Every Friday, we’ll offer some of our thoughts on content marketing, curate a few interesting articles we’ve come across (from the marketing and legal industries and otherwise), and tell you what we’ve been up to.

Have you seen Bird Box, the Netflix film based on a novel by Josh Malerman, yet?

If you haven’t, here’s an overly simple version of the plot: an unknown being convinces anyone who sees it to commit suicide. To survive, people must close all doors, cover all windows, and blindfold themselves before going outside.

The film spawned the #BirdBoxChallenge meme, which dared people to navigate their everyday lives blindfolded. Needless to say, most weren’t successful, prompting Netflix to issue a warning: “Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE.”

But unlike the Darwin Award candidates intentionally giving the Bird Box Challenge a whirl, many marketing teams are unwittingly participating in the challenge every day.

Though it’s much less risky than walking into traffic blindfolded, too many businesses are flying blind when it comes to their content marketing strategy. They’re fishing for clients without a cohesive plan. They flail their lines about, hoping to land a citation-worthy bluefin tuna, only to find their hooks devoid of anything but the chum they started with.

Here are five signs that you need to rethink your content strategy:

Your content isn’t gaining traction over time. If your numbers (e.g., page views and shares) aren’t ticking up, something is wrong, and you need to need to capture and study your metrics.
Your content is raising more questions than it answers. If your content isn’t clear, then your customers aren’t receiving your message, and you’re spinning your wheels. One sign might be that your on-page time is low. (Check your Google Analytics data to determine how long your page views last.)
Your content isn’t climbing in the search rankings. While you shouldn’t expect overnight success, you should see an improvement if you have a sound keyword and linking strategy.
Your content isn’t helping you start conversations and build relationships. If your marketing team is spending time on content that doesn’t resonate with prospects, have you hit the right triggers? Is your marketing team collaborating with your sales force to figure out the best ways to highlight your offering and tempt prospects to enter your sales funnel?
You don’t know what success looks like. If you haven’t set goals for your marketing campaigns, then how do you know what’s working and what isn’t? Make sure to set specific, measurable goals as you craft your content strategy, whether that’s improving your traffic from search engines or converting customers.

Do any of these signs feel like they’re hitting a little too close to home? Need an outside perspective on whether you’re flying blind? Get in touch.

Looking for some (more) tips to improve your content marketing?

How to be creative on demand (Harvard Business Review)
How to analyze your website’s heat map (HubSpot)
Want to dominate Google this year? (Neil Patel)

What’s new this week in the legal industry?

Need something to talk about while preparing for the next winter storm?

Want to train your brain like a memory champion? (New York Times)
Are you ready for Recess? (New York Times)
Why is this a thing? (Mashable)

So, what has Scribe been up to this week?

Writing web copy for an engineering firm
Considering the chief developments in regulatory law in the past year
Learning about contract lifecycle management strategies for law firms and corporate legal and procurement teams
Brainstorming taglines for a B2B firm
Drafting articles on various ways senior citizens can be more social in their twilight years

Ready to take the blinders off and devise a more effective content strategy?

Friday scribbles: is your content strategy reminiscent of the bird box challenge?