Some things we know to be bad as soon as we encounter them, like spoiled milk. But classifying content marketing as “good” or “bad” is a much more nuanced situation. Sometimes it comes down to luck; bad content can get results; good content can languish unnoticed.

Here are some examples of good content and bad content, and 7 characteristics all good content has.

If your tech startup is at the stage where you’re seriously considering hiring either a full-time content strategist or a contractor / freelance content strategist, you’ve reached an exciting and pivotal time in your company growth.

You’ve probably realized that:

“I’ll get to marketing when everything else is in place,” you think. “We’re a technical company. The product itself is enough enticement. We want to acquire more users, so we need to focus on releasing and sharing more features.”

My friend, come sit and let me tell you with all kindness and your best interest in mind and let me tell you how wrong you are.

My sense of technical whizzes is that they approach things in very straightforward terms: There is a problem and I will solve it with technology. It will work and people will want it. Technical whizzes don’t have to be fantastic marketers OR marketing writers themselves, but they need an appreciation for why marketing and writing skills are so important to their startup. And that requires a slight shift in thinking.

Hero copy (aka the headline and subtitle at the very top of your website) is always the hardest ±10 words you or any copywriter will write. How do you condense the essence of your brand into a short headline that also intrigues people enough to ultimately become your customer?

Creating a content calendar requires forethought and dedicated planning time every month, quarter, and year, but as you’ll see, it will pay off handsomely.