There’s just this smugness the thought brings to me. So I find myself thinking, “If content is King, then I’m a Kingmaker!”
The question however remains, “Is content really king?” Well, any answer remains relative except borne from a place of experience and expertise.
Our target in this read is not necessarily to gift you a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’, it is rather to allow you ecstatically reach an answer from the plethora of quotes and reasons we will share here.
Why is Content said to be King? Reasons
Though a plethora of authors have probably argued that Video content is King and reasonably so too, do we adopt this argument or do we analyze the “whys”?
I’ll advise we analyze. Great minds ALWAYS analyze thoughts.
Video content has been held to be king because it probably has that distinctive ability to coalesce elements of all the other content types into one easy-to-digest format. These formats include text, sound, imagery, and movement.
I like the above argument, it mirrors what video content represents. However! Let’s really consider the word ‘content.’
Whether video, imagery, text, sound, or movement, they are all generally called, ‘Content!’ So whether imagery content or sound content, etc, CONTENT IS KING!
This obviously answers the question in the header.
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Who coined the term content is king?
In 1996, Bill Gates published an essay titled, “Content is King” on the Microsoft Website. Several years later, the phrase is still used and linked back to him.
Thus, it is very safe to say, that Bill Gates coined the term, “Content is King.”
Why is content important?
A plethora of reasons exist to convenience all of us of the expedience of content. However, these 3 stand out for me;
1. Content informs Your Audience
The most important thing is education for potential customers, not the product or service itself. They must first thoroughly comprehend the choices open to them before making a decision. This means you’ll need content that accurately informs your audience of what you can offer.
Blog articles, product pages, your home page, and your company’s “about” pages are all examples of educational material. It may, however, provide tutorials, reviews, and other content that gives your customers the information they need to make informed purchases. The aim of educational content is to educate your target audience more about your company and services.
Focus on the issues or concerns that your audience might have when creating content to educate them. Consider what challenges your target group is trying to solve and how your goods or services can help them solve those problems. The solutions you provide and how you can make their lives easier should be the subject of your educational material.
2. Content stimulates SEO
When anyone has a query or a problem, search engines are a go-to option. This means that optimizing your content to appear in specific searches will assist you in attracting new visitors to your site. Strong content, on the other hand, is needed to power your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.
You can create web pages with strong content that help you achieve SEO success. Keyword placement, backlinks, and website visitors all play a role in SEO, and your content allows you to create web pages that support each of these elements.
You’d have no place to put your keywords, no page for your visitors to read, and no information for other websites to connect to if you didn’t have content. However, if you are producing high-quality content, it is not difficult to rank highly in search engines.
When you think about your readers first, you will be able to provide valuable content to them. Succeeding in SEO would be easier if your target audience is actively engaged with your content.
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Use social media channels to communicate with your target market. Social networking will help you really connect with your customers and generate interactions, comments, and leads right through your website. However, it is fuelled by rich content.
Your content is the key to exploring social media. although there are only so many words in a tweet or message, your audience will likely keep reading to discover more This makes you more relatable to your target audience. Often, you can attract more website users and entice them into your sales funnel.
Is content king in digital marketing?
As long as content remains King generally, it is King in the various elements that make up content. However, this thought remains subject to a higher and better argument with clear evidence.
Sendian Creations writes that content marketing is an umbrella term that refers to a range of methods, techniques, and tactics used to achieve company and consumer goals by using content in a clear, integrated, and continuous manner throughout the customer experience and multiple business functions. As a result, in the world of digital marketing, content reigns supreme.
One of the goals of content marketing is to maximize business value and consumer value by creating and updating relevant and interesting content through the appropriate channels in the most timely, valuable, linked, personalized, and optimized way possible within and beyond the audience life cycle.
Digital content marketing is not a novel concept. We’ve been doing it for much longer than the word has existed, as have many others. According to studies, the majority of companies use content marketing, which is described as using content for any marketing or customer-facing role, regardless of content format, environment, or channel.
The distinction is in seeing the position of content in a more strategic, organized, integrated, intelligent, and customer-oriented manner. The sweet spots of content marketing are where the audience’s goals, purpose, and desires match the organization’s story, proposition, content, and facts.
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Excerpts of Bill Gates Famous Essay…
CONTENT IS KING – BILL GATES (1/3/1996)
According to Bill Gates, “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.
