I’m not going to preach to the converted about the importance of ‘quality over quantity’ content marketing in the digital age because most organisations have now woken up to the fact that high volume traffic means nothing if it doesn’t convert.
We may now be moving into the age of Artificial Intelligence but your real audiences certainly aren’t robots and they’re making it clearer and clearer that they don’t want to be treated as such. It’s harder than ever to get decent organic or even paid for reach or engagement on Facebook posts; the latest update to its algorithm penalises brands that ‘beg’ for shares/likes and prioritises authentic content from family and friends. Google ads have had their day. We’re bored of pointless blogs with a sales message at the end. Instagram and Twitter followers are so bombarded with content that they literally can’t see the wood for the trees.
Less is more
It’s time to get off the hamster wheel and stop churning out so much content. Your audiences are drowning in the stuff. For those organisations rubbing their hands together thinking “oh good, we never jumped on the content creation bandwagon and now we don’t have to”, don’t take this as an opportunity not to develop and implement a content strategy. Take it as an opportunity to achieve real stand out and cut through the noise by saying something meaningful.
Create meaning, not just content
Gone are the days of creating content for content’s sake. Click bait articles that draw the reader in with a captivating headline but then tell them nothing will only damage the brand. From printed materials to blogs, and events to websites, every marketing-related activity designed to engage your audiences must have a clear purpose. Otherwise it is a waste of time and money. Marketing strategies, plans, campaigns, activity, and collateral need to be rationalised down into just those elements that will have the biggest impact on your organisational goals and your audiences’ needs. If it doesn’t provide a solution to your target market’s problem, don’t do it.
Keep it simple
There are still so many interesting stories and case studies that are left untold by organisations whose audiences are ripe for engagement and whose competitors are still doing little to meaningfully engage with them. Even the most engaged audiences may not realise that you offer certain services or do certain things so don’t be afraid of stating the obvious. Not every piece of content has to be a ground-breaking piece of thought leadership; with more content to compete with than ever, and content consumers becoming more and more impatient, sometimes the simplest of messages have the biggest impact. As a content marketer this is my biggest challenge for 2018 – not over-thinking content. You can plan and plan but sometimes you just have to react and do.
So, does churning out less content mean you have to dedicate less budget to it? No. Quality comes at a price but it is a price worth paying. Aimlessly spending on being on every channel at every moment with every piece of content you have in your armoury is not money well spent in 2018.
