That Content Thing

Have you ever had that moment when you’ve opened a cupboard door and surveyed the stack of must-watch box sets – many still in their shrink wrap - and realised that given current rates of viewing you’re never going to live long enough to see them all? That dull thud in your chest is a reminder of your own mortality, life’s incessant demands and the lingering emotional impact of Christmas, birthdays and impulse buying.

Door of Perception

Apart from the evidence of a predilection for the physical product over on demand, the realisation is sharper if you’re not a serial content binger. They are likely to be younger than you – though not significantly so, as generational differences are increasingly driven by technology and the developments in this appear more relentless than at any time in human history – however, they probably feel they have better odds on their side. The Gallagher brothers may have been more prescient than we ever thought possible: “We see things they'll never see, You and I, we're gonna live forever.”  

Content with Filler?

However, this oasis in your cupboard is more than just a metaphor for the passage of time: it is a touch point beyond this brush with the grim reaper’s bony finger that can be scaled up for the content industry as a whole. Content marketing is now both an all-embracing phrase and emblematic of those box sets, though boasting the unfathomable dimensions of a black hole that threatens to - and already is - swamping the world.

Another month's work and the new content strategy was already well on its way...

Your cupboard stash at least notionally contains stories you want to hear. Those in the workplace or that arrive unannounced any, and many, times of the day strive to be as emotionally involving but the norm is that - although they deliver a content strategy aimed at the heart - they're more likely heading straight for the refuse cart of digital landfill.

In-House – Out-House?

There are many who contend that we’re experiencing a revolution in B2B and B2C content. This is undoubtedly true in context and delivery but for much of the actual content itself the jury is still out. The tip of the content industry is cutting edge, though it’s rather like the 1960s when a small proportion of the population attempted to signpost and drag the vast majority away from the unenlightened attitudes of the 1950s. The tip of this pyramid is flattening out to an extent as the drift of agency staff to fulfil in-house roles, that were prior outsourced to the agencies themselves, is ongoing evidence of content’s charisma.

The proliferation of new job descriptions for these multi-faceted roles suggest a sea change, however, in many cases they obscure the play-safes and the surprising number who are simply playing catch up to the benefits of a copywriter or editor in what they do. Those who actually make the shift might be in for a rude awakening, having to produce and create against a behemoth internal system where the creative element has traditionally been bought in and in which there are no natural champions of the process: where ingrained habits and an entrenched marketing outlook prevail.

The CEO had always trusted in the traditional approach to the marketing plan

Whatever your view on these in-house developments... whether you see responsive companies or me too marketing, you can’t have missed the prevailing feeling that everything has shifted up a gear - with more agencies proclaiming their exclusive content credentials, or new content production initiatives being championed. Thinking physical again is a chastening concept... imagine the amount of tree planting necessary to keep pace with this - and what of the landfill space that would have been exhausted in the last couple of years?

Never Mind the Quality

In the spirit of - You ain’t seen nothing yet! - next year looks as if a bigger content tsunami is coming, that will produce an even higher watermark of volume, if not necessarily of quality. To say quality varies is an understatement that one of those circumspect and polite inhabitants of the 1950s might recognise. At least with the physical publishing industry there is an informing sense of general minimum standards. The democratisation of content invokes the character of the sexual revolution of the 1960s – writing for the net is the pill, in as much as anyone can do it, and promiscuity doesn’t matter in relation to any true feeling and quality. Try reading all the entries on consecutive Google ranking pages on relevant subjects such as content strategy, or social media; including the ubiquitous - Ten things you need to... and you’ll reel at the regurgitation and lack of regard for the role of good writing in business marketing.

Digging through this content seldom delivers any kind of cupboard-opening enlightenment: no deeply reverberating clarity or sense of realisation; much like the stylistic modus operandi that fuels it – at best it mimics traits and emotional power that it can only dream of conveying. There are exceptions, but the main shudder from the recipient is likely to be at the sheer volume of these social media posts alone.

The information superhighway - a quaint phrase from a more innocent time - is now redolent of a B-road to nowhere special; it is increasingly backed up with communication traffic that is condemned to stall, all the while spewing out the fumes that are choking up cyberspace.

Content marketing? It’s time to take the shrink wrap off and really check out what makes for compelling stories.