What it means that content is (still) king

With the explosive growth in the interest and need for content in marketing, the old adage has taken on new meaning. No longer is it okay to cut and paste bloodless brochure and web copy for “all your marketing needs,” or ignore content marketing entirely in favor of paid advertising campaigns. Content rules my world, and from his subjects, he demands much.

I work on content all day, every day. I do it for clients, for Sol and for personal/community projects. I must be a loyal subject, paying homage and being faithful and constantly vigilant. It takes a LOT of time to make content. Almost always more time than you – or your client, your team, your boss, your committee chair – think it should.

At Sol, we’ve developed a streamlined workflow leveraging the latest tools for producing content, and we’re constantly looking for ways to optimize that workflow. However – no matter how efficient you are, good content takes brainpower, heart, soul, and effort.

And here’s a fallacy I want to bust right now: it is not faster to repurpose or migrate existing content. Inevitably, copy needs to be rewritten, specs updated, new images and data researched or created. And then the repurposed content has to go through the entire production and QA process.

That doesn’t mean you should overlook existing content as a source for creating new pieces. Quite the contrary – repurposing or re-skinning already-approved messaging is a great way for your team to leverage outsourced resources like Sol so your internal teams can focus on your core marketing strategy. Just be prepared to pay for it and allow adequate time to get it.

Given the headache, why should you even bother with content? Because it works. Kapost reports that for large enterprise companies, leads generated through content marketing cost 41% less than those generated by paid search; for mid-size companies, they cost 31% less.

Content works. You just have to work at it.

Long live the king.