car from a private seller or dealer, but you can still use that to your advantage.
As their search for a car that fits their desires intensifies, their thirst for knowledge will increase and change. They'll want some insights into common problems to be aware of, likely repair costs for key components, whether third party after-market warranties are available for cars this age, and what rights they may have under consumer protection laws.
And after they've purchased their pride and joy, they'll be interested in anything that helps them look after this potentially appreciating asset whilst enjoying trouble free motoring. Now they own the car, they're firmly into a customer journey that could involve using you.
#2 Think about the kind of content people will most likely find useful at each stage in their buyer journey: this is the key to making it stand out and resonate.
Sticking with our example:
When they're researching the Audi TT Mk1 ahead of purchasing one, a blog that discusses common mechanical and electrical problems to be aware of would probably prove useful.
When they're off to view and test drive some cars, a checklist of potential defects and concerns to look for would be helpful.
At this same time, a guide to after-market warranties may come in handy (along with some advice on how to keep a 23 year old car on the road without the safety net of a warranty given that most warranty providers won't extend cover to cars aged 15 and over).
A page on your website that lists indicative prices for replacing batteries, alternators, brake discs and pads etc, would also provide some reassurance that repairs aren't all eyewateringly expensive.
Information on how to disgnose common issues for themselves may prove useful to someone who has found and purchased their Audi TT Mk1, along with a set of 'how-to' guides that provide step-by-step instructions on how to perform basic maintenance and conduct simple repairs would also be invaluable.
#3 Make your content accessible, determined by its value (and cost for you to produce): serve your content to people in a way that makes it easy to access and consume, keeping only the most valuable behind a form.
The blog about common problems should be freely accessible and easy to find on your website. You should also break it own into bitesize chunks that you post on social media (where people can read it there without having to head to your website if they don't want to).
Your downloadable checklist should be simple to obtain and shouldn't require a form submission.
The same goes for your warranty insights and typical repair costs.
Your how-to guides - because of the much deeper value they'll provide, plus the effort you'll need to go to in order to create them - are examples of the kind of content you'd want to promote widely but only give people access to in exchange for their contact details and email address.
How fixing your content marketing problems will help propel your growth
Remember, we said your content marketing should have two sets of aims?
Viewed from the perspective of your intended audience, your content should exist to inform, educate, and add value - which is easier to accomplish when you follow the approach outlined above.
But your content should also exist to attract, engage, establish credibility among, and sometimes even entertain your audience. You want to build a rapport with people.
Looking back at the example of our independent VAG repair specialist, you can see how someone that comes across all your super-relevant and timely content is going to be attracted to it because it's perfectly curated for them.
They're almost certain to engage with it because it's exactly what they need.
And, provided that it's carefully crafted so it looks professional and authoritative, it's also going to show off your bona fides ("wow, these guys really know their stuff, if I ever need someone to work on my car, this is where I'm taking it").
Now, they're essentially in a customer journey that could, at some stage, end with them spending money with you. They'll remember your brand, how helpful your content was, and if you've got their email address (because they acessed your how-to guides) you'll have been able to nurture them in the meantime too.
But there's more to it: thanks to a powerful lever of psychological influence known as 'reciprocity' the sharing of valuable content like this makes people more likely to do business with you.
Here's why: when someone accesses and benefits from your content, it subtly and subconciously creates a sense of mental indebtedness. When the time is right, they'll feel an urge to repay that debt - so, if it's a choice between you and another local garage, and all things being equal when it comes to price and availability, they're more likely to pick you over your rival that hasn't supplied them with lots of useful information and guidance for free.
Content pillars for our independent VAG specialists might centre on:
specialise in VAG vehicles
as good as main dealer technicians
the affordable local alternative
friendly, approachable and trustworthy
expertise in older models
The how-to DIY guides would fit neatly into the 'friendly, approachable and trustworthy' bucket.
Key takeaways: how to fix your content marketing mistakes to boost engagement and results
Create content with purpose. Don't just produce digital marketing content for the sake of it, create content that will serve your audience (by offering value) and that will benefit you (by helping you get attention, establish credibility, earn trust, and create relationships).
Make your marketing content relevant to people's evolving needs. Map your customer journey and align your content to the various stages.
Use a mix of zero-click, ungated, and gated content. Increase the value according to funnel / customer journey stage - hiding only your most value-added content behind forms.
Ensure your content is attractive and professional looking. If it looks like it was made using Microsoft Paint on a PC running Windows 95, it's going to deter people.
💡Bonus Tip: Use audience-centric language. If it's all 'we, us, our' people won't see themselves in it, which is crucial to making it relevant to them. Make it about them, and put the audience at the heart of everything.
Enjoyed reading this blog? Found it useful? Then show it some love by sharing it on social media! Content marketing is a service we provide as part of our brand marketing solutions.