Like it or Not, Information Must Be Your Product

I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a variety of marketers recently about how they create and distribute content through their marketing programs. Although each organization executes the content process differently, there seems to be one key differentiator between those organizations who are successfully changing behavior through content and those that aren’t: Information as a product.

Whether you sell products or services, the new rules of marketing require that, along with everything else you sell, the process of delivering consistently valuable information must be considered throughout the organization as, yes, a product.

What do I mean by that? When an organization looks at their content marketing as a product, they inherently create a number of initiatives and processes around that product, including:

• Upfront Business Planning
• Product Testing
• Research & Development
• Product Success Measures (marketing return on investment)
• Customer Feedback Channels
• Quality Control
• Product Evolution Planning

Successful companies such as Procter & Gamble, IBM and Microsoft have all approached their content in a similar fashion.

Why approach information as a product?
Simple…organizations today have no choice but to place that kind of importance and processes behind their content initiatives.  Customers today are in complete control, and filter out any message that does not benefit them in some way. Since that is the case, organizations must first build a solid relationship with customers through the use of valuable, relevant information – then, and only then, will organizations be able to sell the other products and services that grow the top line.

This is happening now
We are seeing this trend happen now, as more businesses morph themselves into media companies. You are seeing appointments of titles such as "chief content officers" and businesses that are starting to hire full-time journalists. It won’t be long before "traditional" businesses even start to purchase media companies themselves (we are already seeing some of this).

What you need to do
Any company serious about growing top line revenues, and at the same time concerned about how to market in the future, needs to make the "information as a product" concept a priority.

Small organizations with limited budgets should start searching out expert journalists to begin overseeing their content program.  Mid-to-large organizations may want to look into hiring a custom publisher or post-advertising agency (props to Story Worldwide on the terminology), to begin helping them construct their information/content marketing business plan.

The reason I recommend help is that it is very challenging for someone from a traditional marketing background to create a content plan.  In order to be successful, you need a strong marketing and publishing background, and a keen understanding of how consistent editorial content can maintain or change customer behavior.

Related Articles:

• 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Initiative
• Why Marketers are Reluctant to Move Away from a Traditional Marketing Strategy
• Want Customer Loyalty: Create Customer Wins with Content

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