These systems do automate many marketing functions, but the creation of engaging, high-quality content isn't part of the programmed features. No, there is not a "magic button" that marketers can push and have a computer spit out truly engaging, high-quality content. Such content must be produced by talented creative people. And content creation is hard work and it takes people years to develop the skills and abilities to do it well.
Regardless, there exists a pervasive do-it-yourself attitude in the industry and I think it is causing many Inbound Marketing attempts to fall short of their true potential. How pervasive is it? It's interesting to note that HubSpot offers a "freemium" eBook called, Design It Yourself: The Marketer's Crash Course In Visual Content Creation, written by Shannon Johnson and Keith Frankel. In the book, they give advice like, "Although designers definitely know design best and they're great to have around, perhaps it's time for you and your marketing team to take visual content creation into your own hands." Yeah...stunning advice...as if it's just that easy.
Just Hire A Jack-Of-All-Trades?
The trouble seems to start in the hiring process. A large part of a website's content is written word, so the job requirements strongly favor people with skills in writing, journalism, or English. However, it's not uncommon to read job descriptions that feature a lengthy list of skills like, editing, writing, digital analytics, SEO, social media, graphic design, illustration, photography, video production, and the list goes on and on. But is it realistic to expect someone to have all of these skills? Today's hiring managers seem to think so.
But how do such hiring practices affect the quality of the content? Well, it's a fact that many Content Marketers are frustrated daily with their inability to create engaging, high-quality content on a consistent basis. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute recently published a report called, B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. In the report, 54% of the respondents indicated that producing engaging content was their greatest challenge. In addition, 50% sited producing content consistently was their second greatest challenge.
We're All Publishers Now!
Perhaps it's time for business managers to rethink their approach to Inbound Marketing? Maybe they need to consider the idea that their marketing department has now become the core publishing house of their business? As such, they need to take the strategic steps required to ensure that they are creating better publications than their competitors. Frankly, I'd suggest that they learn from the publishers of newspapers, magazines, and books. After all, these publishers have been competing for the attention of readers for decades, so it seems to me that they might know a thing or two about how to create engaging, high-quality content.
So what's the publisher's secret formula? Well, most publishers typically hire a staff of full-time, seasoned editors, copywriters, art directors, graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, etc... In fact, publishers compete against each other to find the very best talent they can so that their publications contain the most engaging, high-quality content possible. They don't hire one Jack-of-all-trades Content Marketer and expect them to do everything because, frankly, that would be a strategy for failure.
Yes, perhaps it's time for managers to take their online publishing seriously. Those who think Inbound Marketing is a great new way to cut their marketing budget need to rethink their strategy. Because if they don't take their digital content creation seriously, I guarantee that their competitors certainly will.
© Jan Baughman, 2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment