“Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs
It’s the time of the year when many of us tend to over-indulge. Whether it’s saying yes to one more party. One more cookie. One more glass of wine. We get tricked into thinking that more is always better.
There’s a similar deception happening in the marketing world related to content production. Companies think they need to create more and more content – brochures, videos, webinars, white papers, infographics to keep up with the never-ending demands of the internet. But organizations that adopt this “more is better” mentality often get stuck, frustrated and eventually fail to produce any meaningful results.
Is it any surprise then, according to CMI’s 2017 Benchmark study that only 22% of content marketers consider their content marketing approach successful? Many marketers are rushing to create “content” without a well-thought out strategy. In fact, only 37% of organizations even have a documented content marketing strategy, and yet 70% of organizations state that they expect to create MORE content in 2017 compared with 2016.
Before you rush to create more, more, more, consider how you can make a difference in the lives of your buyers, versus contributing to the noise.
Developing high quality content starts with having a strategy and a commitment to producing excellent and useful materials for your buyers. Like all commitments, it becomes easier and more natural once we start practicing.
The natural question that needs to be addressed is “what does quality look like for our organization?” If you work in an organization where multiple people or departments are responsible for creating content, it is essential to gain agreement on what excellent vs. sub-par content looks like and how it will help accomplish your goals. That way, everyone can help reinforce the standards amongst all content creators and prevent “crap” from being published.
In summary, more content does not automatically equal more followers. More followers do not equal more sales. More sales do not equal more profit. So, before you think about producing more noise, remember the words of Zig Ziglar – “Don’t count the things you do, do the things that count.”
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