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After I get done hammering today’s Main Thing and the Wrap-Up section, I’m headed for a little island called St. Simons off Georgia's coast. I’ll let you know how I like it compared to my usual “Mayberry by the Sea” vacay spot. 

Ok, the Main Thing story is not meant to trample all over content marketing strategies. Ok, it is. 

Still, I 100% know frameworks are valuable. It’s just that gurus act as though content marketing strategies cannot fail. I’ll prove otherwise with one simple example.

The Problem with Content Marketing Strategies

Believe it or not, I’ve come to like creative constraints over the years.

Constraints can keep you on task and actually sharpen your creative skills because you don’t wander into the weeds due to having a hundred options available.

However, the problems start when constraints are based on what “this week’s hottest guru” says works best.

The idea is - just do what some other content creator is doing. Do it the same way. Use the same type of outline, similar buzzwords, hold your head the same way they do… and it becomes more ridiculous from there.

Wait, it gets worse. 

The worst constraint is only using content marketing strategies that you know your audience loves (or will love, based on other content they consume). 

Why is this the worst content strategy? 

For one, it’s turning the entire internet into an unoriginal cookie-cutter factory that’s as enjoyable as scurvy. Everything sucks because hardly anything stands out.

It’s why, when a brand does try to be different, like Liquid Death, it’s heralded as genius! All that brand did is avoid looking, acting, or sounding like every other cookie-cutter flavored water brand on the planet.

Two…

How do you truly know what your audience wants?

It’s insane to me that a content marketing strategy should revolve solely around what an audience wants.

As if an audience is a single entity. Ever seen a group of people try to agree on where to eat? It’s a lot of random opinions, right? 

Yet, content creators are supposed to believe their audience has come to a consensus about the ideal articles, videos, and audio content they ALL want?

It’s ridiculous.

There’s no guarantee this will work. Worse, it makes creating content a real slow process because whatever’s inside the creator doesn’t get unleashed. 

Instead, they feel compelled to force something into creation that they’ve got little motivation to make.

Pretty poor content marketing strategy in my book. Now, I could point out a prime example of how fool-hearty using cookie-cutter frameworks is by going back to MrBeast’s buddy failing as a YouTuber.

Failing despite using MrBeast’s exact framework. Despite having MrBeast guiding the friend step-by-step in the content strategy.

Nope, that example, I’ve used before. So, I’ll use this one…

Music Artists that Make Fans Sob

Have you ever seen fans cry like babies at a concert? Ever seen them scream like they need to be fitted for a straight jacket? It happens all the time when fans get to see their favorite music artist live.

I saw it with old footage of The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis, and no doubt it happens with Beyonce and Taylor Swift these days. 

Now, ask yourself this. 

Could any of those wailing fans have told the singers what kind of songs they should create so they could feel the highest levels of emotions?

Could a fan give T. Swift an outline for some new lyrics that would move the fan to tears? Could a record exec give Beyonce such an outline? Could an entire stadium of fans form a committee to give these ladies great ideas for new songs? Hell no. 

Artists are creative. They shouldn’t need guidance from their fans on how or what to create.

Content creators are artists. The only difference between them and the noted music stars is the size of their bank accounts. 

The moral of the story, folks, is to use constraints wisely. And don’t let content marketing strategies become shackles that limit your potential. 

To close this out, here are some content frameworks, each with a flaw to be aware of when using them.

5 Content Strategies

1. Blogging Strategy - While blogs can establish authority, their effectiveness is diminished by oversaturation in many industries, making it hard to stand out among countless articles published daily.

2. Video Content Marketing - Though highly engaging, video production requires lots of resources (time, equipment, expertise) that many small businesses struggle to maintain consistently, leading to abandoned channels and sporadic posting.

3. Social Media Content Calendar - While organizing content in advance seems efficient, rigid calendars can fail to accommodate real-time trends and conversations, making brands appear tone-deaf when they stick to pre-planned content during major events.

4. Email Newsletter Campaigns - Despite high ROI potential, this strategy suffers from inbox fatigue, with declining open rates as subscribers become overwhelmed by the volume of marketing emails.

5. User-Generated Content Programs - While authentic and cost-effective, UGC campaigns can backfire when brands lose control of the narrative, potentially attracting negative or off-brand content that requires damage control.

Wrap-Up is coming up (I went heavy with YouTube Shorts today - enjoy)

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Please share Inbox Hacking with a fellow marketing genius or business owner. I appreciate you reading and sharing. 

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea. ~David Ogilvy