What the World Needs Now Is Less (Bad) Content
My first peek into the origins of spineless, uninspired content was in 2007.
I was a bright-eyed, eager-to-please recent MBA grad in my first big corporate job. We were planning a major product launch and needed to create some buzz.
Boss: What we really need is a viral video.
Me: Oh yes, that would be awesome. What about?
Boss: You know, something that people will want to share, that they will spread around on social media.
Me: Got it. What would it be about though?
Boss: Well, it’s gotta be viral.
You see where I’m going here? (That real conversation went on quite a bit longer. And—spoiler alert—the video we ended up creating never went viral.)
Great content starts with you having something to say. Something that will resonate (or educate or entertain or inspire) an audience.
I can’t be the only one sifting through article after article looking for the one needle in the haystack of interestingness, can I? Don’t get me wrong, there is great content out there. It just seems harder and harder to find, amidst the multitude of promising headlines (“10 Things Guaranteed to Take Your Business to the Next Level!”) that aren’t quite backed up by the article’s content once you click through.
If you want to create stellar marketing content, keep these tips in mind:
Start with an insight (instead of hoping that you somehow back into it later). Use my example above as a cautionary tale.
Consider the customer first. (Yes, this is marketing 101, but it still seems to be overlooked with alarming frequency.) What do they care about? What’s in it for them?
Make the value apparent to the reader—quickly. Keep it as brief as you need to to get your point across. Everyone is busy these days, and most appreciate straightforward, clear copy.
Make it fun. Always a good idea, if it makes sense for your brand. People like fun.
I create content for a living, so I will be the first one to remind us not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. By all means, go forth and create new stuff! Send it far and wide in every channel! But let’s agree to stop polluting our newsfeeds with lukewarm and poorly-executed pieces, okay? Okay.
Feel free to post links to some of your favorite sources of content in the comments below. (Some of mine are here and here.)