Is content still king?

Some good perspectives here. I'd like to suggest that content is not king. Relevance is king. Relevance covers the issues of segmentation, content design and distribution options - all key in gaining the desired response to your content.

There's a lot of content available. Relevance is harder to come by.

Jake - I really liked your point about deciphering the medium used for content. I agree with your response. Person to person or via phone - you are king. But when it comes to interacting online most of us are interacting with someone else's content. You hardly ever get to interact with the person directly. Great response.

Perhaps Brogan meant that we as the kings must focus on creating quality, relevant content that builds relationships.

Content is King, but marketing is Queen and she controls the household.

@jonesima

Content is no longer king - it's now the new standard. You can write the most amazing article ever, but without appropriate distribution channels, it'll fail. I've seen this happen time and time again.

With a broader definition of "content" the answer is yes. As someone who has worked in content for many years, I think of it broadly. Content isn't just an article or a video or a podcast, it's a solution to a problem. It could be one of the previous, it could be a coupon, it could be an answer to an online question, it could be a tool people can use.

That solution has to be discoverable or it's no good. So, Chris is right that you are king in that you are key to making your information available and discoverable.

I think we'll be seeing rising competition to deliver good, actionable content--the content that allows people to solve their problems most quickly and easily, and is also easiest to find, will be most valued. That puts us old technical writers in a pretty good spot!

Great food for thought. I have always scrupulously avoided oversimplification. It's served me well in the marketing world. With all due respect to my Content Producing Associates, if a client sends the best direct mail piece in the world to the wrong demographic prospects, it could result in either no response or much response but no conversion. If one concludes that content is King, one may surmise that the content is flawed. Likewise, those who decide postage options, card stock, delivery dates, fulfillment practices, perceived value, etcetera also can contribute to the success of the Kingdom. I really think we marketers are closer to a democracy than a kingdom.

Hi

Whilst there are some valid points here, I have to say Content is always King. To think otherwise leads to a short term spike, but low lifetime engagement/value/profit, however you want to define it. The best marketing strategy and communications in the world will not succeed long term if the end product fails to deliver on the marketing (promises).

Whether it's a TV station, sales copy right through to your personal blog, consumers will make a quick decision as to whether they are getting a fair exchange for their time &/or money. If you don't deliver, it's virtually impossible and very expensive to get that person through the door again.

“Content is king.”

It sounds good in principle. Produce a truly great piece of content, and you’ll get all the links you could ever hope for.
Maybe it worked too, several years ago. The Web used to be a fairly quiet place compared to what it is now, and it was easier for people to notice great blog posts.
But not anymore.
Now great is no longer good enough. The Web is full of so much remarkable content that bloggers don’t have enough time to read it all, much less link to it.
If you want links now, you need to be more than great. You need to be connected.

http://arthur-internetmarketing-guide.blogspot.com/2009/12/is-content-really-...

I agree with Chris. The best content doesn’t matter at all if no one is listening. I think process, how marketers get people to listen, trumps content.

Econiq recently met with 50% of the banking executives targeted in an appointment setting project. They phoned Executive Assistants, asked permission to send introductory emails directly to them, not their executives, and then asked the EA to review and present to the executive.

Enterprise Ireland’s Toronto office recently met with 25% of the medical device manufacturing executives targeted. Their emails contained 157 words and their ask was small and surprisingly acceptable – fifteen minutes on the phone.

In both cases, well thought out process put quality content in front of the right person in the right conditions.