CONTENT STRATEGY: WHY YOUR BUSINESS DOESN'T NEED MORE CONTENT | SCHPARKLY
YOU DON'T NEED MORE CONTENT. YOU NEED SOMETHING WORTH SAYING.
There is a lot of content in the world. An astonishing amount of it, actually.
Every day brings another LinkedIn post, another “5 things you need to know”, another blog about the importance of writing blogs. And now that AI can produce 800 perfectly serviceable words before you've finished your coffee, the supply isn't exactly going to dry up.
So perhaps the question isn't: “How do we create more content?”
Maybe it's more like: “What is actually worth saying?”
Those are two very different questions.
THE INTERNET HAS ENOUGH CONTENT
Most business content doesn't fail because it's badly written. It fails because it isn't compelling, or telling a story.
It's technically correct. Nicely formatted. Search-engine optimised. Full of useful information. And utterly forgettable.
Nobody wakes up thinking, I really hope a company posts another five tips about improving my brand strategy today.
People pay attention when something gives them a reason to. A new idea, useful insight, strong opinion, story they recognise, a question they hadn't thought to ask, or something that makes them laugh, nod, disagree, reconsider or send it to someone else with the words, “This is exactly what I've been trying to say.”
That's the stuff with a pulse.
YOUR BUSINESS PROBABLY HAS MORE TO SAY THAN YOU REALISE
This is something we see all the time...
A founder has spent 15+ years becoming exceptionally good at something. An SME has grown into a completely different business from the one it started as. A specialist team has accumulated hundreds of customer conversations, lessons and opinions.
And yet the public-facing content says very little of it.
Why?
Because expertise and communication are different skills.
You can know your subject inside out and still have no idea what your audience needs to hear from you. You might have a hundred things you could talk about.
That doesn't mean you should.
The real work is deciding which ones matter.
START WITH THE BUSINESS, NOT THE CONTENT CALENDAR
Before deciding what to publish, look around and ask these questions:
What's changed in the business?
Have you entered a new market? Developed a new product? Started attracting a different type of customer? Learned something that changed the way you work?
What keeps coming up in sales conversations?
What do customers misunderstand?
What questions do people ask again and again?
What do you know that your competitors aren't talking about?
What do you have a strong opinion about?
What does your audience actually need from you?
These questions tend to produce much better material than staring at a blank content calendar and deciding you need something for Thursday.
FIND THE STORY
A good idea isn't necessarily a subject.
“Desalination.”
“Veterinary care.”
“Cybersecurity.”
“Brand strategy.”
Those are subjects.
The interesting bit is the story hiding inside them.
What's changing?
What's broken?
What's surprising?
What have you learned?
What are people getting wrong?
What do you believe?
What would you say if you weren't trying to sound like everyone else in your industry?
That's where a subject becomes a point of view. And point of view is what makes content memorable.
CONTENT STRATEGY VS CONTENT CREATION
This distinction matters.
Content creation is making the thing.
Content strategy is deciding what deserves to be made, who it's for, what job it needs to do and where it fits into the bigger picture.
You can create excellent content with no strategy whatsoever.
You can also have a brilliant strategy and execute it badly.
The sweet spot is both.
That's particularly important for growing businesses because content shouldn't exist in isolation from the brand.
Your website, LinkedIn presence, sales materials, thought leadership, newsletters and campaigns should all feel like they're coming from the same intelligent, recognisable business.
Not because everything needs to look identical. Because everything needs to make sense together.
ONE GOOD IDEA SHOULD WORK HARDER THAN ONCE
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is treating every piece of content as a separate event...
A blog over here, a LinkedIn post over there, a newsletter when someone remembers, or a presentation when the sales team asks for one.
Instead, think about the idea first. One genuinely good idea might become a long-form article that explores the subject properly. It might become a shorter newsletter that introduces the argument, a personal LinkedIn post with a stronger point of view, a carousel that makes the idea visual, a customer story, a presentation slide, a sales conversation, or part of a campaign.
The point isn't to copy and paste the same thing everywhere (and please don't because SEO is going to ding you for it)...It's to find the right expression for the right audience and the right moment.
One good idea should work much harder than once.
AND THEN THERE'S AI
Let's not pretend AI isn't changing the game.
It is.
It can help generate ideas, interrogate an argument, organise information, suggest structures and turn a rough thought into a first draft remarkably quickly.
That's useful.
We use it too.
AI has made producing content easier but it hasn't made knowing what is worth saying any easier.
In fact, when everyone can generate competent content almost instantly, competent content becomes less interesting or fades into the sea of information (we can only take so much in).
The scarce resource isn't words. It's discernment.
Knowing when there's an idea worth pursuing.
Knowing when there isn't.
Knowing which detail matters.
Knowing what to leave out.
Knowing when the copy needs to be sharper, stranger, warmer, simpler or louder.
And knowing when something is technically good but completely dead on arrival.
That's the human bit.
And it's becoming rather important...critical in fact.
WHAT MAKES CONTENT WORTH PUBLISHING?
There isn't a magic formula, but we like to ask a few questions.
Does it have a point of view?
If it could have been written by absolutely anyone in your industry, it probably needs something more.
Does it tell us something useful or surprising?
Not every piece needs to reinvent the wheel. But it should give the reader a reason to keep going.
Does it sound like you?
Your expertise is part of your brand. Your content shouldn't sand all of the personality off it.
Does it matter to the audience?
This is the big one, the numero uno to ask yourself.... What you find fascinating isn't automatically what your customer needs to hear. We say this on repeat time and again: What appeals to you may not be what appeals to your target audience.
Does it support the business?
Content doesn't exist in a vacuum. It should contribute to something... awareness, trust, authority, consideration, conversion, loyalty or simply a better understanding of what you do.
Would you want to read it?
A surprisingly useful test...and if the answer is no, don't publish it just because the content calendar says Tuesday.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU CREATE?
Start with the business, find the interesting thing, give it a point of view, and work out why your audience should care.
Then decide what format will give the idea its best chance of landing.
Don't assume every idea needs to become a blog post. Some belong on LinkedIn. Some in a presentation or campaign... and some should stay in the meeting room because, frankly, they aren't up to snuff.
Good content isn't about saying more. It's about saying something that matters.
If your business has grown, changed or become more ambitious, there's a good chance your story has changed too.
Sometimes the content problem is actually a brand problem, a strategy problem; or you simply need someone outside the business to hear what you're saying and point out the interesting bit you've stopped noticing.
That's the work we love.
Finding the idea. Shaping it. Giving it a voice. Then turning it into something people actually want to see. We call it 'the discerning eye.'
And the next time you're staring at your content calendar wondering what on earth you're supposed to post this week, perhaps don't start with the calendar.
Start with the business. There's probably something worth saying in there.