Building Your Content Brand In The Content Marketing Arms Race

A year ago, the new approach to Content Marketing (as practised on the Internet) was a pretty exciting concept.

We’ve used it to promote our own services (the B2B Content Marketing Workbook has clocked up over 1,000 downloads to date) and we’ve used it to help just about every one of our clients jump out of their crowded markets.

But now everybody is in on the game. Soon, every vendor in just about every market will be offering eBooks, white papers, videos and hard-covers.

In other words, what used to be a real differentiator will become the new minimum.

When the web was born, having a website was a pretty cool thing. Today, not having one is unthinkable. Same for content marketing.

There are a few depressing things about this:

1. We’ll all have to work harder to stand still.
   And that’s gotta suck.
2. Most content will be of the not-very-good kind.
   Think ‘Bell Curve’ and swivel head to left.
3. The bad will disguise itself as the good.
   To earn a download, you just need a snappy title and cover.
4. So even good content will get fewer downloads.
   Which sucks even more.

Two choices. Sit around whining about it (as I’ve just done), or make sure you come out on top in the content marketing arms race.

There’s only one way to do this: take the extra time and effort to make your content as good as it can be (which means as valuable to the reader as it can be).

In the age of content marketing, we’re all building reputations as publishers. We’re all building content brands. And a brand is a promise.

If your content brand is known for its quality of insight and execution, you will earn an audience and deliver positive, well-groomed prospects to your sales team. If it’s known for ill-considered imitations of proper content, you’ll damage the mother brand, depress downloads and make your sales people swim upstream.

Content marketing is entering a new, more mature phase. This is your chance to establish your content brand as a premium brand. A few tips:

Target your content tightly.
Segment your market and aim accordingly. One size rarely fits all.

Take extra time.
A week delay is worth it if it results in a much better piece.

Add support to your arguments.
Don’t just assert, prove. Harvest data, quotes & cases.

Add resource sections.
Link to the best blogs, websites, articles, videos and books. An easy way to add value.

Stifle the pimping.
Great content isn’t about you.

Get the best writers you can afford.
Worth their weight in gold.

Edit ruthlessly.
Shorter is always better.

And pay attention to design.
Each piece should be inviting and easy to eat.

Don’t over-publish.
A few really good pieces beat boat-loads of shite.

Just having content is not enough any more. You need great content. The kind that gets linked to, tweeted about and passed on.  Anything less will erode your newest, most important marketing asset: your content brand.

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About the B2Bblogger: Doug Kessler is the co-founder and creative director of Velocity, a London-based B2B marketing agency.

He started his career in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather New York, moved to London 20-odd years ago and hasn’t escaped yet.Velocity focuses on marketing consulting, content, creative and campaigns for a wide range of clients in and around technology markets. Read more from Doug at the Velocity blog.

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