Why You Need to “Fatten” Up Your Content Marketing in 2015

You know it’s the end of the year when marketers start publishing their “best of” posts for the previous year and “predictions” posts for the coming year. This year is no different. I’ve already stocked my Pocket account with some juicy reads for when the kids are totally occupied with their new Lego Indiana Jones 2 (shh – don’t tell them).

But I didn’t put off going through Content Marketing Institute’s 60 Content Predictions for 2015. CMI always gathers insight from a wide breadth of voices on what works – and doesn’t – in terms of content.

While there were tons of interesting ideas for the coming year in content, this mention of “fat” content caught my eye.

‘Fat’ content will become the focus of marketers everywhere. —Jesse Noyes, Senior Director of Content Marketing, Kapost

Of all the predictions in CMI’s round up, this is the one that resonated with me the most – particularly in light of what we’ve seen with our B2B clients. Fat content – white papers, ebooks and resource guides – is essential for your 2015 content marketing plans.

Here’s why:

1. Fat content attracts the right audience.

   You’re publishing with a purpose. You want to establish familiarity, make a case for your product/service and educate your target audience on the value of what you do. You want to show that your company’s solutions are worth an investment of time and budget.

   Why not focus on the audience that can make those kind of purchasing decisions? Multiple studies have shown that fat content, like white papers, is the type of content that decisions makers want to read, and feel comfortable sharing with higher level executives. Entertaining and funny content may garner mass appeal, but a fat, data-rich content piece is just what decision makers need to make a case for buying from you.

2. Fat content reveals your competitive advantage.

   There’s only so much space in a social media update or a blog post. You can’t dive deep into what makes your company or offerings unique, and why decision makers need to work with you. Your emphasis is on being concise and entertaining – particularly with social media content.

   Fat content gives you the bandwidth to fully explain your point of view and make a case for your solution. With the average white paper coming in at 5 to 7 pages, this is plenty of space to differentiate your company from competitors. In fact, you can create a resource that highlights your competitive advantage (like technology or experience in your market) while still functioning as a quality resource for your audience.

3. Fat content fuels your content marketing engine.

   It’s become clearer that successful content marketing should be process-oriented rather than campaign-oriented. That means that rather than creating content for specific campaigns, content creation should be an ongoing part of your marketing activities. Consistent blogging and social media activity can be challenging – but not if you focus on creating fat content first.

   With fat content, you’re developing a resource that can be broken up and repurposed across multiple channels. Each white paper or ebook you develop can be the foundation for weeks of blog and social media content. Developing fat content can help you stay consistent with content marketing and utilize monthly or quarterly themes that make the case for your company.

It’s time to get fat – who’s ready?