Posted December 05, 2024

99 problems and content scalability IS one: 9 reasons your content isn't scaling

Content marketing isn't about loading up all company platforms with content and hoping for the best. We've got to be a helluva lot smarter than that, spending time creating content that scales.

But sadly, way too many marketing teams are stuck in cycles of inefficiency, struggling to break through the content creation ceiling. And that sucks for you, your team's hard work, and your brand.

So, just how scalable is your content? Here are the all-too-common roadblocks to content scaling (and quite possibly where you're limiting yourself).

You're not using AI properly... or at all

We get it, there are some hesitations behind using AI; hey, there are also some 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing' moments behind some companies' uses of AI.

Both come from a lack of knowledge and understanding of how it can be used—namely, how it can seriously benefit marketers scale content creation.

With organizations oscillating between the two extremes of complete AI avoidance or misguided implementation, we thought we'd spell it out. AI isn't a replacement for human creativity—it's an amplification tool which can be used strategically for:

👉 Content ideation
👉 Drafting support
👉 Personalization suggestions
👉 Rapid iteration
👉 Multilingual content development

And that is why it is important to understand how AI can elevate your marketing strategy.
Boring, generic content

Boring doesn't scale—what scales is cool, creative and capturing content. Because seriously, the only engagement metric you should be counting when you're regurgitating what everyone else on the internet has done is yawns per minute.

🥱 Yawn rate = (total yawns / total followers) x100

Creativity can take more time than robotically ticking boxes on that to-do list, but spend your time more efficiently, and you'll see the power that creativity has when it comes to content scaling and success.
Broken feedback processes

Ineffective feedback loops (although, "loop" sounds way too crisp for some feedback processes we've experienced) can—and will—destroy content momentum.

Bad feedback processes = one big creative roadblock.

Streamlined ways to provide and take in feedback is essential if you want to scale your content creation. This could look like shared workflows and transparent deadlines for different teams or team members.
Messy workflows

Speaking of workflows... a disorganized workflow will get you nowhere when it comes to producing more content. Repeat after me: "Chaos is the enemy of productivity".

Where there's content chaos or marketing mess, you—and more alarmingly, your potential and existing customers—will see all the trademark signs, including:

👉 Duplicated efforts here, there, and everywhere
👉 Less time to be creative (and it shows)
👉 Missed deadlines or rushed content
👉 Dropped standards in terms of quality

The moral of the story? Optimize that workflow, and make sure it suits everyone involved.

An example of an efficient workflow using Optimizely Content Marketing Platform.
Lack of team alignment

We're talking marketing team alignment, but also cross-functional collaboration. No, this isn't just a buzzword—it's an absolute MUST for content scaling.

When different team members or different teams are talking different languages, your content will suffer. Its effectiveness will be damaged by inconsistent messaging and conflicting content goals.
Be sure to work on team alignment, including ironing out the shared goals between you and learning how to maintain consistent messaging across your marketing.
Traditional team silos slowing you down

Break down those departmental walls, immediately. Why? Because those traditional team silos are stopping your from scaling content efficiently.
With a more integrated marketing team, you will see a mighty difference in communication, collaboration, content creation, and general team productivity (*wishing that began with a C too*).

Go beyond those traditional marketing roles and make the most of everyone's experience and skills to boost your content scalability.
Asset management mayhem

Can you and the rest of your team quickly find the right image, video or document you need to go live? If not, consider that precious time wasted.

Searching through all your emails, Slack or Teams messages, shared documents, and excessive amount of decks takes away from time where you could be creating new, sexy content.
The answer: a digital asset management system that centralizes all your content resources that makes it easy to find what you need, when you need it.
Content repurposing-who?

If content repurposing isn't part of your marketing strategy already, then add it in—and make it fast.

Repurposing your content opens up so many opportunities to expand your content reach, break into new markets, and understand your target audience a whole lot more.

In fact, every piece of content should have multiple lives to it, whether you're turning blog posts into LinkedIn carousels, webinars into YouTube videos, podcasts into thought-leadership articles, or research reports into infographics.
No improvement without measurement

Here's the thing: You can't improve what you don't measure. But here's the other thing: Measuring the wrong things can be equally dangerous to your content creation process.

Move beyond vanity metrics like page views, and focus more on things like engagement rate, conversions, customer journey, and content ROI.

Now, go and get scaling 📶

Content scaling isn't about working harder—we're working SMARTER. You don't have to change your team, up your marketing budget (if only it could be that simple), or scrap your original marketing strategy entirely. It's about changing your approach to marketing, and becoming more integrated in how you work together.