Yes, we all know that content marketing is all the rage. More and more brands are embracing content marketing as a basic way to engage with the community at large, and to build credibility, trust, and relationships with potential customers.
You've probably also heard about content fatigue, or the oncoming content glut. Mark Schaefer attracted a ton of attention on this topic with his post, "Content Shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy." A key part of his thesis is that each human "has a physiological, inviolable limit to the amount of content they can consume."
He then goes on to say that "deep pockets win," that the entry barriers will become higher and higher, and that the level of investment that one will have to make in content to win will become impossibly high for most businesses. Many responded with counter-arguments, including this article by Joe Pulizzi called "Content Shock: Worrisome Trend or Content Marketing Myth?," in which he includes a reprint of an article by Shel Holtz. These articles takes issue with the notion that content marketing is not a sustainable business strategy.
Just yesterday, Moz published a study that it did in conjunction with BuzzSumo entitled "Content, Shares, and Links: Insights from Analyzing 1 Million Articles." This study shows that the great majority of content gets little material response:
- 75% showed no external links
- Over 50% had 2 or fewer Facebook interactions (shares, likes, or comments)
These are not the metrics that most people are shooting for. So what's the deal? Can today's content marketer survive? Who will be the winners and losers? In my view, content marketing is here to stay for one basic reason: it provides a way for business to connect and build trust with their prospective customers. In a world that is becoming increasingly digital, people still need and want a relationship with the businesses from which they buy products and services.
For that reason, people want to consume useful, engaging, and/or entertaining content. The fact that there is a flood of it available will not cause that desire to be suppressed. People will just become selective, and use all the filtering technology that exists out there to manage that flood. They will also use social media and relationships they trust (friends and influencers), and perhaps search engines, to help them discover new content providers to explore as well.
I also believe that there are more ways to create differentiated content than initially meets the eye. I agree that it's not for everyone, but it will give those that successfully engage in it a clear business advantage over those that don't. In today's post, I address my 6 basic paths for remaining one of the winners when the content glut truly arrives. Before we start, I have to add the obligatory note that all of these paths assume that you are producing excellent content that people will find valuable once they do engage with it.
Some of these initially may look like they align with Schaefer's points in his article, but I'll show you that you don't need to have a huge bankroll to do them.
Path 1: Leverage a megabrand
This is easy if you already have such a brand. The fact is that a brand is already a source of trust and credibility. If someone sees a large brand publish a piece of content, the very presence of the brand on that content already helps it stand out from the glut.
However, if you don't have your own large megabrand, partner with one, or rent one. For example, 10x10, an organization seeking to empower women around the globe, partnered with Intel. The result was an epic film that tells the story of 9 girls across the globe, the incredible challenges they faced, and how they dealt with them.
This partnership continues, as 10x10 was featured in a USA today article, including an ad in the content sponsored by Intel. You can see the full content here (warning, this loads a large PDF file). With Intel and 10x10, Intel provides the credibility to open doors, and 10x10 does the hard work.
There are many opportunities for these types of partnerships, as major brands recognize that smaller organizations have the ability to be much more nimble, moving quickly in a way that they can't. For example, MillerCoors is very public about their desire for content partnerships.
Another potential path is to get a thought leader to work with you and either hire them, or partner with them. The presence of a well-known name on your content will always help you rise above the noise of the crowd.
Some examples of this in action is offered in this Forbes article. It includes a summary of the work that Jessica Alba has done together with The Honest Co., leading to lots of press that the company would have had difficulty obtaining without her.
Sometimes that top-tier star or thought leader might be expensive. You can always attach yourself to someone who is not quite at the top tier yet, but who is still strongly recognized. They may be hungrier and more agressive, and that's a good thing.
Path 2: Invest more (in a vertically-oriented way)
This is another one that supports the "deep pockets win" argument, but it doesn't need to be that way. No question that some larger brands can leverage this in dramatic fashion, such as Red Bull with Red Bull Media House, which is actually a separate company. They help fuel that organization's success with crazy stunts, such as Felix Baumgartner's jump from space.
