What Value Does Content Drive for a Business?

Marketing value is often boiled down to clicks and conversions, which makes it difficult to argue for content’s value to a business.

Yet there is a massive public relations and content marketing industry intent on getting covered and publishing articles on media sites like Street Fight, the media site I edit. Businesses also spend tens of thousands of dollars per month on white papers, case studies, blog posts, and newsletters.?

What business objectives does content actually drive? What makes business content effective? And what is the argument for content in a digital era when so much of marketing spend focuses on measurable clicks and conversions, something content can but often does not drive?

SCALER

The acronym SCALER offers a basic way to understand content’s value to a business.

Sales: Content informs a business’ sales pitch. It can tell prospective clients, investors, and most importantly, especially for fast-growing and large companies, a business’ own employees what the company’s value is. For example, case studies demonstrate value the business has already delivered for clients. Blog posts may explain the industry problems the company solves and how its technology, services, or products address those problems.?

Culture: Content can define and even foster a culture. An interview with the company’s founders tells its story, helping employees, clients, and investors understand why it was founded, whom it serves, and what principles drive the way it operates. Content is also the prime channel through which to delve into the complexities of company values. A weekly or monthly newsletter demonstrates what a business thinks is important and gives employees the opportunity to contribute their own voice to messaging.?

Awareness: The classic — content is one way to increase brand awareness. This is not just about getting consumers or prospective clients to learn your company’s name and know it exists. It is also about educating the market on the problems your company solves. For example, a privacy-forward consumer data platform might create content about the California Consumer Privacy Act or Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. This not only increases brand awareness but also gets audiences to understand why the company’s innovations are important in the first place.

Leads: What every CEO wants — content can generate leads. White papers, bylines, and even newsletters, if circulated by customers and fans to prospective customers, can drag targets into the funnel and lead to a conversion. That said, I think most CEOs looking primarily for leads from content are looking to the wrong channel. Ad targeting can create leads. What content does much better than Facebook or LinkedIn ads is to delve into the complexities of a brand’s story and educate consumers about the nuances of the problems the company tackles.?

Engagement and Revenue: Users are not so valuable if they do not use your app; clients cannot take advantage of products and services they forget about or do not know exist. Content drives engagement from your existing audiences and may even earn you new audience members. When you engage your audience and produce educational content — not just sales pitches in blog post form — you earn their attention, which can in turn drive retention and even revenue.

The upshot

When we think about the value of content, we would do best to consider what content offers that other marketing tactics don’t. This is especially crucial in the digital era, when measurable eyeballs and clicks dominate the marketing conversation.

As a form, content can produce a lot of value for your target audiences that ad copy generally does not. Blog posts, bylines, case studies, white papers, newsletters — all longer-form content offers a singular opportunity to educate your audiences; develop an engaging and consistent relationship with them; and dive into the complexities of your brand, your industry’s problems, and your solutions.?

If it provides clear, original theses and edifying coverage of industry issues and events, your content can deliver what marketers and CEOs ultimately want: larger, engaged audiences, and eventually, leads and sales.