Content builds businesses.
It allows you to think and rethink your approach; it provides an opportunity to communicate your philosophy internally as well as externally; it can even become a source of pride within the company. And thinking this deeply about your offering (which is what great content demands), especially when senior management are involved in its creation, can have a strong positive effect on the company’s leadership.
Let’s look at what that means in practical terms.
1. Content helps you rethink your business and constantly improve it
Your content is focusing on your industry – and when it’s done well it is indirectly promoting your business by showcasing how your products and services solve problems, make your clients’ lives easier, or even make the world a better place.
And it’s doing all of that in a way that is not directly promotional, is not shouting at the reader. But is genuinely addressing their concerns.
In creating content, it allows you to think about your offering – how to improve it, how to position it, how to make more money from it, and so on. So content feeds back into product and product back into content. It’s a virtuous circle.
Because your content is so aligned with your product or service, you may find holes in how you communicate about it – holes which actually need to be filled in the product or service itself.
Creating content about your offering also gives you an overhead view of where it sits in the market, and whether it needs to be re-positioned.
2. Content lets you express your business philosophy
When upper management is involved in content creation, the philosophy of the company, the importance of its mission and vision, its reason for existence, comes across in the content.
This is not to say management need to be involved in the daily moment-by-moment creation of content – they’re too busy for that – but a great content agency will understand how to get maximum input from leadership with minimal demands on their time.
This in turn means that the content, while written by an agency, will have the feel and authority and authenticity of your company’s leadership team.
As leadership sees the content produced, then published (under their name, of course) it helps them see their company as a truly authentic brand, a more trusted brand, a brand that has a genuine voice.
This in turn allows for a much clearer expression of a company’s philosophy, of its reason for existence, being communicated to the outside world.
3. Content increases your pride in your company
Many people are in fact insecure about the product or service they are bringing to market. And that shows. Employees then feel insecure, and potential clients have doubts and often go elsewhere.
But when content is driven properly and is of the highest-quality, it adds a dynamic feel to the offering and that excitement is in turn taken up by those inside the organisation. In short, people start to feel a greater pride in the offering and see its value more clearly.
This has a positive knock-on effect in all departments – whether it’s sales presenting the product or service, or HR bringing in or retaining the best talent in the industry. We all consume content, and don’t underestimate its power when it comes to seeing your own company represented well.
4. Content makes good leaders even better
For all the reasons mentioned above, leaders involved in content get better at leading.
Thinking about your offering over and over and articulating it, expressing what is important about it, and really going into depth – it’s like the ultimate bootcamp.
Think of it like this. It’s one thing to have a great idea, but until you put it down in writing, you don’t see the holes and the assumptions you may have made. So the process of creating content (with leadership involvement) means you get a chance to learn more about how to present your offering.
Once you are presenting your offering in the best possible way, you have moved to a new level of leadership and influence. Make no mistake, while we think of content as something that is external, going out in the world, it’s also internal. And as leaders, this ‘thinking through’ process means you can better articulate the value of your offering internally, ensuring all teams and employees are fully on board.
Content and your business
In the end, content is so inextricably linked to business performance that it’s hard to imagine a world without it. Yes, it nurtures leads in the most effective manner and raises brand awareness like no other method. But as we have seen, it also has a hugely positive effect on the internal workings of your company, which will only lead to greater revenue down the line.