Content marketing is very popular right now, with new buzzwords popping up everywhere. “Outbound” marketers are out, while “inbound” marketers are in. Our friends at Hubspot, the leaders of this trend, had a successful IPO in 2014. This shift is positive, as it moves away from interrupting people with aggressive ads to engaging them in meaningful conversations where they genuinely want to learn more about you and your services.

Honestly, I’m not an expert in content marketing, and there aren’t many people over 40 who can say they are. It’s a new area, and we’re all still learning. What’s interesting is that effective content needs people who really understand the topic (often experienced individuals) and can write in a very different style, while also being skilled at using technology and social media. In our line of work, that means pairing a financial expert who prefers lengthy white papers with an upbeat, engaging writer and a trendy person who can bring ideas to life online!

It will take the right people, the right tools and a lot of practice to make “inbound” what drives our marketing machine, but we’re committed. While we are on that path, I’ve been researching my competition, and I’ve found some serious marketing bloopers that serve as caution for those of us on this journey:

Blooper #1: Content and offer mismatch

During the financial market volatility last fall, a firm had a great banner ad that said, “Do you want to know if you should sell stocks now? Get our free e-book.” I was thinking, “Kudos to their marketing team for being ready to act fast on this!” Before waving it in front of my own team as a missed opportunity, I filled out the offer request form with my e-mail address and received the free material. Lo and behold the content had nothing to do with market volatility or the current situation! It was a total bait and switch, and now they had my e-mail. Ugh.

Blooper #2: Hiding a wolf in sheep’s clothing

This must be a common temptation, because it’s happened to me several times in my market research. After one inbound touch, like taking a quiz or asking for a report, my e-mail and contact info were sent to old-fashioned, outbound sales people who are just starving for people to annoy. In one case, the phone caller wouldn’t quit and made the grave mistake of asking to speak to my husband, “since I didn’t seem to understand.” The more common situation is that I am immediately getting an e-mail that says something like, “Gail, we’re so happy you want to talk to us – will next Thursday work for you?” I never said I was ready to talk; I just wanted to read their research! Show some respect!

Blooper #3: Making offers that don’t deliver

This is every marketer’s nightmare – a form, report or video that somehow won’t load for your prospect, leaving them very frustrated. Just today I had a two-for-one experience with an offer for a research report on consumer trends that was a 37-page Adobe document that even our tech team couldn’t download. While I was dealing with my frustration, I got the very familiar, presumptuous e-mail about meeting with the sales person. I still don’t have the report, but I will be sharing my feedback with the firm to help them understand this prospect’s experience: Not good!

So, what are we supposed to do?

I’m just falling back on common sense here, but my worry is that bad marketing like these ploys will not only hurt the offending company, but all of our efforts. The underlying assumption is that we’re supposed to care about providing relevant, remarkable, “shareable” content to people to start a conversation that leads to a relationship. Faking offers to get names, bombarding innocent inquirers, jumping the gun to drive for the sale or ignoring the quality of what we deliver are bad practices.

The way I see it, content marketing takes some faith, and there is etiquette involved. I may be a tough focus group of one, but I know what feels right and what feels wrong, and if you put yourself in the prospect’s shoes you will too. The good news is that many of the purchasing decisions I make today have been influenced by excellent examples of content marketing efforts. It’s do-able. The bloopers just reinforce that this is a new practice area where some firms will win while others stumble.