12 content marketing guidelines for better content

We came up with these 12 content marketing guidelines to help ensure that more content is high quality, and helpful to audiences.

There is a huge need in the content marketing sphere to have guidelines and ethics governing the creation of content, considering the sheer quantity of content that is:

• Poor quality
• Lazy
• Badly researched
• Copied
• Poorly edited
• Unsubstantiated
• Misleading
• Click-baity
• Untrue

Audiences get so tired of content that seems to be the digital equivalent of the snake oil salesman. It wastes their time and erodes trust in brands.

Too many brands are guilty of churning out content that has no little to no value, or is a regurgitation of what’s already out there. Poorly researched or misleading content can also seriously confuse newcomers to an industry, or perpetuate unhelpful myths.

It comes as no surprise that Google values original, long-form, helpful content in the search results. The days of churning out hundreds of short SEO posts are (hopefully) over.

Of course, quality content takes time and effort to produce, and many brands don’t have the resources to devote to this level of effort. But then you have to ask, are such brands deserving of a top place in the search results, if they aren’t serving their audiences with quality content?

Why we need guidelines

The phenomenon of fake news in the recent US election and other political events abroad has shone a light on how the internet is partly responsible for some very bad journalism. Misinformation is such a severe problem that it can even influence the outcome of who leads a country.

The media has been guilty of these sorts of practices for centuries, but, as a social institution, it’s subject to regulations and penalties.

Internet publishing, in contrast, is a Wild West. As very few people even understand what content marketing is, this makes it extremely vulnerable to abuse.

Content marketing has been a buzzword for some time but it’s still a very new industry. It can therefore be very easy to get away with unethical practices, because most people aren’t confident about the definition of content marketing.

We’ve come up with these 12 guidelines for you to incorporate in your own content marketing to help ensure that the industry stays useful and relevant for audiences.

1. Build trust with quality

This is a general rule that has no universal definition, but can be roughly explained as only publishing content that brings some value to your audiences. Trust in your content is earned over time, and cannot be bought with advertising dollars. Audiences must come away feeling like they have gained something by interacting with your content.

2. Serve a purpose

It can be tempting to indulge in shady practices like paying bargain basement writers on Fiverr to write ‘SEO posts’ for you, but this will not benefit your content marketing in the long run, nor build trust with your audiences. Make sure your content either teaches, inspires or explains.

3. Be easily comprehensible

Don’t rely on corporate speak or industry jargon when creating your content. Use plain language that could be easily understood by a 12 year old, and only use technical terms when absolutely necessary. Don’t use language as a smokescreen to hide poor quality content.

4. Be genuine in your posts and not ‘salesy’

As a general rule, content marketing works best when it is not directly about a company’s products or services. Reveal something vulnerable about your company, rather than being overly reliant on corporate speak or industry jargon. Mention your company if it feels relevant and natural, but don’t shoehorn in calls-to-action if it will disrupt the meaning of your content.

5. Only make claims you can substantiate

It’s easy to type something on a keyboard without conducting full research first. Generally, if you’re giving an opinion, you may not need facts and figures to back it up, but these would be good to include anyway. If you’re stating a fact, always include a link to a reliable source where you (hopefully) found your information.

6. Only advertise what you can genuinely deliver

If you’re publishing content that advertises your products or services, make sure you really can deliver what you’re offering. This comes back to trust again. Don’t use excessive puffery to trick audiences into buying your products. If you want to say your products are the best on the market, make sure that statement is actually true.

7. Be transparent about your company in your content

Being transparent goes hand-in-hand with only advertising what you can deliver. Even when you don’t have to, operate a transparent culture where you can disclose relevant truths about how your company operates in your content. This also helps to build trust with your audiences, because you’re willing to reveal things that don’t necessarily show your company in the best possible light. Genuine transparency is always appreciated.

8. Operate a ‘full disclosure’ policy

Don’t try to fool people into believing your content is organic when that may not be the case. If you’re running a campaign sponsoring influencers to promote your products, make sure you fully disclose this in any posts you commission. Or, if you partner with another brand to publish a particular piece of content, be honest about this relationship. If you’re reviewing a product that your company sells, inform your audiences prominently.

9. Give more than you take with your content

It’s alright to promote your company occasionally, because this is the purpose of all marketing, but make sure you give more than you take. For every one post you publish about what you offer, publish nine more that aren’t focused on customers buying your services. A good way to do this is to publish free tutorials that share your industry expertise with audiences, or interview industry experts. This shows you’re willing to give value to your audiences without asking for anything in return.

10. Use compassion and empathy

This is one that way too many marketers ignore. Try to think about who may be reading your content and, without stifling creativity, interact with your audiences in a way that is genuine and rewarding. This requires using emotional intelligence to remain connected with your audience’s wants and needs, as well as focusing on results.

11. Be sensitive to world events and cultural context

There are many examples of brands wielding marketing like a blunt sword to drum up interest in their products, while completely missing the mark. Social media is a particularly potent way for brands to trip up by trying too hard to be one of the ‘cool kids’. Remember that you are a brand, and can’t interact in exactly the same way as a person. At the same time, keep your tone human.

12. Edit, edit, and edit again

It may seem very obvious, but it can be tempting to leave content unedited due to the reasonably fast-paced nature of the game. This is a mistake. If you successfully end up with thousands of readers on your blog post, but it’s riddled with errors, this will be an embarrassment to your company. Devote enough time to proofreading and editing to ensure your content is always of the highest quality. Publish less posts if you have to.

Conclusion

With high-profile industry marketing clangers all too common in the media, content marketing has yet to come under any real fire for some of its shady practices.

Of course, with so many companies out there engaging in content marketing, it can be difficult for the average brand to hold onto its integrity. But, remember, long-term sustainable growth is founded on patience and effort, and is not achieved by succumbing to the easy temptation of bad marketing practices.

Approach your content from the side of your audience rather than the other way around. By using empathy, emotional intelligence and compassion (plus a good dose of analytics) to understand them, you’ll avoid any content marketing clangers.

You may feel a pressure to compete with brands that are delivering a suspiciously large amount of content, or to exaggerate the level of your knowledge to impress audiences, but you’ll ultimately deliver far more value by staying true to your individual brand.  

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