Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
Do you play golf?
I don't, but one thing fascinates me: the goal of golf is to play as little golf as possible.
Think about it. The winner is the person who swings their clubs the least.
A smart content strategy should work in a similar way.
Last week I spoke to a B2B technology company in a workshop. We've talked about how the B2B buyer's journey is more complicated these days. Four to five people (registration) form a committee that carries out all of its research independently. It's not uncommon for these groups to end up with more than 50 pieces of content to base their decision on.
The interesting part is the question of differentiation. Increasingly, your goal as a marketer is not to differentiate yourself in the “Google Search rankings” and get prospects to adopt your thought leadership. Your goal is to make your company stand out from the stack of content the committee sifts through.
So yes, the content team's standard operating procedure is more. More content is the answer.
Is more content the answer?
My clients often tell me that they feel like the content marketing team creates too much content. They say things like, “Everyone wants more content, but so much of what we create goes to waste.”
This seems counterintuitive at first. If they're wasting content, why don't they just produce less?
Suggest that and you'll get this backlash: “If we produce less, we might waste a smaller amount.” But everyone still wants more.”
But here's what it all really means. If the team provides a fire hose full of content, there will be too much waste, but everyone's thirst will be quenched. When the content team provides a garden hose of content, fewer assets go unused, but everyone is still thirsty.
And now, with AI, you truly have the ability to push more water through any hose your size.
This challenge is not just limited to content marketing. This also happens in modern marketing planning. Everyone in B2B marketing and sales seems to think they need more. More content. More marketing. More leads. More possibilities. More sales.
More always seems to be better, or at least less risky. That’s why many content and marketing teams develop their strategies to answer the question: “How do we achieve more?”
But here’s the dirty little secret of content in business: “More” is never enough. It doesn't matter how big your team is; More will never be enough to win the content game.
It took me a long time to solve this content marketing puzzle. If I told people that more wasn't the answer, they would ask, “Then how much content should we produce?”
My old answer was, “To the extent you think you can be great at it.”
I used to believe that you should deliver as much content as possible while maintaining the quality standards you set (assuming you set any).
But this advice is wrong.
If the question of how to get more content drives your strategy, your strategy is doomed to fail. You will never produce enough.
The better question comes from golf: How can you produce more aces, eagles and birdies?
In other words, how little is enough to win the game?
Do just enough
Every great concert, every television series, every film or every novel makes the audience wish it would continue. They're engaged, they're moved and they want more.
Many great experiences are available in shorter packages. The Great Gatsby is only 180 pages long and the film Casablanca is only 100 minutes long. The great TV series “Better Call Saul” ended after six short seasons (13 episodes each).
Even though the audience wanted more, the creators told the stories for exactly as long as they needed to be.
But how often have you said after a series, “That was pretty good, but it could have been three episodes instead of eight?” That's a classic symptom of wanting to do more.
That’s not to say that long content or lots of content can’t be effective. “War and Peace” wouldn’t be “War and Peace” if it wasn’t 1,200 pages.
However, I've found that content and marketing teams are most effective when the culture is focused on knowing how much is enough rather than striving for more.
Think about it this way. Whenever I talk to content marketing teams, they look at it like this: “Oh, we have to produce four blog posts this month.” That means we have four different ideas and we have to write four articles of 1,500 words each. Let’s assign a resource to that.”
Maybe they should look at it like, “We need to do four stories, and each one will be as long as it needs to be.” And the third story might be big enough that it's better suited as a two-parter, so this month we're really just have to create three blog posts.”
In a perfect world, content creatives would spend less time putting together content and more time thinking about innovative and remarkable content they want to create.
However, in most companies it works the other way around. Content teams become overloaded and fulfill all requests for too many projects. They can't assemble digital assets fast enough to keep up with the flood of requests.
Here's the punch line: Nine times out of ten, an audit shows that my clients are not creating too much content, but rather too many digital assets. I suggest they stop filling everyone's day with asset assembly and production.
Instead, I challenge them to figure out what content is enough.
Drive and putt to achieve the effect
Now, when clients ask how much content they should produce, I tell them this: If you want to be successful at content marketing, produce as little as you need to have the desired impact.
Don't try to produce overwhelming amounts of content, even if you can and it's great. Instead, try to produce just enough to deliver the intended value and create the desired behavior change.
Complete the course with as few turns as possible.
Don’t ask, “How do we do more?” Instead, ask, “What is enough?”
This question forces you to define a goal – an impact – to achieve and measure. It also forces you to define “enough.”
Enough for what? Enough content to generate 10% more leads? Enough to get 1,000 subscribers? Enough to keep the sales enablement team happy with your budget?
Once you’ve defined “enough,” the content golf begins. Play as little as you need to win. Focus on playing your best game.
Let’s get to work on your swing.
It's your story. Say it well.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