The television revolution that began half a century ago spawned a number of industries, including the manufacturing of TV sets, but the long-term winners were those who used the medium to deliver information and entertainment.
When it comes to an interactive network such as the Internet, the definition of “content” becomes very wide. For example, computer software is a form of content-an extremely important one, and the one that for Microsoft will remain by far the most important.
But the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying information or entertainment. No company is too small to participate.
One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience.
The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet.
For example, the television network NBC and Microsoft recently agreed to enter the interactive news business together. Our companies will jointly own a cable news network, MSNBC, and an interactive news service on the Internet. NBC will maintain editorial control over the joint venture.
I expect societies will see intense competition-and ample failure as well as success-in all categories of popular content-not just software and news, but also games, entertainment, sports programming, directories, classified advertising, and on-line communities devoted to major interests.
Printed magazines have readerships that share common interests. It’s easy to imagine these communities being served by electronic online editions.
But to be successful online, a magazine can’t just take what it has in print and move it to the electronic realm. There isn’t enough depth or interactivity in print content to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium.
If people are to be expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen, they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up-to-date information that they can explore at will. They need to have audio, and possibly video. They need an opportunity for personal involvement that goes far beyond that offered through the letters-to-the-editor pages of print magazines.
A question on many minds is how often the same company that serves an interest group in print will succeed in serving it online. Even the very future of certain printed magazines is called into question by the Internet.
For example, the Internet is already revolutionizing the exchange of specialized scientific information. Printed scientific journals tend to have small circulations, making them high-priced. University libraries are a big part of the market. It’s been an awkward, slow, expensive way to distribute information to a specialized audience, but there hasn’t been an alternative.
Now some researchers are beginning to use the Internet to publish scientific findings. The practice challenges the future of some venerable printed journals.
Over time, the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous, which will make it compelling. Although the gold rush atmosphere today is primarily confined to the United States, I expect it to sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries.
For the Internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work. The long-term prospects are good, but I expect a lot of disappointment in the short-term as content companies struggle to make money through advertising or subscriptions. It isn’t working yet, and it may not for some time.
So far, at least, most of the money and effort put into interactive publishing is little more than a labor of love, or an effort to help promote products sold in the non-electronic world. Often these efforts are based on the belief that over time someone will figure out how to get revenue.
In the long run, advertising is promising. An advantage of interactive advertising is that an initial message needs only to attract attention rather than convey much information. A user can click on the ad to get additional information-and an advertiser can measure whether people are doing so.
But today the amount of subscription revenue or advertising revenue realized on the Internet is near zero-maybe $20 million or $30 million in total. Advertisers are always a little reluctant about a new medium, and the Internet is certainly new and different.
Some reluctance on the part of advertisers may be justified, because many Internet users are less-than-thrilled about seeing advertising. One reason is that many advertisers use big images that take a long time to download across a telephone dial-up connection. A magazine ad takes up space too, but a reader can flip a printed page rapidly.
As connections to the Internet get faster, the annoyance of waiting for an advertisement to load will diminish and then disappear. But that’s a few years off.
Some content companies are experimenting with subscriptions, often with the lure of some free content. It’s tricky, though, because as soon as an electronic community charges a subscription, the number of people who visit the site drops dramatically, reducing the value proposition to advertisers.
A major reason paying for content doesn’t work very well yet is that it’s not practical to charge small amounts. The cost and hassle of electronic transactions makes it impractical to charge less than a fairly high subscription rate.
But within a year the mechanisms will be in place that allow content providers to charge just a cent or a few cents for information. If you decide to visit a page that costs a nickel, you won’t be writing a check or getting a bill in the mail for a nickel. You’ll just click on what you want, knowing you’ll be charged a nickel on an aggregated basis.
This technology will liberate publishers to charge small amounts of money, in the hope of attracting wide audiences.
Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products-a marketplace of content.”
Quotes to Prove Content is King
You’ll discover that many author’s and influencers have said content is king. This means one thing for us at WritersGig, there is truth in the saying. If there wasn’t, we would so many Strong Voices bother to reinstate it?
So? Content must really be King then! Check these quotes out.
“If we face the truth, we know that content marketing is about making money.”
~James Allen“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.”
~Seth Godin“Banners have 99 problems and a click ain’t one.”
