Article: Content marketing: We’re all soaking in it!

It’s hard to argue with the idea that we are surrounded by more content than ever. Much of it is pushed into market at speed, often helped by automation, and often with too little thought given to whether it is genuinely useful, relevant, or worth someone’s attention – that’s the central problem.

Content marketing is often defined by its intent to create valuable, relevant, and consistent material that attracts and retains an audience. In principle, that’s sound. In practice, too much content falls short on the very qualities meant to justify it.

The issue is not only quality. It is also frequency.

Even good content can be overdone. Poor content, or overly repetitive content, is resisted far more quickly. And once audiences begin to feel crowded, interrupted, or talked at, brand perception usually suffers.

That’s why customer experience matters here. Content is not separate from brand experience; it’s one expression of it. If a brand communicates in ways that feel shallow, excessive, or poorly judged, that leaves an impression – and not a helpful one.

The technology surrounding marketing continues to evolve at speed. AI, automation, analytics, personalisation, and programmatic systems all have their place. But the human audience at the other end has not changed nearly as quickly. People still respond to relevance, interest, clarity, timing, and creative quality. They still ignore what feels repetitive, generic, or unhelpful.

Research into advertising clutter has reinforced this for years: when audiences are exposed to more, they often remember less. In crowded environments, likeability and strong creative execution become even more important. When content is less cluttered, brands are more likely to be recognised and remembered.

So for me, the lesson is fairly simple – content marketing is not a volume game alone. It is a judgement game.

The task is not just to produce more, but to produce better – and to understand how much is enough. Done well, content can build trust, interest, and recognition over time. Done poorly, it simply adds to the noise.

The aim should be to create content people are more willing to engage with – and less inclined to resist.