I’m a diver. I learned early on that scuba is a great fit for me—the less effort you expend, the longer your air lasts and the more you get to see. You get rewarded for taking it easy.

Probably controversially, I feel the same way about content marketing. As the dead internet theory moves from conspiracy theory to fact, with bots edging out human internet activity, I believe the drive to create more, more, more content should take a backseat to creating ever-more relevant, high-quality content.

This post, for example, exists because we know too many small marketing departments that feel pressured to continually feed the beast, and we want to give you permission to slow down.

From Instacart’s massive AI-generated food imagery fail featuring conjoined roast chicken and salmon-textured lemon to articles written entirely for search engines, the drive for nonstop content generation loses sight of the real goal (assuming that you’re a marketer who genuinely wants to connect with audiences).

Rather than adding to the noise, what can you do?

Take the time to create content your audiences want

Find out who you’re talking to. Learn about their pain points. And if you promise to answer a question, deliver. (This post, for example, exists because we know too many small marketing departments that feel pressured to continually feed the beast, and we want to give you permission to slow down.) Now that you’ve got a little more time to focus, put your content through a proper quality assurance process, so you don’t wind up publishing recipes that don’t work or rushing out shallow posts that turn people off. Or spend more time getting to know what your audiences want.

Even if you have the resources to produce shedloads of content, that doesn’t mean you should. You can be pickier about what you put out there, without worrying about overwhelming your targets.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

Do you need new content for every prospect email campaign? Probably not. This year’s list hasn’t seen it—or if they have, they certainly don’t remember. Even better, given the world’s naturally low open rates, sending the same email twice, maybe two weeks apart with different subject lines, is efficient and smart. (However, as we’ve mentioned before, it’s not an opportunity to chastise people for not opening your previous sends.)

Apply this thinking to blog and social content, too. You’ll see FATFREE repost blog articles when we think a topic is especially newsworthy or changes in the industry require an update. If it’s helpful for your audiences, why keep it hidden?

Help people do something, not just read something

Create with intent and give people something in return for their reading—a checklist. Survey results. An invitation to help solve their challenges. Before you publish, critique your own work. Would you be happy that you spent time reading or watching or listening to that?

Sure, content is some high-ranking member of the royal family. No doubt about it. But how much is too much? In the constant drive for “more,” will you ever pump out enough? And what will you lose along the way? Smart content marketing is about sticking to a thoughtful, goal-focused plan and moving slowly enough to make sure you’re not missing anything—much like a great dive. Talk to FATFREE about getting the balance right.