Stop Burning Cash on Content

“Ok, let’s do some content,” says someone. Cue the posting of blogs, filling of social calendars and scheduling of emails… and the eventual gnashing of teeth (usually by the FD) as most of it is just noise - and expensive noise at that.

Like all worthwhile things in life, you get out what you put in. If you treat content as something you churn out to look active, rather than something built to move people closer to buying, the result is a lot of activity and very little traction.

Probably the best example is the endless parade of generic blogs: “10 Tips for X,” “Why Y Matters.” They rarely rank, hardly resonate and disappear into the internet void. Or the “thought leadership” posts that are more ego than insight. Nobody wakes up thinking, “I really hope a brand publishes another 800-word press release in disguise today.”

And I’m not judging, as I’ve written more than my fair share of those over the years!

What works is content with intent. That means understanding the exact questions your audience is asking and answering them better than anyone else. It means mapping content to stages of the buying journey - awareness, consideration, decision - rather than spraying and praying.

Once you have this, content creation is actually the easy part. You know what to create and why. Without doubt the hardest part is understanding your customers to the level of tapping into their emotional need – but we’ll cover how best to do that in another Field Notes.

Success also means sweating distribution – without it, creation is wasted effort, but distribution without quality is worse. People are drowning in mediocre – think about your own experiences when a brand hits you with something useful, entertaining, or genuinely valuable, they stand out.

The tragedy is brands often do have great stories to tell - about their customers, their products, their vision. But those stories get buried under generic filler because no one stopped to ask: “What’s this piece for? Who does it help? What’s the action we want after it?”

The difference between content that burns cash and content that builds brands is discipline. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing less, better and with purpose.

If you’re spending time and money on content, but can’t point to its commercial impact, you’re not ‘doing content’ you’re pouring champagne down the sink. It’s expensive, a waste of time and no one’s even had a drink.