In content marketing, the debate as old as time persists today: quantity vs. quality.
It’s true that putting out content frequently used to be a great strategy for getting ranked high in Google search results. More content allowed you to get more traffic, among other things. However, modern marketers are more focused on quality over quantity for various reasons.
So, here’s everything you need to know about why content marketing should emphasize quality over quantity.
Content Saturation
One thing that many marketers and business owners are aware of is content saturation. There is so much content nowadays that consumers are often overloaded with information. They simply don’t have enough time, attention or energy to spend on consuming all the content they see online (and offline).
This is why many people have gotten used to ignoring ads and different marketing materials they see on a daily basis. Moreover, social media has further conditioned people to spend less time analyzing whether a particular piece of content is something they are interested in. If it’s not, a single scroll allows the user to get to the next piece of content, and so on.
What this means for brands is that there is increased competition for the consumers’ attention. Everyone wants to stand out and appeal to their target demographic, which is becoming more and more difficult with so much content being produced non-stop. Obviously, this leads to even more saturation.
With all of this in mind, the question of what to prioritize seems even more confusing. On the one hand, more content means more chances that potential customers will see it. But, on the other hand, better quality means the content will have more chances to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.
Elements of Content Writing
To better understand how quantity and quality are beneficial in their own ways, it’s important to discuss certain aspects of the content itself:
Target Audience
Your target audience plays an important role in helping you decide what kind of content you want to create.
When you are producing a lot of content, you are aiming for as many readers as possible, often leading to the content being generic.
When you are producing content focusing on quality, you are targeting a more specific audience. This allows you to tailor your content to appeal to that particular audience and their expectations.
Reliability and Trust
Because content production in large amounts is usually carried out quickly, the value of content often ends up being subpar. You also risk spreading misinformation due to the lack of proper research on the subject matter. This ultimately leads your audience to distrust you and perceive you as an unreliable source of information.
Brand Reputation
Once you are perceived as an unreliable source of information, it can damage your reputation. If you decide to focus on quantity from the start and churn out low-quality content, your image and branding suffer. It is very difficult to establish your brand as an authority and a leader in your field when you are constantly publishing content that proves otherwise.
User Experience
One thing many marketers seem to overlook when arguing for or against quantity or quality is customer experience. Poor user experience can lead to dissatisfied customers and reduce customer loyalty. When you publish a lot of high-quality content on your blog, you are able to educate your audience while driving traffic to your website. On the other hand, content that’s full of misinformation does the opposite.
Available Resource
Some marketers argue that producing more but lower-quality content is cheaper than producing fewer but higher-quality blogs. Others claim they cost about the same. For us, it’s better to look at costs on a case-by-case basis instead of making generalizations.
As you can see, there are many nuances that should be considered in the “Quantity vs. Quality” debate. However, it is undeniable that quality should always come first. Imagine a situation where a potential customer of yours needs help writing a research paper. If they find a high-quality piece of content from you on a related topic, they will be more likely to use your services than they would if they came across multiple poorly written pieces.
How To Focus on Quality
So, how exactly should you focus on quality in your content marketing? Here are some tips and general practices to follow:
Make Purposeful Content
Every piece of content you create needs purpose. Content is intended to entertain and inform – or both. Once you have determined your content’s intent, it helps you get rid of fluff and provide maximum value.
Understand Context and Targeting
Context and targeting are also important. The context of your content is everything related to it (e.g., type of content, your niche, the topic, the platform where it is published, etc.). The context of your content helps you situate it correctly and present it in an appropriate way to your audience.
Likewise, targeting is about who this audience consists of. As mentioned earlier, high-quality content usually aims to reach a narrower, more targeted audience. To do so, you need to have a good understanding of who your readers, viewers and followers are and what they want and need from your content.
Improve Production Value
Start with such basic things, like formatting your content into paragraphs and sections, adding quotes, including links and so on. Then, pair the piece with another type of content. For example, an article or blog post will benefit from visuals like images or infographics. Speaking of visuals, you can use free programs like Canva to create them while making them look like content made by professionals.
Do Proper Research and Use Data
It’s a good idea to use data throughout your content. When you have done all the research, you know the topic at its core. This knowledge allows you to deliver valuable content to your audience in the most creative way possible. Considering how important it is to stand out in content marketing, making your content unique will play a critical role in capturing the attention of your audience. Moreover, when you use data, you add value to your content. The links you include in the sources also help you further improve your search engine optimization (SEO).
Balance Quality With Quantity
If you are able to create high-quality content in bulk, then it’s a good idea to maximize your resources. However, if you don’t have the capacity to take this route, you can repurpose or recycle your old content. You can update it or use ideas from it to create new content. You can also curate existing content (such as industry content and user-generated content) on social media and other platforms.
Conclusion
To sum up, your content marketing strategy will be much stronger if you start prioritizing quality over quantity. That said, you can balance quality with quantity by being creative and maximizing whatever resources you have available.
