Content, content, content, content, content. These days, everybody and their dog is trying to boost their business by writing blog posts. And many businesses subscribe to the philosophy that the more content they churn out, the better their chances of being found by their ideal customer.
But with over two million blogs being written every day, is more content really better? Perhaps not. In the rush for quantity, some companies forget about quality.
Don’t let yours be one of them.
From freelancers to agencies, there’s often a recurring pattern when it comes to content marketing success: starting off as a generalist with a shallow level of expertise and then developing a niche as knowledge and experience grow.
Unsurprisingly, this deeper level of expertise provides a higher level of value to prospects and customers. Instead of being somewhat knowledgeable on many topics, you become extremely knowledgeable about one particular topic. Then, the content you put out improves exponentially.
Great content that’s promoted to the right audience helps you drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads and achieve your overall business goals. Therefore, the typical response is to create more content. However, most of the content out there isn’t original, lacks deep knowledge or is completely irrelevant.
There’s no ideal frequency when it comes to how often to publish content on your website. It all depends on your audience and goals. But as it turns out, 5% of branded content accounts for 90% of engagement.
Yes, you read that right. So, all those superficial, not-saying-a-whole-lot blogs that you’re cranking out? They’re a giant waste of your time.
Therefore, the key to creating winning content is to make it count by creating high-value content.
There are several steps to take when creating and distributing content that will create a major impact:
Portioning out the findings of the report into separate pieces of content like blog posts, short videos, slide decks and infographics. Although small, these content pieces won’t be superficial. Instead, they’re solid, hefty chunks of knowledge you’re dropping onto your website, social media and email list.
Making sure to link back to the initial content piece. You can even consider not gating this content. It’s a departure from traditional marketing wisdom, but by giving away your knowledge (and showing the enormous amount of work it took to get there), you’re providing major value to readers. As well, you’re reminding them you’re the experts on this subject and they really should hire you to handle this kind of thing.
By focusing on a narrower subject, mastering it and then sharing that deep knowledge, you’ll focus on quality while still putting out a respectable quantity. And the result is high-impact, valuable content that gives your audience something that they’ll remember, learn from and want more of.
All great content marketing starts with a documented strategy. In fact, only 32% of businesses that don't have a documented strategy feel their content marketing is effective. If you haven't yet formalized your own content strategy, fear not ... our Complete B2B Content Strategy Guide provides guidance and lots of helpful tools to get you started!