Content marketing..forever changing

Bob Dylan had a song called "Times are a changing."

Also a phrase we constantly hear every year.  The times are certainly changing for content marketing and it's becoming more important than ever to be relevant and fresh.

You see content marketers have had to think like TV show producers because producing content is a demanding job that takes understanding your target and being original.  Content is more than just, "putting a meme together."  It's about anticipating what people may want to read about and guiding them along the way for their final decision.

Each piece of content has to have meaning and unfortunately, I see a lot of "irrelevant content."  Here are some signs you're content strategy should change.

"It takes you under one hour to produce content"

If it takes you less than an hour to create, edit, and post content, there's a good chance it's not as polished.  It's also probably not very focused and worth the time for your target.  Inbound thought leader Hub Spot, states it takes 1-2 hours to produce a 500 word blog post.  I tend to agree. Companies get wrapped up in gaining attention that they forget unpolished content can damage credibility.  

"Lack of original images, and visuals"

One of my personal weaknesses is I've never been a visual creator with images.  I barely can take pictures with a camera (sad I know)  I realize this weakness of mine and am in the process of finding someone to handle that side of my blog.  There's so much content being "plagiarized" that those who offer original images and visuals on their content will become more noticed and credible.  While there are "free image" websites, if everyone uses the same images, it's easy to become less noticeable. The company that invests in original visual resources, will see their content stand out from the pack. 

Disclaimer: If you are a company using "Meme's" always think about your target and how they will interpret that meme.  Meme's are funny but sometimes but have become a "cheaper" way to ramp up content efforts. 

"Constantly changing your voice"

Building an audience to view and read your content takes a lot of time.  It's not over night success so it's easy to "doubt" your ability to connect with viewers.  I've seen a lot of businesses change their voice that they begin to lose what embodies their brand.  This is a super thin line because you have to scrap what's simply not working but never lose your identity.  Your voice has to be consistent so you can focus on a niche of people rather than everybody.

Some of these pointers are obvious things I have looked to take as challenges to make my content better.  There's far too much mediocre content out there.  Let's be the solution-Not part of the problem.

Now Playing- "Times are a changing"