Now, your company may not be Red Bull, but that doesn't mean you can't be willing to invest more in a given campaign than others have done. The key is to focus on one very specific area.
For example, Best Made Company focused their primary content marketing efforts on building an Instagram presence and in putting together stunning photo essays in what they call their Adventures. Their Instagram account has over 84K followers. The engagement you see on this shared image is pretty typical for them:
The Toronto Star notes that they have gained an international following and Seth Godin observed about the company that "it is the story we’re buying, not the ax."
A big reason for their success, though, is the focus they placed on developing Instagram as their primary channel.
Path 3: Be unique
Uniqueness is a huge asset in this game. It's going to be very hard to get people interested in your 700-word article about tips for filling out a college application. Thousands of variants of this article already exist.
But, if you create an interactive graphic where you ask people to predict what percentage of Americans go to college by income category, and then show them the right answer, you could have a hit on your hands.
The article linked above includes an interactive graphic where you click on the chart to mark down your guess as to what the curve looks like. You can see my results here:
I have no doubt that this piece had far greater impact because of its interactive nature, and the incremental effort to make it interactive in this fashion was just not that large.
The notion of being unique can work even better when you map a unique content strategy together with a unique brand strategy. One company that does this extremely well is Burlington, Vermont-based Seventh Generation. They are so committed to content marketing as being the way to drive their brand that it dominates their home page:
People have responded in droves. Their Facebook page has over 1.3 million likes, and their Twitter page has over 75,000 followers.
Path 4: Get the early-mover advantage
As much as you hear and read about content marketing, there are still tons of markets where no one has started to do a really good job at it. Jump in now and claim that early-mover advantage.
Even if your market already has competitors doing a great job with content marketing, find a specific niche in that market and establish yourself as the number one expert in that space.
Or, identify a specific channel that no one is dominating yet. Perhaps you can become the company that owns the topic area on Instagram, Snapchat, or some new social network that launches in the next 12 months.
Find your spot, jump in, and dominate it. Once you are established, you are the brand in that niche or channel.
For example, Adweek wrote about this in their article, "10 Trends Shaping the Future of Branded Content":
Brands will continue to partner with talent that builds credibility with millennials. YouTube's Michelle Phan recently inked a deal with L'Oreal, while HP created a TV spot featuring Vine influencers Robby Ayala and Zach King. We're even seeing companies like Vessel emerge to elevate and promote social media stars. Anticipate more companies like Niche Media—which pairs social media content creators with established brands—stepping up as traditional talent agencies start to diversify their talent portfolio.
Path 5: Promote better
Having the best content is simply not enough. You need to promote it effectively. And even if your content is not quite as good as someone else's, if you do a better job of promoting it, you can still win. A superior promotional strategy by itself can help your content rise above the noise, earning the attention you want it to get.
Of course, the best of both worlds is to have the best content and the best promotion. Even an excellent promotional strategy won't rescue crap content, so make sure it's really solid, no matter how great your promotional push is going to be. The title of the post has a lot to do with getting effective results, as does the use of high-quality, compelling images. These may seem like content creation items, but tuning your content to your audience is a big part of content promotion success.
One key component of better promotion is effective influencer marketing, which was written about by Adweek in July 2015, and I wrote about this on Moz back in 2012. Influencers can really help your content spread. The key to success with this concept is building those relationships so they want to share your stuff.
A vertical focus can help, too. Recall my example of Best Made Company and their focus on Instagram as a primary channel. Because of that focus, they tuned their content specifically to that platform, and that helped drive the results and visibility they have obtained in a big way.
