Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

In January, I wrote a post called Content Shock which explained that we are entering a new phase in the evolution of content-based marketing. There are primarily two dynamics driving this change:

The amount of content on the web is literally exploding. By 2020, the amount of web-based information (most of it consumer-driven) is expected to increase by 600%. Think about that for a moment. If you can imagine the vastness of the Internet today, in six years we will have six of those.

Today an average American spends about 10 hours a day consuming content, a number that has risen steadily year by year. But there is a threshold to the amount of attention we will be able to devote to content, which will further challenge a marketer’s ability to get messages through to their audience and stakeholders.

I wrote about a third factor — the development of advanced content filters — as another emerging issue that will make it harder to get our content to emerge as the signal instead of the noise.

My conclusion was that these pressures are bound to thin the herd. Content marketing as we know it will not be a sustainable strategy for some businesses, and it will become more difficult and expensive for almost all of us.

How do we break through this information density and win in a hyper-competitive content market?...

Here are brief descriptions of 10 possible strategies to break through....

What was the inspiration for your book?
Every day I work with brands who are desperately working so hard to get their content viewed and shared. It seems like everything is working against us. Intense competition, higher marketing costs, lower organic reach.

We need alternatives and new ideas. What do we do about it? This is the question I have been obsessed with for the last year. I think I have found the answer in six simple strategies that are accessible to any person or business.