Quality vs. quantity: where content becomes malcontent

A few years ago marketers were fighting an uphill battle, scrabbling around to figure out how to create enough content to fuel their gluttonous content engines. Social media opened up a whole universe of marketing possibilities, whilst also fostering demand for even more content. In time, those toiling on the content production lines had to ask themselves an important question: is there such a thing as enough content?

Now the answer seems clear, with a large portion of today’s marketing media dedicated to the subject of ‘content overload’. There’s now so much business content available from so many channels, that audiences are drowning in a deluge of cobbled-together insights that will often get no more than a cursory glance.

The marketers we speak to tend to be right on the forefront of this challenge. They have their own content floods to deal with, and the problem is twofold: what to do with all the content they already have, and how to tell what’s actually working.

Case in point: tech

The challenge is probably most acute for technology marketers, an industry which in some respects has overwhelmed itself with its own growth. The result is a raft of highly competitive products and services that are hard to differentiate. Clearly articulated thinking is the only way to decode the differences between companies and make it clear to prospects what their products or services enable. But how can you generate considered, next-level ideas when the content engine is constantly screaming to be fed?

Clearly marketers are keeping a lot of plates spinning. So I say let them fall. Let’s go back to basics for a moment and move away from an approach centred around quantity to concentrate on doing something truly great.

Create better, not more, content

The trend du jour is repurposing: creating a core piece of content and then breaking it down into multiple pieces. It’s a great strategy, but only if the central idea and topic is good enough and deep enough to warrant it. Today brands should try to bring focus to their content strategies: trim things back, focus on the ideas and develop a content strategy based on quality, not quantity.

Here are some things we’ve created to help:

Looking to develop that gold-medal winning idea? Take a look at our No Idea guide to ideas-led marketing campaigns that drive real results.

Got a great idea already? Our new No Contest guide looks at how to turn one excellent piece of content into a truly effective content programme.