This notion of being better at promoting has many elements to it. For example, Buffer argues that you should repost content to help it spread. The following chart from the Buffer article helps illustrate the value of this:
You can also repurpose that content, too, and spin off follow-on pieces of content. For example, if you have created a piece of epic content, you can get opportunities for follow-on interviews or guest posts on other media sites. I did this earlier this year in this follow-on guest post I placed on Hubspot about Google's indexation of Tweets.
Path 6: Work harder
Put simply, be willing to grind it out. Your competitor might not be willing to put 100 hours into a content piece. Yet, you might be able to create some awesome studies related to your market space if you are (or you are willing to fund a contractor or intern to do it).
The willingness to roll your sleeves up and do the stuff that competition does not is often the defining reason why some businesses succeed as a business and others do not. The same concept holds true for your content marketing efforts. Dig in and do the hard work that others don't, and this opens a lot of doors for you.
Back in May of 2014, Concert Hotels published a chart put together for them by digital marketing agency Distilled on the vocal ranges of what they dubbed the World's Greatest Singers. This involved listening to all of their music and finding the highest and lowest notes each artist hit in the recording studio. This was undoubtedly a project that involved more than a few hours of work.
The original piece garnered over 111,000 likes and shares on Facebook. In addition, it was covered in an article on the Huffington Post that received almost another 130,000 likes and shares on Facebook. A handsome payoff for doing the hard work that others are not willing to do!
Don't fear the glut
In principle, I agree with much of what Mark Schaefer said about the massive increases in the volume of content, but at this point in time, I don't see any market space that's particularly crowded. With the right creativity, drive, and focus, there remain many possible paths to content marketing success in nearly any industry.
Keep in mind that ANY successful business tactic (not just content marketing) rapidly gets adopted by large numbers of businesses because people follow the money. That means there will be winners and losers, but that doesn't mean you should throw up your hands and surrender.
If you are going to succeed in business, you need to do something better than most of the people you are competing with, and the world of content marketing is no different. It's not time to give up, it's time to go out there and win the game.
Isn't it ironic that we need 100's or 1000's of posts about a content glut?!?
I don't see any market space that's particularly crowded. Here is a hint every other market space.
I blame Google and their Algo or at least the interpretation of their algo and self serving internet marketing companies that need billable hours.
No crappy content --- take the pledge!
Nicely written Eric. Just curious about your statement "In a world that is becoming increasingly digital, people still need and want a relationship with the businesses from which they buy products and services."
It seems to me, people come to a business to solve a problem, not have a relationship. It's the business that desires the relationship in order continue selling. IMHO, if a business wants to remain competitive through content creation, investing in a deeper understanding of its customers coupled with a sound content strategy that aligns the business goals with customer goals, is the only sustainable solution.
Good point there. I think the relationship aspect depends on the business model and category. When I choose a dedicated hosting provider, I always check the social signals. Are they open to communicate? Are they building relationships with their customers? I have had so many unsatisfactory hosts in the past that I want a provider who I can have a relationship with. Same goes for several other categories.
Of course, I do not look to have a relationship with a health blog. I want information, and that is all. But most of the time, if I am spending money - especially on a recurring basis - I want to make sure the organization I am dealing with is open to relationship building.
Thank you John. Consider that you might not be looking for a relationship so much as a sense of trust demonstrated by a willingness for the company to honestly engage with it's customers. Honesty and trust can be built through offering timely, high value content customers want. Determining the content customers want stems from an investment in a deeper understanding of their context and goals.
Search the term Content strategy, I think you'll find it interesting.
"Honesty and trust can be built through offering timely, high value content customers want."
Honesty can be built from timely content? Accurate and even highly useful content is no indication whatsoever that the business is trustworthy or maintains high levels of engagement with their clients. Some of the most highly cited content publishers are in fact dishonest in the way they advertise their services and one comes to mind as especially difficult to communicate with even after spending large sums of money with them. Content is no substitute for a relationship.
Chad, John, it's true that we want the business to solve a problem for us. However, given a world where there are many who can solve our problem, we want to have some level of trust in the company behind the product/service.
