There are approximately 34,000 species of fish, and scientists discover hundreds more each year. Despite the huge variety of aquatic life, commercial fishing typically only focuses on a single fish species at a time. Casting wider nets doesn’t always result in higher profits.

Content marketers can be tempted to cast a wide net – to appeal to every demographic, capture every audience, and speak to every niche. However, by focusing on a few topics (or a single topic) content marketers can actually increase their profits.

Today, I’m going to dispel 3 content marketing myths:

• Having content about more topics will attract more followers.
• Focusing on only one topic will become boring.
• Limiting your focus will limit your revenue.

Myth #1: Having Content About More Topics Will Attract More Followers

On it’s face, it sounds like a no-brainer: if you have something for everybody, everybody will have a reason to stay. However, spreading yourself too thin can have real consequences.

The Reality: Zooming out Attracts a Wide Audience, but Zooming in Attracts a Dedicated Audience

Let’s say your makeup brand’s blog hasn’t gained the traction you’d hoped it would. To appeal to more readers, you start incorporating articles about trendy topics like cryptocurrency and AI. While you may earn a few clicks that way, you’re unlikely to increase your profits.

This is for a few reasons:

• Compromising your focus may earn short-term clicks, but unfocused clicks are less valuable. Focused content marketing attracts a focused audience – people more likely to become customers and advocates. Having content about too many topics attracts a scattered audience who are harder to convert.
• Writing about vastly different topics makes it harder for audiences to find more of the content they’re looking for. If you attract a new reader with an article about lip liners, but your other posts are about travel destinations and homestyle recipes, they’re unlikely to stick around.
• Covering multiple topics can undermine your credibility. Credible experts typically stick to their areas of expertise, so creating content about too many different topics gives audiences the impression that you’re a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Instead of “zooming out” by expanding your focus to include more topics, “zoom in” by going further in-depth with your content. Your audience seeks out your content because they’re interested in your niche and they want to learn more – so give them what they’re looking for!

Ultimately, it’s better to appeal strongly to a focused audience than to appeal weakly to a wide one. A shallow pool gives you more room to cast a wide net, but less depth results in less sales.

Myth #2: Focusing on Only One Topic Will Become Boring

Depending on how specific your niche is, you may worry about running out of topics to cover – after all, how much can there possibly be to say about faucet diffusers or data management software? However, when you fully explore your topic, you will constantly uncover new things to say – and new ways to say them!

The Reality: Fully-Explored Topics Rarely Become Boring

Don’t underestimate your audience. No matter how niche your topic is, a quick online search is likely to produce a YouTube channel, web forum, or Facebook group focused on that very topic.

When it comes to marketing, it’s good to be unique.

In the previous myth, we talked about the benefits of “zooming in” to cover topics more in-depth rather than casting a wide net and piquing a lot of interest but not being able to keep it. But if you find yourself running low on ideas or fear the well will someday run dry, try these tips to reinvigorate your content marketing:

• Try a new angle. For years, your music equipment company’s YouTube channel has released a “guitar pedal of the week” video every Friday. Over the last few years, your engagement has tapered off, and you just can’t get the traction you used to. Try a new angle, like “battle of the guitar pedals” or “pedal guitar of the week.” In addition to attracting new viewers, a new angle can reinvigorate your creativity and enrich your content.
• Expand to new channels. Are your blog posts starting to feel stale? Try writing a social media post, drafting an email campaign, or filming a YouTube video. Instead of branching out to a new topic, try exploring your topic through a different format. The unique limitations and opportunities of a new marketing channel will force you to approach the topic in a new way.
• Conduct new research. One of the ways you can offer value to your audience is through providing credible expertise. In some minds, expertise means not needing to do research, but the opposite is true: experts are the ones who do the most research and are constantly learning new things. If you’re concerned that your topic is getting boring, seek out new knowledge about it – learning something new will not only give you something new to talk about, but it will also enrich your understanding of the entire subject.

Myth #3: Limiting Your Focus Will Limit Your Revenue

Content marketers have to straddle many different goals: crafting a strong brand image, attracting new leads, speaking to their audience’s needs, increasing engagement, etc.

However, one central goal underpins these other endeavors: your business has to be profitable to succeed. At the end of the day, if your content marketing is engaging, targeted, and informative, but it isn’t profitable, it isn’t viable.

The Reality: Focus Drives Revenue.

In the introduction, we talked about how when it comes to casting literal nets, fishers do better by targeting a specific kind of fish rather than by casting a wide net and catching whatever comes their way.

Why is that?

• Different fish require different strategies. Fishers use different techniques to catch bluefin tuna than they do catfish. It isn’t practical or profitable for fishers to invest in the equipment, tools, or training needed to catch fish they aren’t targeting. In the same way, producing and investing in marketing content about a variety of topics can multiply your overhead without actually increasing your profits.
• It’s hard to sell an inconsistent product. If fishers return with different fish every day, they’ll have a hard time building relationships with customers who are looking for consistent catches. In the same way, focus strengthens your profits. When you go in-depth into the topic your audience cares about, you attract sales.

Find Your Focus

It’s tempting to try to have something for everybody – after all, mass appeal seems like it would translate to mass interest in your product. But in reality, focusing your content marketing on a few key topics attracts a more serious audience and increases your revenue.

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