“The stock market is not the economy.”

When the stock market is up, it doesn’t always follow that the economy is great. When the stock market crashes, it doesn’t always mean the economy is bad.

That’s as true today as it was 25 years ago when I first got into marketing. And it’s a great reminder to avoid basing business decisions on faulty connections.

Over the years, I’ve learned an adjacent lesson about content and audiences: Popularity isn’t a sign of differentiation. People don’t necessarily regard what is popular among online audiences or the media as high quality – or even true.

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Yes, writing is hard.

When writing for content marketing, the process becomes even more challenging. You have no time to sit and wait for inspiration or the muse to help you craft engaging text. You have content plans to follow and deadlines to meet.

That’s when fear arises.

Raise your hand if one of these whispers creeps into your mind when you try to write:

• “A better article exists already. My content is a pathetic copy.”
• “I’m not good enough. I can’t write better than [your guru’s name here].”
• “So much info! Can I structure all of it? I’ll miss something essential.”
• “What should I write?”
• “They won’t like it. I’ll get rejected.”
• “My draft sucks; it’s boring.”
• “Johnny writes 1,000 words every day. I’m too slow.”

Writing fears fall into two categories: doubts about your abilities or concern over others’ judgment of your work. You can tame blank-page syndrome, imposter syndrome, writer’s block, or whatever stops you from creating great content with these seven simple yet effective tricks.

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