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Content, Simplified is a weekly newsletter for marketers and CEOs who urgently need to do better than churning out content that doesn’t connect to revenue.
This is the right place for you if you are missing clear strategy, frameworks for making decisions quickly, and an operation that supports high-quality production.
Join 2200 content marketers who actually look forward to a weekly strategy email.
What you'll get
- One practical, no-nonsense read each week.
- Insights on content strategy, differentiation, distribution, and content operations.
- Explanations of content concepts that are so clear you’ll wonder why it ever felt hard.
- Insights and ideas that move your program forward.
Why not check out a few recent issues?
Content, Simplified
How I stopped writing boring content (by finding the right, unique angle)
Hello –
I spent years writing content that was technically fine. It was well-researched, grammatically flawless, with good logic and flow.
And then I’d go back and read it a few weeks later and feel nothing. It had no spark, no point of view, no reason for anyone to care. And once we saw the engagement metrics were poor (traffic, time on page) the whole situation felt even worse as a young writer.
I’m a trained writer. The problem wasn’t the writing itself.
It was the angle.
And in a world where every brand is trying to differentiate their content, this is crucial
Content, Simplified
Why you need a culture of content (and how to build it)
Hello –
A few years ago, I walked into my first day as head of content at a large ($100M) B2B. There was a new marketing VP who needed help leveling-up (ie, fixing) the content program. The content calendar was running, but when I started digging, I found four different messaging frameworks in various SharePoint folders, three competing blog strategies, and a sales team that had no idea there was content they could use to close deals.
This happens more often than you’d think. And it points to a bigger problem: most companies don’t have a real culture of content.
Content, Simplified
Why to not use AI for content strategy and what to do instead
Hello –
A CMO I worked with recently used ChatGPT to build his content strategy. He uploaded their website, some competitor sites, their buyer personas, and a few customer call transcripts. Within minutes, he had a 35-page strategy document complete with content pillars, distribution channels, and a 12-month editorial calendar.
He asked me to take a look and “clean it up” so they could execute it, fully trusting that it was a good plan.
That’s the problem right there.
Content, Simplified
Your guide to understanding the costs of an effective content program
Hello –
Heads of marketing ask me all the time how they should budget for content marketing. (And most want it to cost much less than it does).
To this I say…you get what you pay for. You can choose AI and roll the dice, or you can invest in skilled human processes.
So here’s a straight answer: As a benchmark, on average, a small business may spend around $2,000-$6,000 per month on content marketing, while larger companies may spend $10,000-$50,000 or more per month.
Content, Simplified
Your imbalanced blog is hurting you. How to fix it?
Hello –
Last month I audited a client’s blog. They had 187 posts live on their site.
Want to guess how many were actual thought leadership or expertise-driven pieces? Four.
The rest were: “What is project management,” “Top 10 benefits of automation,” “A guide to remote work tools.” It was post after post defining basic concepts their buyers likely already understood.
When I asked why, the content manager said, “We needed to rank for these terms.” Fair enough, and that was a legit strategy several years ago. But fast forward to today, these posts weren’t ranking or bringing in leads. They were bringing in some traffic, but from people who weren’t ready to buy and probably never would be. (The content manager had come to be because traffic was declining.)