The marketing industry has long talked about quantity of content and quality of content as competing opposites, but the gig is finally up, and it’s time to put an end to this quantity versus quality debate in the world of content.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, the pressure to produce more and more content is at an all-time high with 70% of marketers expected to this year.
According to content guru Joe Pullizi’s recent podcast, we only need to look back 30 years or so to be transported to a time when the content landscape looked drastically different.
We had only very basic ways to communicate with the consumer. Large media companies were in the driver’s seat with almost full control over information channels, and thus, what the consumer would see.
Fast forward to 2017 and we now have thousands of ways to communicate with our consumers. Most people have access to some sort of informational device—be it a phone, computer or tablet—where consumers are free to ignore or block out consumer advertising.
Today, anyone, anywhere, can be a publisher and build their own audience. We’ve successfully brought the power back to the people!
How to quantify the true value of content.
So if we’re now all in the power seat, with our publisher hats firmly on, how can we expect our consumers to successfully differentiate between companies?
We’ve all become experts at creating and producing content, whether it be an article, blog, tweet, or white paper, but what most companies have forgotten, is how to correctly build an audience.
How can we can quantify the true value of content. Your company can easily produce mountains of content but if you haven’t got anybody to read the stuff, or share it with, why create so much of it?
In reality, it’s neither about quantity or quality but rather about finding the right balance between the two. It takes both quality and quantity to generate leads and build a loyal audience—it’s content and consumer experience that is the ultimate differentiator in business.
The real difference between your business and your next door competitor is exactly how you communicate with your customers. It’s the one thing other companies can’t copy.
If businesses really understood this. they would crown content as the real king behind their business model. They’d turn to content to build their loyal audience and use it as a key way to gain customer insights.
Once you build your audience, it really doesn’t matter how much content you create.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 45% of respondents say their organizations have the right content tools in place, but they’re not being used to their full potential (eMarketer).
What these organizations aren’t fully adopting is the idea that once you’ve successfully developed your audience through quality communication with your consumers, it really doesn’t matter how much content you create.
You’ve already proven yourself to be an expert in your field, and therefore, your audience will naturally crave more content.
Companies that place content as a valued resource and understand its powerful potential are at a direct advantage.