When it's bad, it's really bad.
Good content marketers are publishers.
By way of example, consider the blog post "Say 'So Long' to Silos" (from e-learning provider Cornerstone).
The post's author immediately lets readers (HR managers) know she's trustworthy, by acknowledging that, in truth, silos are natural, inevitable outgrowths of any organization. She goes on to list the costs silos impose (low productivity, high turnover, etc.), and offers tips for curbing those costs. She closes promising more tips in a follow-on post.
Good content marketers have learned to be publishers―a necessity in today's digital-first marketplace.
Bad content marketers are joke taxidermists.
Bad content marketers stuff their content with feature-talk, keywords and dubious links, barely departing from old-school advertising.
By way of example, consider the blog post "How to Organize Your Docebo LMS Users for More Targeted Learning" (from e-learning provider Docebo).
Without a beat, the post's author plunges into feature-talk. He tells readers they can build an organizational chart with his company's software, but not how; and devotes the rest of the post to a bulleted list of more features, linking every item to a page on his company's website. He closes by telling readers to "Start your free trial."
Bad content like this isn't only a throwback to interruption marketing; it's an eye-sore.
