Content marketing is an interesting game. With the rise of search engine marketing (SEM), keyword search, trending topics and social, providing fresh content to the market and your clients is more important than ever. If you don’t believe me, check into some of the things Matt Cutts and the Google Webmaster team has been saying recently regarding content marketing and Hummingbird.
Here’s the thing, I read a ton of content on social media, content strategy, community development, SEO and digital marketing. Well, let me rephrase that. I read a ton of shitty content on social media, content strategy, community development, SEO and digital marketing. More often than not, the articles I read which are blasted all over Linkedin and Twitter are hastily written drubs of content that serve the sole purpose of clicks and organic traffic without ever giving anything back. It’s awesome that your company has figured out that Google rewards your brand for fresh content but please, stop providing me with shitty lists on basic concepts that an ape could figure out.
What’s worse is most content is written for the sake of writing. Have you ever been reading a piece of content and halfway through you think to yourself, “man, this guy is full of shit”? It happens to me all the time. Too often content strategy strangles under a hardened content calendar instead of flourishing with good ideas and a centered message. Due to this, I am going to use this space to talk about how to write for a targeted audience and not suck while doing it.
I spend a good portion of my day talking to clients about how their newest greatest technology is going to change the face of business. It doesn’t matter the product. It doesn’t matter the company. Regardless of whom I talk with, I am always left with the feeling that for a lot of marketers and IT minded individuals, the IT products – the tech – will serve as the major selling point.
The only problem with this is, it isn’t true. More and more, I find myself telling clients that while the technology needs to be solid, it isn’t enough to foster a long-term business/customer relationship. All too often companies are too caught up in their tech based solutions and not focused enough on providing a clear consistent message to their clients across all of their marketing channels.
Copy by Brad 