5 Reasons Your Content Stinks

Only 6% of B2B marketers say they're "sophisticated" content marketers, according to Content Marketing Institute.

The rest worry their content stinks.

Content can stink for 5 reasons, says Alicia Esposito of Content4Demand:

Your copy stinks. Is your copy clear, concise and captivating? Or foggy, flowery and forgettable? I often see content marketing misfires mostly attributable to poor writing. The substance is great; how it's conveyed, anything but.

Your design stinks. Is your content engaging? Or merely an eyesore? Don't underestimate the importance layout, colors and images have in lead generation.

Your promotion stinks. You can’t just hit "publish" and expect leads. "Content needs to be supported by a multi-channel promotional strategy that includes email, social, digital advertising and other tactics," Esposito says.

Your choice of channels stinks. You also have to pick the right channels to amplify your content. Maybe your target audience prefers LinkedIn over Twitter, or your industry's trade magazine over The Wall Street Journal. "It’s not just about promoting your content to as many people as possible," Esposito says, "it’s about promoting your content to the right people."

Your UX stinks. Is your content swiftly and easily navigated? Or do you often send audiences down a rabbit hole? Don't let things like misleading images, hidden calls to action, and broken links frustrate prospects.

Before you rip and replace your content, figure out why it stinks.

"There are a lot of factors that influence your content’s results," Esposito says, "and there are a few questions you can ask to ensure you’ve covered all your bases before you go back to the drawing board."

Beware of Geeks Bearing GIFs

Designers call it “Greek," but of course it's Latin.

Lorem Ipsum has served as designers' "dummy copy" since 1500, when a printer scrambled a page from Cicero's essay, “On the Extremes of Good and Evil,” to create a type-specimen book.

Lorem Ipsum distracts you from reading while you examine a layout.

But why Cicero?

As the most lauded of Roman rhetoricians, Cicero's works represent the pinnacle of prose in Latin. 

The passage the printer took to create Lorem Ipsum says:

Nor is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.

(In brief, "no one likes pain without gain.")

Need to use Lorem Ipsum?

It's easy.

In Word, type =lorem() and press enter.

For a change of pace, you can also use another thinker's scrambled works as dummy copy by visiting Nietzsche Ipsum.

Also Sprach Mighty Copywriter.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

The Ocean State's marketing captain has been fired by the governor for sinking 10% of the state's $4.5 million budget into a new logo.

Betsy Wall paid famed designer Milton Glaser $400,000 for his work. She poured another $150,000 into logo pre-tests.

Glaser's tab included the tagline Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer, which the governor has also deep-sixed.

Glaser, the power behind the Dylan Poster and I Love New York, seemed the right man for the job—until media scrutiny took the wind out of his client's sails.

Wall's spending spree hit the front page of The Providence Journal and put the governor on treacherous seas.

"It is unacceptable how many mistakes were made in this roll-out, and we need to hold people accountable because Rhode Islanders deserve better," the governor told the paper.

The day before she was fired, Wall told Adweek she wanted to make a splash with Glaser.

"The Milton Glaser art, that is not your typical state logo," Wall told Adweek. "If you look at what other states have on their websites, it isn't usually true art like that, it isn't usually so thought provoking and inspiring. I can't think of another state, besides obviously New York, that would think to bring in somebody like Milton Glaser."

The storm's just politics, in my book.

In the early 1980s, I spent $450,000 for my employer's new logo.

No one lost her job.

Decades later, a version is still in use.