More and more brands in every kind of industry are turning to content marketing as a way to reach potential brand advocates. It’s a way to be present in their lives in a way that gives more than it asks. And that’s a plus in the eyes of today’s consumers.
In a world where we’re often self-conscious about what technology is doing to our brains, admitting to find pleasure in brevity can be oddly stigmatized. However, there are plenty of reasons to admit that, rather than exhaustive examination of topic after topic, brevity is usually the best recipe.
Here are 3 simple reasons why short and sweet should be your target for your content marketing strategy:
- The wealth of information is overwhelming.
The amount of content being published online every minute is hard to wrap your head around. Chances are, if you have an idea, someone else has already had the same one. And chances are just as good that someone else has already written on it as well. The last thing you want to do is simply add more noise to the din.
- Brief pieces are easily digestible.
Maybe you just put down Infinite Jest to read this blog. If so, cheers. But the truth is that most of us are too bombarded with emails and tweets and texts and listicles to spend more than 5 minutes reading any single piece of writing. Content marketing is about adding value to other people’s lives, not showing how smart or great your company is.
- Value is concentrated.
So get to the point! Your audience will appreciate your implicit understanding that their time is precious. And if you’ve made a good point and offered some real value, they’ll likely feel appreciative and want to check in with you again. Just remember, it needs to be truly “sweet.” That means it needs to have real value and deliver what its headline promises.
This is not to condemn long-form pieces to their place in the history books, not at all. But they should be the exception, not the rule. Long-form pieces (case studies, white papers, etc.) should be thoroughly researched and executed and used as value adds for potential leads in exchange for email capture or some other organizational benefit.
A good blog also has room for conversation. What did you think of this one? Did it spark any ideas for your brand’s content marketing? Did I leave something important out? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @dylanthaemert.
Image credit: CC by Sharjeel Ashraf
