But is content still king, 26 years later? The answer is clearly yes. However, to stay on the throne, content has to add value in a variety of ways, especially when it comes to discovery strategies (SEO) and link building that drive access to the brand’s websites and support the efforts of inbound marketing.
For this reason, to achieve the objectives of the brand, we now talk about creating valuable content, since any other content that does not meet this characteristic simply will not work for us.
What makes content valuable?
For those of us who work in marketing areas, talking about valuable content is part of everyday life. We talk to our CEOs, clients, prospects and colleagues about the importance of creating valuable content and what results can be achieved.
But are we really making valuable content? Moreover, do we understand what this concept that we use so much in our language as marketers is all about?
We can say that valuable content is relevant, useful and quality content. But beware, some professionals and content strategists may say, from their own perspective, that they already have a lot of content with these characteristics.
Although it is true that all brands seek to create valuable content, it is important to understand that “value” is not something that the brand itself establishes, but rather the target audiences.
Any business can create content to talk about their brand, industry, niche, product, service, etc., but to be potentially valuable, I think certain features need to be included. First, be useful, that is, help answer the main questions and problems of an audience interested in your products and services.
Second, it has to be relevant, that is, the audience cannot find something similar anywhere else, due to its theme, approach or originality; an important point by which the brand can achieve a differentiator in the market.
Third, it needs to be of quality, which implies creating readable and attractive content, based on truthful information. Fourth and last, making it discoverable online, which forces us to consider search intent and our goal before creating the content, as well as optimizing it for SEO, so that the audience can find it in the right place at the right time, is that is, in the channels where it is informed and at the precise moment when it is needed.
The big problem when creating valuable content
If we realize, those characteristics are focused, above all, on the audience. So the value does not depend on the objectives of the brand, it is given in terms of meeting the expectations of the audience. Of course, our commitment and responsibility, as marketing professionals, is to create just the pieces of content that our audience needs.
The big problem that still persists in some of the brands is that they assume that their content strategies are only about them. Then they turn it into a mere instrument to communicate what they want; And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with this type of content, it’s clearly not what the audience wants, so don’t expect to reap the benefits attributed to valuable content.
The key to not falling into this mistake is to write content that the audience really wants to consume, that resonates with their needs, desires and pain points. This is how every brand earns the right to be heard when it has something to say.