You—or your client—have an empty website. So you need to fill it, right? Pack it with great, engaging, keyword-rich copy—the more the better.
That’s the current trend in content marketing. Be a publisher. Create loads of content. Post every day. Give your customers—and search engine spiders—lots and lots and lots of content.
But when it comes to creating truly effective content—content that serves your business and your customers—you’ll find the “more-is-better” tactic fundamentally flawed.
Just because you can create something doesn’t mean you should.
Watch this clip from College Humor—two Hardly Working Start-Up Guys Pitching their “dagital” services to a confused business owner.
The hopped-up Start-Up Guys suggest:
- “…a straight to Nokia-based smart phone app called FiveSquare…for medical professionals who have HPV.”
- “…a mobile-based app-farming project employing demand-side, real-time optimization to bring religious, church-going folk into the cloud…”
- Matching “brands to alpha-based consumers, material to their tablet-based PTP consumer behavior.”
Digital drivel, right? But think about it: You actually could build an app for medical professionals with HPV.
But why?
Same question with your content. Creating scads of tactical—rather than strategic—content is about as useful and enduring as as the Start-Up Guys’ inane apps and nine-minute LLCs.
What is “tactical” content?
By “tactical content” I mean the one-shot copy you are frequently asked to produce: The website your client wants “built out” just to have something online. The vanity newspaper ad the CEO insists on buying—though it’s completely off-channel for your company’s B2B services. The direct mail collateral blasted out shotgun-style to a non-targeted list.
These are tactical content moves.
But to be effective, your content needs to be strategic and tactical.
Balancing content strategy and content tactics
Content strategy is about Big Picture thinking. It involves analyzing and auditing existing content, delineating content goals and answering the questions why and what for.
Content tactics vary according to time, circumstances and platforms. They answer the question how.
Good content marketing requires both.
Is less content more?
Does that mean your business needs less content? Like the Start-Up Guys say, “Yes and no, yes and no, yes and no.”
Because good content marketing doesn’t pivot on less or more, but rather, the right content. For your business and your customers.
Absolutely agree with your points! The “more, more, more” mentality prevalent in content marketing today is indeed flawed. It’s not about size, but rather the quality, relevance of the content that actually matters.
Just like we wouldn’t build an app for medical professionals with HPV for no discernible reason, we also shouldn’t be churning out content for the sake of meeting a daily quota. It’s imperative to align content with strategic objectives, rather than being reactive and publishing content tactlessly.
“Tactical” content, as you put it, tends to be disjoint and unrelated, focusing solely on immediate goals while ignoring the bigger picture. However, it’s time to realize that short-sightedness won’t take us far. Content strategy, on the other hand, involves a comprehensive vision – it helps lay down long-term goals and clear path towards achieving them.
Content strategy and tactics should not be at odds but should instead work hand-in-hand. They should be seen as two sides of the same coin, each addressing its respective ‘why’, ‘what’, and ‘how’.
Is less content more, you ask? Well, it’s neither. It’s about the right content, created with the right intent, for the right audience.
Great piece! Thank you for shedding light on the importance of a balanced approach to content marketing. We should all strive for content that’s strategically driven, tactically deployed, and effectively serves both our business and our customers.
Comments like these can spark conversations, encourage other readers to think more critically about the issues in question, and provide valuable insights that could influence future content strategies.