Content is the Currency of Marketing

You can't go far in marketing without a good message. No amount of technology, packaging, or spin can make up for weak content.

By Ted Fong, Marketing Valet

Marketing Valet is a creative production company. We spend a lot of time making things look pretty, making things sound genuine and good. But creating appeal is futile if you don't start with good content.

You may have a large marketing budget and sophisticated marketing vehicles, but like paint on a poorly built house, you'll be left with a large, zero-value headache when the external trimmings fade away.

Content is crucial, because this is what attracts your audience and gets them to stay. Whether they're looking at a website, a newspaper ad, or a brochure, your audience is reading your message. They are trying to understand what you're trying to say, and they're making a decision based on this understanding.

By crafting a message that is focused on your market and their needs, you are building a solid foundation for your advertising, PR, and web efforts. You'll achieve greater mileage and build lasting relationships with people who will pay you for your services.

At Marketing Valet I often tell our writers, "It's not the content of your character that matters, it's the character of your content!"  They laugh, but a least they get my point.

People like buying stuff, but they hate being "sold to." People need to know what value your company or product can bring them; you need to stake out a differentiated position in their minds, relative to your competition and close substitutes.

Content's true purpose

Marketing content has only one true purpose: to persuade prospective customers to act according to your objectives.

To achieve this, your message has to be relevant, compelling, and logically consistent. It has to be repeated across all your collateral without seeming repetitive. That's why you have to bring expert writing skills to bear.

If you don't have in-house talents who can craft powerful messages and produce effective copy for your firm, then you need to find someone outside who can.

Here are some useful questions to ask when evaluating your message:

• Have you clearly defined your value proposition? Do you talk about your products' benefits to its users, as opposed to its features?
• Do all your sales people understand your basic value proposition?
• Are they happy with the sales messaging and tools you've created for them?
• Do your campaigns target the appropriate audiences, and have these been crafted to suit their audience profile?
• Do customers respond in a predictable and positive way to your marketing collateral?
• Have sales figures significantly risen as a result of your marketing efforts?
• Does your mother understand what you're talking about?

If you answered "No" to any of these questions, then consider giving your message (or your entire marketing campaign) a second look. It will be more costly to ignore these signs and make mistakes later on in the sales process.

Content is crucial to the development of any successful marketing program. Without it, your firm will find itself spending huge amounts of money on things that your audience will hardly understand, much less buy into. Maximize your firm's tightening budget by focusing on your message first. This will allow you to save on time and money, and it will reap results that traditional advertising and PR cannot match.