Content Marketing: Less is More Wins

Everyone became publishers when the Internet arrived. Consequently, content marketing became the golden standard for brands and businesses who want to develop an effective marketing strategy.

Content — from Buzzfeed listicles to white papers to YouTube channels — became king. For marketing teams, it was the Holy Grail to their failed campaigns. Without question, these kudos and compliments that content marketing has been receiving is well-deserved. Because creating content undoubtedly works.

Quick Stats and Facts

Blogging, a subset of content marketing, is 13 times more likely to result to positive ROI. In Europe, nearly 7 out of 10 marketers recently declared that they were successful in their content marketing campaigns through blog posts and articles.

Large brands and enterprises are also putting more weight on storytelling and content creation. GE is conceptualizing a television series and implementing long-form content in their branding efforts. Starbucks, on the other hand, is tapping journalists to refine their brand’s story. And the folks at GoPro has taken over Red Bull’s title as the King of Content Marketing.

Enter Content Shock

In 2014, Mark W. Schaefer coined the term content shock. He described how the “exponentially increasing volumes of content intersect our limited human capacity to consume it”.

The problem here is that marketers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have the more-is-better mindset when creating content.

Such prediction is not to be dismissed. Interestingly, the amount of information on the Internet is expected to skyrocket by 500 percent on 2020 yet a huge chunk of content out there gets little or zero engagement.

The problem here is that marketers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have the more-is-better mindset when creating content.

If you’re currently in charge of your company’s content, you’ve probably received an email with a similar message below:

Dear Whoever-Is-In-Charge-With-Content,

The marketing manager wants at least 10 long-form blog posts a month. And oh, we need 10 more to be scheduled next month. If it’s not happening, the editorial calendar is going to be a mess and the boss would probably go ballistic on our next meeting because the blog is not spitting out content regularly.

p.s. Please ask the writers if they can handle more in their weekly quotas. Or perhaps, find a writer who’s also a quick typist!

But do you really need to publish daily or too often to get results out of your content marketing efforts? With a few niches as an exception, the answer is often a NO.

Truth be told, talks about content shock should not make you panic. It should rather remind you (and your manager and boss!) to truly reflect on why you’re creating content in the first place. The impending content-geddon should drive you ask these questions:

Are you creating content because it’s been proven to deliver ROI? Or do you truly want to provide value to your prospects and customers?
Do you have a solid content strategy? Or are you just blindly doing what the others are swearing to work for them?
Is there a way for you to measure the impact of your content marketing efforts? Because if the numbers say it’s not working, why persist?

Want proof that the less-is-more mantra applies to content marketing too?

Check out how the folks at Dapulse boosted their blog’s conversion by 750 percent in 3 months by publishing only two blog posts in one of those 3 months.

The Takeaway

In a nutshell, anyone who is looking into banking on content for positive ROI should stop producing too many yet mediocre content. It’s not just about laying down the ground rules of what your team should come up with. Focus also on what you should not create.

If you drive your audiences to content shock, there’s a huge chance they’ll also go on brand coma. And that brand is unfortunately yours.

Sit down with your marketing team and re-evaluate your content marketing plan (or the lack of it) today!