Content, it’s still quality over quantity

No ChatGPT that can spit out content in your brand’s tone of voice, be distinctive and add value to your customer

Let's be honest; there’s no such thing as swift and easy. Good content is still expensive; it takes time and effort to produce.

Yet, 60% of all content is clutter (Havas, 2017), and with the rise of ChatGPT, I’m afraid this number will rise quickly. Gut feeling; it’s up to 80% already.

Please keep in mind that in this blog, I write about ‘content’ not ‘performance marketing.’ ‘Content’ is your www, SEO, and brand-building on social. ‘Performance marketing’ is the ads on social that follow up via retargeting on the brand-building content.

Why it matters

You only need a few high-quality content pieces to make a difference, content that you can repurpose, reuse and republish over and over again. It’s not about more; it’s about better.

If you want to produce more content at a higher speed, there’s the risk that you’ll cut corners to save your budget. Resulting in lower quality.

Publishing a large volume of low-quality content can actually harm your brand's reputation and diminish your audience's trust in your content.

As no brand decides, ‘let’s produce some low-quality content’; what is the definition of high-quality content? And where are most brands lacking?

There are two parts that define the quality.

Function: your why
Form: how it looks

And remember, also, for content; nobody wants to be marketed to.

1. Content function

This is the ‘why’ of your content. Your reason for producing and publishing content.

Yes, it’s a business reason; in the end, you want to sell more. However, the reason for publishing is absolutely not boasting about your fantastic new features and kissing your own ***.

Your content should teach your customer something or solve a problem; it’s entertaining or inspiring. Your audience must have a reason to read your content.

The quality starts with research. What is your customer's need?

You can use google reversed search; type in your product name, not your brand name, and check out the second search keyword that pops up. Or use the ‘people also ask’
Use ChatGPT with a prompt like ’10 most asked questions about …’
‘They ask, you answer’; this is actually so simple and so obvious that most brands forget

Quality content builds trust and claims your leadership in the industry. By putting your customer first, you add value for them. You fill the top of the funnel. Performance marketing will pull them toward the bottom of the funnel to close the deal and make the sale.

Content is not an ad. I repeat, content is not an ad. Period.

ChatGPT coffee content

ChatGPT prompt example

2. Content form

In the mobile age, for the first impression, the form may be even more important than the function. The form is how your content looks, is it ‘easy on the eye?’ In other words, is it sexy and easily accessible?

Keep in mind that ~ 80% of traffic is on mobile, so ditch the desktop and start writing with the small vertical screen in mind.

Well written

Easy to scan. Short paragraphs with subheaders. Great usage of the white space. No one is eager to read a large chunk of text on a mobile screen. Especially for PDFs in midget size fonts, you need to pinch and horizontally scroll. Absolutely nobody is going to read that.

Write in a human language

Rule of thumb; write the way you talk. Use normal words, no jargon or buzz. And keep your sentences short, and where possible, use bullets. Tip: I always start my writing with ‘Dear Judith.’ As if I’m writing her a letter. This keeps my tone light and easy, my writing accessible and human, and locks in my personality.

Start with the end

You can use the default intro, body, and conclusion structure. Yet, the conclusion and intro are almost the same. Nobody has the patience to read the entire piece in anticipation of the catch in the conclusion. We all know how we read ourselves; we immediately want to know what’s in it for us; otherwise, we swipe or click away.

Visuals first

The visual is the carrier of digital communication. We see the visual before we even read the title. This goes for blogs and for social. Stay away from un-edited stock and your logo. My tip: think about the visual before you start writing. Dive into Pexels or Unsplash with a few keywords for inspiration – and find some excitement or even sexiness in the image; that gets the attention at a glance.

crappy content example

An example of how not to do it

Cutting corners, the most made content mistakes

As mentioned, no brand decides, ‘let’s produce some low-quality content.’ Yet the internet is overflowing with subpar sh*t.

First, putting the brand first and the customer second. If you only talk about yourself, your product, and its features, it’s a guarantee for failure. We live in a pull world; it’s not a push world anymore. With the abundance of brands and one-click-buy availability, you have to capture your customer’s hearts; they are in the lead and decide what content they read and when to swipe away.

Second, there is no swift and easy in content production. Quality takes time and effort. There’s no ChatGPT that can spit out content in your brand’s tone of voice with amazing visuals and content that’s still distinctive while adding value to your customer.

Don’t get me wrong; I love ChatGPT. It’s one of the best technological developments I’ve seen. Great for research. Amazing for inspiration. And a super tool for content producers that don’t have the time or give a sh*t about being distinctive (read more).

Third, new and more is not always better. If you have a few high-quality, well-produced content pieces, you can repurpose, reuse and republish these over and over again. Do an audit, and check what you already have that ranks in SEO and gets the visitors and eyeballs.