You make an excellent point John. How would you define your relationship with a business you trust, or don't trust, and what leads you to continue that relationship?
For me, seeing how the company interacts with others - especially those who have complaints or problems - is most important. For instance, I will check the Twitter page and Facebook page, and if somebody has an issue, and the company isn't responding, bad sign. Or if they copy and paste a "use our knowledge base" type response, bad sign. Human interaction and an good attitude toward the customers is important for me. I am not going to name names, but I was initially attracted to one email marketing provider because of their vast and useful content on industry related topics. But their customer service is non-existent and if I had checked the social accounts first, I would have known that.
On one client's site, we list our staff, and each staff member has a social profile and multiple means of access are given - email, phone, Skype, etc. I think that tends to build trust, but not as much as actually interacting with people on social media (as opposed to posted content).
Just my .02
i couldn't agree more!
Well said Eric! I think one of the biggest things companies overlook is just jumping into creating content without actually doing the competitive and creative research to accomplish their set goals. And then they wonder why it isn't performing or content marketing "doesn't work". This blends very well with The Content Code.
Excellent advice, Eric! Indeed, working hard and doing it differently can only lead to success in content marketing. The following peice from your post really hits me:
"The willingness to roll your sleeves up and do the stuff that competition does not is often the defining reason why some businesses succeed as a business and others do not. The same concept holds true for your content marketing efforts. Dig in and do the hard work that others don't, and this opens a lot of doors for you."
Amen!
I definitely agree with the point about being unique. You don't always have to have the next big idea, just a fresh take on one that's there.
Hey Eric, great article. I think what you say is right, but that it agrees with Schaefer. Being unique, writing better content, promoting it better, etc, all requires more money -- not just for the labor, but for the talent (human capital) behind it. As content marketing becomes more competitive, the cost of talent will rise and it will price smaller businesses out of the market.
I think, though, that the way we communicate -- or the type of content put out there -- will change. We saw that with videos and infographics. I think that content will continue evolve and this is where the main "early-mover" advantage will continue to be.
Good write-up there. The sheer amount of information available on any topic means that your content must be unique, must be presented powerfully, and be part of a larger marketing approach to be a meaningful effort. Otherwise it is the tree that falls in the woods with nobody around to notice.
Content marketing is HUGE, and it just gets more and more refined. Just look at how Elon Musk called Tim Urban from Wait But Why, asking him to write informative/entertaining articles about the industries he is currently competing in.
Here is what this resulted with:
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-chang...
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-w...
The traction is huge!
Now don't tell me that small brands can't figure out a way to achieve exactly that.
Great post Eric, and great timing.
Great post!
I agree with you that we must not give up. We must try to succeed. Of course to succeed we need to spend time and work hard. Nobody said it was easy.
Write good articles, retain customers, promote our website in social networks, etc.
Of course we can not all be in the first, but we have to try to be in the best possible position.
Thank you for sharing your article.
I have a lot of respect for you Eric, but a lot of this article doesn't add up at all. And I don't agree with a lot of it. I'm going to try and break down each aspect of what you've proposed here, and how that essentially feeds back into Content Shock. I know you mentioned that it would, but then I'm confused about whether or not you're actually supporting content shock or going against it, because it seems like you would like to go against it, but it comes off as the opposite, at least to me.
You mentioned that we should leverage a megabrand, and yes - I'm going to disregard this point. Massive brands don't need to worry about content shock, they've got the dollars to put behind their content and get it in front of eyeballs. As for partnering with a megabrand, that takes money as well. Megabrands won't give you exposure for free, they'll either demand money for it, or they're going to want to see something absolutely extraordinary from you in terms of a product or service offering - and the majority of brands that practice content marketing don't have this.
Your second point about investing more, you talk about literally putting more money into it, but I think I got lost a little bit in your narrative, I didn't quite understand what you were trying to say - unless you're saying that we should invest heaps of time into content marketing?
