Summary: Sometimes, the obstacle isn’t hidden—it’s right there in the data. When your system throws up an error message like a JSON response warning about an insufficient account balance, there’s no story to extract, no narrative buried beneath jargon. And that’s the point. Not every text demands rewriting into prose. Understanding the difference between structured data and a marketable story is exactly the kind of clarity professionals need in the real world.
What Are You Actually Looking At?
When you encounter a JSON response such as this:
{
"error": "Insufficient account balance",
"code": 402
}
...you’re not reading a website article. You’re looking at a machine’s way of telling you something has gone wrong—bluntly, efficiently, without sugarcoating. That’s not a story. That’s a diagnostic.
Trying to squeeze a human-interest tale or informative blog piece from a simple transaction error is like trying to turn a car’s check engine light into a novel. It doesn’t work, because the purpose isn’t there. JSON is data meant for systems—not people. So what do we do with that?
The Difference Between Data and Narrative
Knowing when to turn something into a public-facing story and when to leave it as internal technical data is one of those business skills that often separates position-holders from decision-makers. One deals with the surface; the other decodes what matters—and what doesn’t belong on a blog in the first place.
If the raw material looks like an account warning and not a solution, you have two choices:
- Address the technical issue and move on.
- Or—if you're marketing—turn to a relevant story where a human response matters.
Anything else is just filling space with noise.
Don’t Dress Up a Dead End
This idea of turning everything into content is a trap. Not everything deserves airtime. Trying to craft educational or persuasive material from an "insufficient balance" warning accomplishes nothing for your audience or your firm. What would you even say? That not having credit is a journey? Nobody’s buying that, literally or figuratively.
Instead, use the clarity of this moment to inform your content rules: does the source have relevance, insight, and emotional or strategic value for your readers? If not, it’s not a story—it’s a log file. And no smart marketer reprints logs and calls it a blog post, not unless they’re out of ideas or chasing SEO ghosts.
When “No Content” Is the Right Content Decision
Saying "this isn't content" can be powerful. It shows judgment. It shows respect for your audience’s time. And it keeps your website from turning into a junk drawer of every scrap your CMS can ingest.
The refusal to force meaning into meaningless data preserves the authority of your brand. You're not trying to stretch weak material. You’re not trying to fake value. And that makes every time you do publish something weightier and more trusted.
But There’s a Way to Flip This
Even though the data itself isn’t usable, the experience it represents might be. What if you used the interruption—this JSON error—to educate your real audience about what such messages mean?
You could write a piece titled: “Why You’re Seeing ‘Insufficient Account Balance’ on Our API—and What to Do About It.”
That’s not content from the error itself—it’s content stemming from the confusion and frustration a user feels when it happens. Addressing that both confirms the suspicion they’re not sure what happened, and acknowledges the struggle of feeling technically lost. Now you’re offering value, not fluff.
The Standard to Hold
Let’s be clear: every piece of content must earn its right to exist. It must support either understanding, action, or identity. A generic API error output does neither unless recontextualized to solve a user’s real-world worry. So ask:
- Does this improve decision-making?
- Does this make your reader feel seen?
- Does this connect to how they define themselves?
If you can't say yes to at least one of these, it's not content. It's noise. And publishing noise makes you look lost, not generous.
Bottom Line
There’s a discipline to knowing what not to write. Let that discipline serve your brand. Not everything returned by a system needs a seat at the table. But when those digital disruptions affect human beings—your clients, your users, your future buyers—there’s your opening. Tell that story. Fix that confusion. That’s where your authority lives.
#MarketingClarity #ProfessionalCommunication #ContentStrategy #KnowYourAudience #SmartStorytelling #BusinessWriting
Featured Image courtesy of Unsplash and Markus Spiske (9wTPJmiXk2U)