Content marketing. You can't escape it. The whole marketing world is still discussing it, singing its praises from the rooftops and evangelising about it until they're blue in the face. However, there is a problem with this almighty entity...
The vast majority of it is utter garbage.
Sorry folks, but it's true. And who's to blame? Selfish marketers. You see, content marketing should be carried out with one group of people in mind - your audience. Not your own personal development.
Pressure from the top?
Under orders from those floating above you to 'do content marketing?' Client's pushing you to get on the content train? I bet some of you just want to tick the marketing boxes - do I do... social media? YES! content marketing? YES! Paid social? YES! I'm winning then!
Ticking boxes never leads to greatness. It might make you look good in the eyes of your boss, or in the eyes of less than savvy clients, but it will most likely create a big fat fail in the eyes of your audience, customers and prospects.
Does your content do the following to your audience?
- Inform or help them?
- Delight them?
- Help them to trust your brand?
- Make them feel happy, sad, angry, excited and so on?
- Intrigue them to find out more?
- Make them want to share?
- Make them want to come back for more?
I bet most of you would put a cross beside most of those. If you had a pen that worked with pixels that is.
I'm not attacking anyone here...
It's just that I've just spent a long time looking at the content coming out of a lot of brands and it generally stinks. It reeks of me, me, me and not them, them, them. Some marketers may be ticking the content marketing boxes in order to market themselves in an attempt to get a promotion, a better job or just some praise from within. 'Hey boss, look what I did?'. Woop-dee-do. You'll make better strides by forgetting about ticking boxes and smashing those boxes wide open.
Get passionate about it. Be super-informed. Don't be scared to try things out. Go wild.
Oh, and measure the heck out of it.
Image credit - author