The third part is about being unique. And let's be real, this advice has been handed out for over a decade - and it's not as easy to practice as it sounds. Everyone is being unique in their own way, but there's only so "different" you can be as a plumbing company.
The fourth part is about the early mover advantage, which goes against the very notion of Content Shock. Content Shock also implies that people are moving fast, people are trying new things, people are flooding platforms quicker. This advice only comes across as a "people are moving fast, just move faster than them" but it doesn't really work that easily. Your example of Zach King is a good and relevant one (albeit overused) - but back when Zach King started off on Vine, it didn't have as much competition as would be expected today on a new platform. Again, content shock.
Your fifth point about promote better is essentially putting your dollars to better use and measuring your CPCs and CTRs like a hawk I guess, which is something you can do, but with the higher cost of advertising, it's a given. If companies have to invest $20K instead of $5K, they're going to make sure that a 4x increase in budget is met with a 20x increase in effort and efficiency.
I'll ignore the work harder point, it's not something that can be looked at as technical advice, more like something you'd expect in a Jeff Bullas article. I'm not trying to diss you, I have a lot of respect for what you and Mark are doing with the Stone Temple blog and the blog is a great example of fantastic content.
But this post to me comes across as not very useful, and an attempt to try and beat the horn about how content marketing is going to survive and how people and businesses should continue to invest. And comes with the outlook that you're saying this because you have something to lose if people stop with content marketing, which I guess you do.
I'm still waiting for a response to Content Shock that doesn't simply placate marketers and tells them, "Don't worry, all this noise is about nothing and you're going to be okay - just keep working at it" without actually providing them with an innovative path to content marketing, or telling them - look, things are going to change, and here are four ways in which we're going to combat it, without saying "we have to work harder" and generic advice like that. That's a given.
Cheers! Fabulous post, Articles like this are much appreciated very insightful and helpful. Thanks for this post.
Thanks Eric for sharing tremendous tips about content marketing. Although these are very handy tips but still there is missing a slight thing, in-fact this slight thing can be the grounds of your big win, which is “Consistency”. Whatever business you are doing and whatever the techniques you are following, you need to be consistent in your work, efforts and thoughts. It can lead you towards success.
“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative” Oscar Wilde
Great read. I think it's incredibly important to use content to positively influence buying decisions and drive measurable business results. You can achieve this by using a blend of technical and creative skills, including content marketing, SEO, PPC, copywriting, web development and social, in order to meet your goals. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
A Great Article! But the issue is how to begin and where to begin specially for a beginner like me.
Its universal and we all know the importance of content now days. But as per my understanding and experiences, only deep research and genuine data help you you to discover a unique content and if your content is unique, it will create results. .
Great post Eric! That 75% number tells me that sometimes we just throw content up against the wall and hope it sticks. Something I've found effective is to spend plenty of time in the ideation phase, and even go find my perspective links or shares ahead of time. That is to say, find sites that have already linked to content on the same topic and may be open to linking to a piece of content that has unique value on the same general topic. At times being great isn't enough, even having unique value isn't enough, we also need to determine who exactly it is that will give our content "love" and do the research and the work to figure out what content will best draw out that love.
Thanks Eric you have shared a very useful tips for writing content which really help me in SEO.
Nice article Eric! Those Tips are really usefull. I agree with almost every point. From my point of view, for smaller organizations to find a good partner, try to make unique content that stands out and search for the right niche to focus on, are fundamental on rising their content inside this "content glut". Hard Working is out of the question as it is essential in every organization that expects to succeed.
Sadly, not fearing the "content glut" is certainly hard if we're talking about smaller organizations. I agree with Schaefer's "deep pockets win" argument cause they have the great advantage of not having to worry about numbers at the time of investing on people for digging in the depths of the market to find the right niche and doing the dirty job.
Thanks for sharing this article!
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