When less content is more
Tips for how to deliver and make an impact
Over the last few months, we’ve heard from our tech marketing clients that their leadership is asking them to “produce less content.” The reasons vary, but the ask doesn’t change.
If your job is to produce content, and you get this request, what should you do?
Getting the same or better results from less content requires a laser focus on producing the right content, but that’s easier said than done. According to the Content Marketing Institute, in 2024, 57 percent of marketers surveyed said “creating the right content” is their biggest challenge, primarily because generative AI has “emerged to make ‘more content’ irrelevant.”
At Sappington, we believe the answer to crafting the right content is to adopt a value-based methodology.
Focus on making every piece influence the right person—whether that’s decision-makers, their teams, or buying groups. In other words, skip the broad audience and make your content stand out to the specific decision-makers who need to hear your message right now. Seem obvious? It takes work to put into practice.
From our experience, these steps will help you consistently create the right content that performs for the right audience.
Get specific about your audience.
Invest the time and energy to really get to know the personas you’re targeting. Pay attention to each persona's most critical pain points, goals, and desired technical and business outcomes.
Understand their customers.
The “value” that matters in this methodology is how your solution helps your customers meet their customers’ needs and achieve their goals. Understanding what your customer’s customer expects—and what gets in the way of delivering it—helps you home in on what matters most.
Focus on outcomes vs. features and benefits.
Value is defined by outcomes, not by how to achieve them. Focus on the outcomes you deliver as far down the marketing funnel as possible. Deeper dives into your “how” should be readily available, but don’t make those details your focus right out of the gate.
Leverage the audience you have to inspire others.
Maybe you’re great at making executive contacts but have less success engaging practitioners. Or maybe it’s the other way: practitioners love your technology, but the C-suite isn’t aware of all it can do. Create a strategy to generate enthusiasm among personas you’re already reaching and then get the attention of the audience you still need to develop.
Give the people what they want!
When you create content, focus on what matters most to each decision-maker level. If your budget doesn’t allow you to produce unique content for each persona, try using creative design elements to clearly differentiate the “Why,” “What,” and “How” of your value proposition so readers with different priorities can quickly get the information they need most.
With communication channels full of competing messages—much of it low-quality content created by AI—it’s not surprising leadership is asking you to produce less content, especially if fewer internal team members are using it or the numbers aren’t generating the results you set out to achieve.
Our value-based approach helps you break through with titles, materials, design elements, and messaging that impact the audiences you need to reach.
FURTHER READING
