Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
The world is a noisy place right now.
There's an election, near-constant glitches in AI, and an unpredictable economy. But that's not exactly (or only) what I mean.
In 2024, companies will place even greater emphasis on digital content and content-based experiences. Content and marketing teams must now develop content that adds value and achieves reach on as many platforms as possible.
And you're not the only one noticing it. Technology helps everyone (including your competitors) reuse and scale that content across all platforms.
Think about the implications for a moment.
I recently worked with a team at an interactive entertainment company that wanted to use AI to increase its short-form article production from 25 to over 500 articles per week—or 30,000 posts per year.
That’s right: 30,000 posts per year.
So it's no wonder that content and marketing teams feel like they're shouting into a hurricane.
But the thing is, it's always been that way.
The problem with too much content
There has always been too much content in the world. Almost every successful internet company of the last quarter century has had this core problem. Search engines, social media and other digital platforms all solve the problem of filtering the flood of content into something consumable.
Depending on your point of view, they have either increased or destroyed knowledge and information. It is likely that they have been both.
Still, that doesn't make developing your content marketing strategy any easier in the second half of 2024—especially when you're faced with expectations like my client's.
Your boss justifies the frequency of content production he wants with this logic:
“If we delve too deeply into the topics, we can never be competitive. Our competitors publish new articles every day. They are the ones who attract attention.”
In other words, more content means more opportunities to reach the audience, which in turn means more value.
But of course that is not the case.
More content does not mean more value
Despite advances in AI, content creation is not (yet) democratized. It remains challenging to develop high-quality, differentiated ideas.
Instead, AI (like the photocopier, word processor, camera, and printing press) has simply democratized the publishing and distribution of content.
Technology is enabling people to produce and distribute more content faster than ever before, but the number of great ideas remains lower than ever.
Therefore, all of this content is both signal and noise. My noise drowns out someone else's signal, and your signal drowns out someone else's noise.
Not surprisingly, content marketers rarely create truly unique content. Their thought leadership likely reflects broader trends that have emerged elsewhere. Their research likely uncovers developing trends that others have already spotted.
Content marketers are unlikely to create the next great literary work or Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism (at least not as part of their day-to-day work).
And that's intentional. As a marketer, you're primarily concerned with popularity. You're trying to show up among the most sought-after signals without becoming noise. And you need to be “loud” enough to be associated with the views that are popular with your desired audience.
Simply put, most marketers cannot afford to be the only voice for a particular issue or viewpoint because they will be judged by how many people engage with the message.
Unfortunately, your mission cannot be to avoid noise or to focus only on creating differentiating signals that nobody is looking for (no matter how fantastic they are).
Your job is to make the “right people” (the people you want to reach) care about your noise so that they care about your signal. That's the art of creating signals from noise.
So how do you do it?
Think differently
How can you balance signal and noise? How can you differentiate your content while generating enough buzz to appeal to the right people?
As always, entertainment media companies offer a helpful model.
Check out these ideas tested by media companies:
Create “conscious” content experiences
A “conscious” content experience is one where the narrative consciously and purposefully evolves as audience needs change, without losing sight of the core story or core values.
Media companies tell the same story over and over again in changing pop culture contexts or through the lens of different audiences. Look at how they've told the story of Spiderman in different eras. The simple comics of the 1960s and the multiverse film adaptations featuring the teenage wall-climber essentially tell the same story of an awkward teenager learning the great responsibility that comes with great power. Each retelling updates the story to resonate with today's audiences.
You can take a similar approach with your blog, resource center, or other publication. You don't have to confine yourself to a fixed editorial box and focus only on thought leadership research or how-to articles. Good publications can change their editorial focus as the needs of their audience or the context changes.
Software company SAP is doing this today. In early 2020, the content team changed the editorial strategy for the Future of Customer Engagement and Experience website to provide helpful information about the COVID-19 outbreak. This shift in focus helped them increase their traffic and, most importantly, build a loyal audience.
After the focus on COVID-19 faded, the site (now called Future of Commerce) shifted its focus again. Its flexible editorial strategy now includes nuanced ideas on everything from how AI improves research management in higher education to how fashion brands ensure sustainability (see image below).
Focus on being different, not better
Media companies know where they want to differentiate themselves with content and where they don't. They also know that they don't have to be the best in a category – they just have to offer an alternative. Think of the hit TV series “The Office”. In remaking the British series for US audiences, the producers didn't try to copy the original series or improve on it. They did something different.
Many content marketers focus on producing better research, more provocative versions of thought leadership, or creating more influential personalities who tell the same story as their competitors.
One of my clients, a financial services consulting firm, tried something different instead.
Instead of focusing on developing more thought leadership or advice for its target audience of financial advisors, the company took a different approach. The content team created a community and online resource to help financial advisors discover the best new books to read. It wasn't better than the competition. It was different.
Think long-term about quality
Some argue that if you produce enough content, some of it will rank highly, go viral, or be successful in some other way. Mathematically speaking, this argument is probably correct.
However, I believe that content and marketing teams that focus on creating differentiating content amidst all the hustle and bustle are more successful than those that focus solely on producing as much content as possible.
A recent Ad Age Four Seasons case study (subscription required) provides a great example. When a TikTok video went viral showing a one-year-old child seemingly excited about the idea of staying at the Four Seasons in Orlando, the company seized the opportunity and invited the whole family on a vacation.
The content team documented the various experiences of the “Four Seasons baby” and his family and the resulting content generated numerous amused comments on social media.
@fourseasons Fully conscious and absolutely fabulous at the Four Seasons Orlando. 👑 #LoveFourSeasons #LuxuryTravel #FamilyTravel #FourSeasonsOrlando #FullyConsciousBaby ♬ MILLION DOLLAR BABY (VHS) – Tommy Richman
The brand has invested a lot of time (and care) in developing the Four Seasons baby, but has balanced the quality and quantity of all content to make it stand out from the crowd while being loud enough.
Be the right signal for the right audience
Using technology to produce as much mass content as possible may make mathematical sense, but it does not solve the signal-to-noise problem.
When you hide the best signals in so much of your own noise, it becomes harder—not easier—to attract an audience that cares about your content. An overabundance of even good content distracts people from exceptional content.
Create content because you have something to offer your desired audience. For those who care, you are the signal. For those who don't, you are the noise.
It's your story. Tell it well.
Updated from an article from March 2022.
Robert Rose consults and runs workshops to help marketing teams adapt their marketing processes to all kinds of technologies – including generative AI. Contact him to learn more about these programs.
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Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
