93% of B2B marketers use content marketing.  However, less than half (42%) of B2B marketers say that they are effective at content marketing.  One of the reasons these marketers are ineffective: bad content.

All content is not created equal.  There is good content.  There is bad content.  Good content drives profitable customer action.  Bad content does not drive profitable customer action.

You need good content.

What is good content?  Here are 3 elements of good content:

1.  Good content is original

Good content is content that is unique.  It is not content that is copied and pasted.  It is not regurgitated content.  Not only is original content SEO friendly, original content is customer-friendly.  70% of consumers prefer to get to know a company through original articles.

2.  Good content stands out

There are more than 27 million pieces of content shared each day.  If you want your content to get lost, create bad content.  If you want content that stands out you need content that differs from that of the rest of the pack.  You can make content stand out by using winning headlines, graphics, images, infographics, and with great writing.

3.  Good content attracts and engages current and prospective customers

Every single piece of content that makes it onto your website and blog needs to be content that is created with your current and prospective customers in mind.

Content that attracts and engages is not a sales pitch.  Rather, it is content that communicates valuable information to customers and prospects so that they have the knowledge to make better informed decisions.  Moreover, it is content that establishes your business as a reliable source of knowledge – as the thought-leader within the industry.

Good content excites customers and prospects and makes them want to reach out to you.

You get what you pay for

Content creation takes time.  However, time is often hard to come by.  69% of content marketers feel a lack of time is their greatest challenge.  Moreover, almost 50% of marketers struggle with producing enough content, and producing content that engages.

Faced with constraints of time and volume, quality often takes a hit.  In some cases the company itself creates and distributes content of poor quality.  In other cases, the company chooses to outsource content creation, but does not do their due diligence with respect to the outsource partner and the quality of content that is created.

Good content is not inexpensive.  That being said, good content is worth its weight in gold.  This is not something I just say, this is something I know.  I gave several low cost content options a try.

I began by conducting a search for companies that offered low-cost content (content that costs less than $20 per blog post).  I then narrowed the field down even more by researching which of these companies had the highest rankings and customer satisfaction rates.  I then selected two companies and decided to give it a go.

The results were dismal.  The content was not good content.

If you want content that is good content and will drive profitable results you need to invest.  You need to either invest in someone in-house, or you need to conduct your due diligence and find an outsource partner that can create good content for your company.

Interested in learning more about content?  Check out these articles:

• Why content is king and your business should take an oath of alliance to the kingdom
• Content is king, but distribution is queen and she wears the pants
• When it comes to content you don’t need to go it alone: what to consider when outsourcing content
• Grow your business with content: 12 steps to a content strategy that will drive profitable customer action

Or simply, 

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