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Rethinking Content Marketing Incentives to Improve the Internet
“To make marketing that doesn’t suck.”
I can’t tell if this phrase had imprinted itself into my mind, or if it was an original thought — if there is such a thing — when I was thinking about the future of my business. Then again, this sort of thing is what content marketers do best. We tell ourselves that we’re not doing marketing, that we’re better than “traditional” kinds of marketing. As if, “to make marketing that doesn’t suck” was an aspirational goal. Well, in a field that most people hate, at least it’s an honest one.
The opening phrase comes up often in this article, where the journalist portrays a struggling writer investigating a content marketing conference. The truth is, it’s much easier to become a content marketer than a journalist. You can provide for yourself. You don’t have to write three articles a day at some content farm. I had the pleasure of doing that for a few months as a staff writer, and my writing literally turned into crap. Plus, I’m glad I didn’t turn into a self-righteous struggling writer, like the author portrays in this fun article where he investigates a content marketing conference. An excerpt:
“The S.W. considers that the void Handley speaks of is in part the result of journalism’s collapse. In the absence of stories told by humans to communicate about…