~Scott Sorokin“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”
~Craig Davis“Make your customers the hero of your stories.”
~Ann Handley“Content Marketing provides 4x the ROI of our traditional marketing spend.”
~Julie Fleischer“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best-promoted content that wins.”
~Andy Crestodina“The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.”
~Michael Brenner“Content is fire. Social media is gasoline.”
~Jay Baer“Content is the reason search began in the first place.”
~Lee Odden“Content is king.”
~Bill Gates“Content isn’t king, it’s the kingdom.”
~Lee Odden“Great content is the best sales tool in the world.”
~Marcus Sheridan“Market like the year you are in.”
~Gary Vaynerchuk“Content Marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.”
~Jon Buscall“Content marketing is no longer a numbers game. It’s a game of relevance,”
~Jason Miller“Google is the new corporate homepage.”
~Jeremiah Owyang“You need to create ridiculously good content – content that is useful, enjoyable and inspired.”
~Ann Handley“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.”
~Doug Kessler“Content is the atomic particle of all marketing.”
~Rebecca Lieb“Your brand is not what you sell.”
~John Iwata, IBM“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”
~Tom Fishburne“What helps people, helps business.”
~Leo Burnett“Brands need to take the phrase ‘acting like a publisher’ literally.”
~Dietrich Mateschitz, CEO of RedBull“If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.”
~Don Draper“Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.”
~David Beebe“Behind every piece of bad content is an executive who asked for it.”
~Michael Brenner“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”
~Andrew Davis“Our job is not to create content. Our job is to change the world of the people who consume it.”
~Andrea Fryrear“When we create something, we think, ‘Will our customers thank us for this?’ I think it’s important for all of us to be thinking about whatever marketing we’re creating; is it really useful to our customers? Will they thank us for it? I think if you think of things through that lens, it just clarifies what you’re doing in such a simple, elegant way.”
~Ann Handley“More content is not better. What’s the worst-case scenario if we slow ourselves down and do some analysis?”
~Kristina Halvorson“In a sea of mediocre content, a brave tone can be a big differentiator.”
~Ann Handley“Maybe stories are just data with a soul.”
~Brené Brown“Tools are great, but content marketing success is about the wizard, not the wand.”
~Jay Baer“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say, ‘This was written specifically for me.”
~Jamie Turner“Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life.”
~Avinash Kaushik“Your goal should be to own quality time in your customer’s inbox.”
~Andrew Davis“These days, people want to learn before they buy, be educated instead of pitched.”
~Brian Clark“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”
~Tom Fishburne“Useful & Enjoyable & Inspired = Innovative Content.”
~Ann Handley“The key ingredient to better content is separating the single from the stream.”
~LinkedIn Marketing“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.”
~Doug Kessler“Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one.”
~Robert Rose“A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone into your house, only to slam the door in their face as they approach.”
~Brian Clark“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just need to share your unique perspective on why the wheel is important.”
~Page One Power“Here’s everything you need to know about creating killer content in 3 simple words: Clear. Concise. Compelling.”
~Demian Farnworth“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.”
~Gary Vaynerchuk“The paradox is the more info you give away, the more people will buy what you have to give.”
~Brian Clark“Content marketing comes down to commitment. There’s no halfway. You’re either in or you’re out.”
~Joe Pulizzi“Your blog is your best networking tool.”
~Andy Crestodina“No matter what your content is about, if someone clicks through to see your content, they’re looking for an answer to something. Rather than giving them the runaround, give them what they’re looking for. Answer their question simply and clearly and with as little jargon as possible.”
~Kevin Ho
Conclusion
Do you agree that content is King?’ I almost feel you do. Anyways, whether you do or not, the lessons here on the digital market, SEO writing etc are enough to get you going.
However, we are really keen on what your thoughts are. Do share with Us in the comment section.
Meanwhile, cheers to everything beautiful and worthwhile.
FAQs On Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience. The goal is to build brand awareness, establish authority, and drive profitable customer action.
Content marketing is crucial for businesses as it helps establish trust, build relationships with customers, and showcase expertise. It also contributes to improved brand visibility, and increased website traffic, and can lead to higher conversion rates and customer loyalty.
Success in content marketing can be measured through key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, engagement metrics, conversion rates, social media shares, and customer feedback. Analyzing these metrics helps evaluate the impact and effectiveness of content.
