Crystal Clear Communications Blog

Let’s not spread ourselves too thin as we do content marketing.

Instead, we can figure out how to do fewer things and achieve better results. Here’s how.

Marketers are learning: less work can lead to better results.

The quality of content matters far more than the quantity.

Above all, when we learn which information buyers are seeking, we can create the best content to answer all their questions. As Marcus Sheridan says, “They ask. You answer.”

Start small.

Build one type of content on one main platform. Make it as strong as you can before you branch out to build another content type or platform.

Content Marketing Institute (CMI) recommends building content as follows:

Imagine that we could time-travel a year into the future.

If we had created one content type a year ago, one main platform that answers all our customers’ questions  – wouldn’t that be an incredibly valuable asset today?

Content that sees the world through the eyes of customers will vault you ahead of competitors. That’s why marketers are wising up – by using fewer channels than a year ago.

It’s tough to maintain top quality if you pump out too much content and use too many tactics. That approach turns content marketing into an assembly line, generating lots of content that lacks soul.

Marketers use fewer tactics today than we did a year ago.

CMI research shows that in 2016, B2B marketers provided content using an average of 13 tactics:

This year, B2B marketers have reduced the number of tactics by 38%, to only 8.

Less content with more quality is what buyers need. Smart!

B2C marketers used an average of 12 tactics a year ago:

Today, B2C marketers are using only 7 tactics.

That’s a 42% reduction in activity. It frees up the time to build more quality into each piece!

Focus on maximizing results, not maximizing tactics.

Apply all-in analytics to eliminate the weakest channels and tactics first. Kill them off mercilessly.

This trend of using fewer and fewer tactics and channels is healthy. It’s a sure sign of growing maturity in content marketing.

Put more care, craft and creativity into each piece of content by pursuing fewer tactics.

Not only is this approach more satisfying professionally, it also generates far greater value for your customers and your brand.

Above all, focus on quality.

Create less content that does more work that customers care about.

As we pursue this path, our challenge as marketers is to address these 3 questions:

• Which content can you start creating that customers would consider a treasure trove?
• What content can you stop creating?
• Which content would your customers miss least?

Enough said.