Content Without Context is Useless

As a content marketer, I face the challenge every day of creating fresh new content that grabs the attention of my clients’ target audiences to propel their businesses forward. With the easy-to-use content management systems available today, anyone with an idea (novel or not) can publish a blog or create a website. This, dear friends, creates content overload. Try googling “crockpot recipes.” 23,400,000 results. Now try “workout programs.” 27,800,000 results. And those numbers will probably be higher by the time this article is published and you read it! Content is being created at a faster rate than ever before, so if you decide to publish content and want it to be noticed, let’s just say it better be good.

The key to delivering remarkable content that is informative and enjoyable for your audience is making sure that it’s received in the correct context. The correct context means providing relevant information to the right person at the right time in the form in which he or she wants to receive it. For example, you probably wouldn’t want to send a makeup tutorial to a man or an article about the “7 Benefits of Apartment Living” to a family who just bought their second home. No matter how well-produced or well-written your content is, it will be considered useless when delivered out of context.

When you sit down to produce a new piece of content, answer each of these questions to ensure that what you’re about to write will be in context.

• Who am I writing this for?
• What do they want from this article?
• What do I hope to get from them reading this article?
• How will my content get visibility?

In an effort to practice what I preach, I answered those questions before beginning to write this article. Here are my answers:

Who am I writing this for?

I’m writing this blog article for people who are tasked with creating and sharing content on behalf of a business. This includes small business owners, copywriters, bloggers, and content strategists.

What do they want from this article?

When those small business owners, copywriters, bloggers, and content strategists read this article, they are hoping to learn how to create and share content that is in the correct context to appeal to their target audience. By creating this content, they hope to increase awareness and engagement with their brand and/or sales.

What do I hope to get from them reading this article?

I hope that by reading this article, those small business owners, copywriters, bloggers, and content strategists feel equipped to start creating remarkable content with context. I also hope that they view me as a thought leader and expert in the content marketing field, and perhaps feel compelled to inquire about how I can help them develop their content strategy.

How will my content get visibility?

I will share this article on Xponent21’s social media profiles and my own professional social media profiles. I will also ask my colleagues to share this article with their social media networks. I could also find a related article by a different author and ask them to link to my article.

Without context, the content you create will not have its maximum possible impact on your audience. Producing quality content requires a substantial chunk of your time, so it’s definitely worth the few extra minutes it takes to tailor your content to the correct context. Someone else has most likely already produced a similar piece (especially if it’s a crockpot recipe or information about a workout program), so by making sure that your content is delivered in context, you position your piece to outperform your competitors’.

Olivia Deputy is the Director of Content Marketing at Xponent21. Our company engineers digital experiences that delight, drive revenue, and increase operational efficiency. If you want a knowledgeable and reliable partner to help you create content with context, reach out to us.