We all like to believe that our content is air-tight, but even the best marketers may be making mistakes without even knowing it.

From blog posts to emails and everything in between, content is a hugely important part of any marketing strategy. If you’re slipping up, though, you might be losing out on a lot of its potential, especially when it comes to performance and your content’s ability to convert your viewers into customers. While you obviously put care into the content that you produce (if you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t be reading this article), it’s possible — and even likely — that you’re guilty of at least some of the mistakes below.

Identifying your weaknesses is a crucial step in creating better content. And to help you do it, we’ve outlined the most common mistakes that content marketers make without even knowing it. Let’s get to it.

1. You’re Not Adapting to Your Buyers

As your brand grows and evolves, so do your buyers. While that’s all well and good, problems arise if you fail to adapt your content alongside them.

Take a look at your original customer personas and ask yourself if the people you were originally creating content for are the same people you’re creating content for now. If they’re not, it’s time to make some changes.

2. You’re Over-Relying on the Funnel

The funnel is a foundational part of successful marketing, but it’s not the end all be all. Certain events and cultural shifts have the ability to throw traditional notions of our audiences’ wants and needs on their head (see: the global pandemic), and your content should reflect that.

Do keep the funnel in mind as you plan out your content, but if and when the tides shift, be ready to shift alongside them in both tone and intent.

3. You Aren’t Using Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns are one of the most effective email marketing tactics that we have at our disposal. By releasing targeted content at a steady pace, you can help guide your readers where you want them to go in a more organic, less forced way. And thanks to the rise of automated email marketing tools, it’s a whole lot easier to set up drip campaigns than you might think. So if you’re hitting your readers with a bunch of content all at once, consider moving to a drip model and seeing how it affects your performance.

4. Your Content isn’t Personalized

By now, it’s pretty much impossible to ignore the need for personalization in your content marketing efforts. Consumers expect to be presented with content that accurately acknowledges where they’re at and what they need. With so many brands competing for their attention, they’re loath to waste time on content that misses the mark.

On top of personalizing your content strategy itself to align with your core audience, make sure that when you share what you’ve created through emails and other channels, you’re personalizing key features to align with the preferences of today’s buyers.

5. You’re Not Being Consistent with your Blog

Is your blog all over the place? It might be costing you readers.

Consistency is key when it comes to your blog, both in terms of frequency and in terms of focus. Your blog should have an overarching theme that dictates the topics you cover (with perhaps a bit of company news thrown in the mix when appropriate). On top of that, you should also be updating on a regular schedule. In both instances, a content plan and strategy will help you get on the right track.

6. Your Social Strategy Doesn’t Support Your Content

Eking out the most potential possible from your content requires that you link it with your social strategy. That means having a plan for sharing each piece of content you create on your social strategy, as well as taking advantage of opportunities to coordinate your campaigns and play them off of each other. Instead of silo-ing social, make it part of your larger content plan for more fruitful outcomes, and create a social media calendar to hold yourself accountable.

7. You’re Not Sharing Enough

What’s the point of creating new content if you’re not going to try to get as many eyes on it as possible?

Don’t be afraid to share your content far and wide, including on social and in your email campaigns. Share it with your sales team, too, if it’s a piece that can enable them to do their jobs better.

8. You’re Focused More on Quantity Than Quality

The quality of your content speaks to your brand integrity, so there’s a lot to lose from failing to put your best foot forward.

While maintaining a consistent content production schedule is certainly hard work, don’t let quality take a backseat to quantity. If you’re finding that you need to fly through pieces in order to maintain your preferred post frequency, take a step back and re-evaluate. It’s always going to be better to put out great pieces than to simply put out a lot of them.

It’s easy to become complacent with your content marketing strategy. But by regularly checking your metrics and performance, as well as avoiding the eight mistakes listed above, you’ll make huge strides away from complacency and towards content innovation.