Content marketing: not a cost but an investment

Most companies regard their investments in terms of content marketing as operational expenditures (OpEx), whereas content marketing should actually be labelled an investment (Capital Expenditures or CapEx). After all, content generates added value and is one of the most important long-term assets of a business.

The advent of the web 2.0 and mobile internet gave the importance of content in the relationship between a company and its audience a tremendous and crucial boost. All of a sudden the audience could consume and produce by itself, whenever and wherever it felt like it.

Strong content to invest in your brand

Strong content is information that is relevant within the context of an audience and that caters to their questions, problems and interests. There is virtually no limit to what strong content can do for your business:

• It fosters brand loyalty and trust.

• It turns your customers into brand ambassadors.

• It makes your brand a trusted authority and a thought leader.

• It helps people with their purchase decision.

• It promotes best practices.

• It sparks conversations on social media.

• It expands and maintains your customer and prospect list.

• …

As a business, strong content is an investment in the credibility of your brand, its visibility and in long-term relationships with your audience.

Building blocks for the long term

Content is probably your most viewed product. In other words, strong content creates and perpetuates the long-term relationship of your brand with its audience. Content is at the heart of the marketing activities of your brand - or it should be.

This is obviously no hit-and-run. In order to achieve business results you have to know what it is you want to achieve (goal - brand) and what you want to share (meaning - audience). This requires a sound communication strategy embedded in a long-term vision. The content containers (a website, blog, ...), the content as such (white papers, a book, articles, ...) and the tools (CRM, CMS, newsletter templates, SEO, ...) are the building blocks your organisation uses to establish a long-term communication strategy. The benefits they deliver are not immediate but gradual.

Advertising campaigns as a leg up

So what is the added value of setting up advertising campaigns and the corresponding media investments such as pay-per-click (PPC), Search Engine Advertising (SEA), bannering campaigns, advertisements in magazines or newspapers? You use and consume it at the moment of ‘creation’. The reach, and the corresponding commitment, is bought. These efforts are important beacuse they often serve as a leg up to more long-term forms of communication. However, they are limited in time and their impact is short-lived. Consequently they rank as a purely operational cost (OpEx).

Sound and solid management

Thanks to strong content you gradually build relationships and reach. This is why content constitutes a genuine added value for your business and helps you achieve your brand objectives. So content marketing is actually a long-term investment. Ranking these investments under CapEx is a sign of sound and solid management. After all, strong content is essential for any business and constitutes a crucial strategic business asset.