Six years ago, content marketing had captured the imagination of just about every marketer. The promise was intoxicating: traffic and authority for free.
There are still a lot of believers. But just as many are losing faith.
After years of priming the content pump with all kinds of content, every brand, big and small, is seeing diminished returns. Traffic may be good, but subscriptions and engagement are down.
So we have to ask.
Does content marketing still work?
Yes and no.
Yes, content marketing works. It’s always worked. Even when it was done through snail mail instead of blog posts. Even when we didn’t call it “content marketing.”
But just as methods and strategies have changed over the years, they’re changing yet again.
You’ve probably heard of content shock. Well, the more all of us try to leverage the same tactic (in this case, content marketing), the less effective it can be.
That’s what’s happening with content.
When blogging and content marketing were new, they were powerful tactics. People were excited to get email updates from their favorite brands. It was new and exciting.
But content marketing has matured.
To get engagement and drive traffic—shoot, just to get our emails opened—we need to stand out. We can’t write about the same topics, offer the same advice, or tell the same stories.
If we do, we’re training our followers not to listen.
They’ve heard it before. They’re following us because they’re hoping for something different.
Gangbuster growth may be a thing of the past
I was asked yesterday if it was possible to grow traffic from 20,000 to 100,000 in the coming year.
Honestly, there’s no way to know.
Doing content the way we’ve been doing it, I doubt it.
But if you’re willing to get creative, to test new approaches, to boldly go where no blog has gone before… then yes, there’s a good chance it could happen.
The trick is to know your audience.
What do they want to know? What do they struggle with? Can you create content that gives them quick wins and real solutions? Can you delight them by saying something new or at least saying it in a new way?
If so, you’ll easily turn them into fans. They’ll read everything you produce and happily share it with their followers.
If not—if you just crank out more of the same—you’ll become background noise and soon be forgotten.
Sad, huh?
But there you have it.
Content marketing can still work, but only if you’re saying something worth paying attention to.
