Web Design Blog

Content specialists could be worth the cost say advertising gurus

Would you want your plumber to fix your car? Probably not, yet companies are quite happy to hand over content production to software specialists and are in danger of jeopardising customer experience as a result say marketing experts.

The British Interactive Media Association met at the end of February and that was the key message from their conference.

Google’s recent changes in emphasis have pushed high quality content up the marketing agenda. The rush to social media means that every company is expected to produce engaging, entertaining and informative content across a range of platforms.

The Content Marketing Association published research last June that found that content production made up 21% of overall marketing budgets and 73% of respondents expected that to grow or stay steady in 2013.

Now, it could be argued that both these organisations have a stake in pushing businesses to invest in content production – after all, it’s what they sell. However, even experts outside this speciality seemed to agree.

John Webb is from Rackspace, the hosting company, and as a former marketer at Rockstar Games – the people behind Grand Theft Auto – he should know a little about headline creating content.

He argued that the sheer amount of content available is making consumers resistant to its charms. Anyone who spends more than a few minutes a day on, say, Facebook is going to be hit with dozens of marketing messages. Therefore, argues Webb, it’s vital that what you produce is high quality.

“Famous – ideally infamous – content,” was how Webb put it. That may work for a company like Rockstar, which thrives on its rebel image, but won’t be an appropriate approach for everyone. However, if you think about the content that works well, and goes viral on social media, it’s clear that funny, interesting content can go a long way. Webb warned that too many businesses are relying on the people who set up and run the technical side of social media and web marketing to find the content too.

Webb likens that to ‘the lunatics taking over the asylum’, and suggests finding ex-journalists who have an eye for a story to run content strategies.

At Toolkit, we keep a close eye on what Google does so we can advise on how best to organise your site and social media efforts. We also recognise that specialists can provide the best quality content, so have a deal with The Copywriting Agency, which allows our clients access to the best writers at greatly reduced rates.