The biggest content mistakes SMEs make – and how to avoid them

Written by Chris Leggett from Osborn Communications

Every business can benefit from a well-crafted schedule of content for the news section of its website, its social media accounts and to share with the media to reach large audiences.

At Osborn Communications, a sales and marketing award finalist at the 2025 Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Awards, we are clear that getting content right is not always easy.

It takes a solid understanding of your audience, first-class writing skills, an eye for aesthetics and, of course, time and resources.

On top of that, businesses should not only have sound expertise in their subject matter, but the confidence to share it.

In the clamour to create content, many small to medium sized enterprises inadvertently make the same common mistakes. Here are three of the most crucial mistakes, and how to fix them.

1. Putting out low-quality content

There’s a seemingly infinite stream of content out there; we’re almost overloaded with it.

But that doesn’t mean content isn’t valuable; the challenge is to distinguish your content by making sure it’s high-quality and of tangible value to your audience.

What does high quality content look like? There are three essential components.

Firstly, and most obviously, it should be concise, easily digestible, interesting to read and thoroughly checked for spelling and grammatical errors.

Secondly, it should be written by a human being. Yes, AI is useful to get initial ideas, but it should never replace human-generated content. People can increasingly spot something that’s AI-generated; so can Google, and it will penalise you for it.

Finally, it should be highly relevant to your audience – whether it’s answering some of their most common questions, sharing time-saving advice, or enabling them to make better buying decisions.

2. Posting inconsistently

We often see businesses start posting with the best of intentions, but after a while it diminishes or drops off altogether.

This usually happens because business owners and marketing officers are pulled in many other directions and simply don’t have the time to maintain the schedule they’ve committed to. But with content, as with all forms of marketing, consistency is key.

When your target clients see that you haven’t posted a blog for two years or a LinkedIn post for six months, it becomes harder for them to build trust in your brand. If you’re not proactive and consistent with content, they may wonder if you’ll be inactive and inconsistent in your service.

If a business has among its most recent posts an update on its Covid-19 lockdown business plans, you are unlikely to engage.

Without keeping your content updated, you’ll also struggle to remain visible and miss out on valuable chances to engage future clients. Planning everything in advance can help you work to a regular posting schedule.

3. Aggressive company promotion

Let’s face it – no one wants to be bombarded with sales messages. When it comes to social media, jumping straight into aggressive product or service promotion before you’ve built up a relationship with your audience is the fastest way to be unfollowed. The same applies to blog content.

There’s nothing wrong with occasionally reminding people what you do and how they can benefit from working with you, but there’s an unwritten rule. 80 per cent of your content should be informational, educational or insightful, while only 20 per cent should be promotional.

When you share your expertise and audiences begin to value and trust it, they’re far more likely to respond positively to sales messages in the future.

We have a full guide with more advice and tips on our website.

We know that time can be tight, and creating content can be challenging. Working with our professional writers here are Osborn Comms can help you create content that connects emotionally with your prospects, and keeps you visible in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Drop us a line to book in a chat.