More companies are increasing their content output. Some experts say that the growth in the amount of content is leading to content shock.

Content shock happens when there is more content available than we can consume. There is not enough time or interest to consume it all. Less is more when it comes to successful content marketing.

More is not always better when it comes to successful content marketing.

Think differently about content marketing

Less content is more. Successful content marketing is hard. Here are seven tips to help you convert more with less content and be more successful with content marketing.

1. Stop producing bad content by answering your client’s questions in your content

The biggest threat to content marketing is crap. If the content you produce is not relevant to your clients, don’t produce it. To ensure you create quality content, answer the questions your clients are asking.

Generate a list of questions that your customers or clients are asking you. Then, write content to answer those questions. Review your frequently asked questions (FAQ) section of your website. Turn those questions into content for your blog or magazine.

Another key to stopping the production of bad content is to avoid talking about your company. Focus on producing content that is helpful, not promotional.

It may be helpful to think of your content like a TV series. The series has an overall theme. Each episode tells the series’ story or theme.

2. Concentrate on one channel for your content

Focus on one channel and get really good at it before moving to the next.

The greatest media brands of all time such as The New York Times, ESPN, and The Huffington Post started out by dominating one channel. This channel could be print, TV, or blog. They focused on this before launching additional channels.

According to Content Marketing Institute research, publish content using 12 tactics with the distribution of their content to an average of five social media networks.

Look at your analytics. What channel is the most successful for you? The digital body language of your customers or clients is probably giving you the answer.

You don’t need to be on every channel if your target audience isn’t on that one. With limited resources, it is important to concentrate on one or two channels rather than three, four, or even five.

3. Be the media; your competition is bigger than you may think

In today’s content marketing world, you can publish directly to your clients or customers. You do not need to go to traditional media outlets.

As a result, you are up against more than just your direct competitors. You are up against everyone who is producing content on the same topic. It could be an indirect competitor, such as the traditional media, industry trade outlets, or even Wikipedia.

To act like a newsroom, coordinate your content efforts. This approach is different from acting as a marketing department. How do you compete against so many different competitors?

Make sure your team is flexible yet firm so it can create consistent, relevant, and meaningful content. You will also need to expand your team’s reach beyond the marketing team. Get other teams to contribute and share your content.

You may also want to develop a content marketing steering committee or advisory board. Include different people from various parts of the business. This will help you produce the right content for the right audience. It will also help meet your company’s goals.

“Don’t beg the media, be the media.”

Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications

To be in the media, you should take some tips from professional journalists. They create stories that don’t promote a product or service. Develop editorial guidelines and validate information sources.

Assemble a diverse content marketing team. This allows you to produce compelling videos. It ensures you publish articles that are not skimmed.

You will also have high-quality photos. Become the go-to information source rather than relying on your competitors.

4. Optimize your old content

Stop focusing on only new content. Remember that your old content has staying power. Optimize your old content so it is fresh, up-to-date, and can generate even more traffic and conversions.

According to HubSpot analysis of their historical data, 76% of their monthly blog views come from old posts. These posts were published prior to that month. In fact, 92% of monthly blog leads also come from old posts. Some of the best content I have produced on this blog, I wrote years ago.

By conducting a content audit using free tools, you can identify gaps in your content. You can use tools such as these free 5 content audit tools.

You can find what you need to improve your content. You can figure out if you have any content archipelagos. This is a group of content that is rarely visited and doesn’t resonate well with your targeted audience. During this content audit, you may find out that you found a content gem.

5. Add high-quality imagery to all of your content

According to Moz analysis of their content, they found out that posts with images receive more links than posts without images. The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than it decodes text. According to HubSpot, content gets 94% more views with compelling visual elements and graphics.

6. Create easy-to-read content with strong headlines and call to actions

It is important to create content that is easy to read. Have you read content that was long-winded or used big words? Was it easy to scan and quickly comprehend? Without easy-to-read content, your approach to content marketing will most likely fail.

Readability

Readability is important for search engine optimization (SEO), usability and ensures Google is rating your website high in search results. Use words that the right number of syllables and the right sentence length.

The readability of your content affects how well it performs in search results. Figure out how well your content reads by using the readability score tool.

Compelling headlines

Beyond overall readability, it is important that the start and finish of your content enhance the reader experience.

Make sure your headline and sub-headline capture the essence of your content. Analyze your headlines using tools like these 10 free keyword research tools to write compelling headlines.

Call to actions

It is very important to include call to actions in your content, especially your best performing content. A strong call to action (the “what”) encourages and provokes your readers to respond.  One action could be to view the SlideShare content for your article, or vice versa.

One of the call to actions could be to read the article version of your SlideShare content. Learn how to repurpose your content on SlideShare. Other call to actions could include read related content, download an eBook or white paper.

It could be call/email us for help on the topic. Place your call to action at the top of the content. Add it again at the end. This placement encourages more clicks.

7. Repurpose your content and develop a strategy for types of content

Repurposing content is critical for all of us with tight marketing budgets. It ensures our marketing messages consistently reach our target audiences. Have you used channels like SlideShare to get more out of your content?

To ensure you have a strategy for the different types of content you produce and curate, you may want to use a pyramid-based approach. It improves the long-term efficiencies and effectiveness of your content marketing operations. It helps you produce more content with less effort. The foundation of this pyramid starts with curated content. Read the five free content curation resources that can save you time.

By using this pyramid when you think about your content, you incorporate the best practices of content marketing. You ensure your audience sees your key marketing messages across multiple channels at different times. Your audience encounters key messages in multiple shapes and sizes. This strategy extends your reach beyond your websites.

Bringing it all together

Don’t take my word for it. Brafton wrote a case study about how a financial services company wrote fewer, more in-depth articles. It boosted web traffic and sales.

Instead of pumping out tons of content, make sure you have a successful content marketing strategy. It is getting harder and harder as more people understand the power of content marketing. Now is a great time to rethink your content marketing efforts to beat content shock.

What successful content marketing tips would you add to this list to overcome the content shock?

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