Content is king.
Almost three decades since Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates published an insightful essay with those three words as its title, the since-popularised phrase remains as relevant as ever. 
In today’s digital landscape, content continues to reign supreme – although there are a couple of caveats.

Firstly, it’s quality content that wears the crown. 
Secondly, since Gates penned that famous article, new content types have ‘moved into the royal residence’ alongside traditional online offerings.
In this piece, we break down why content creation is important for your business and what it entails, as well as how to execute strategies – so you can ‘milk’ the gift-wrapped opportunities that are available.

The words that Gates penned in the 1996 paper have proven to be largely prophetic, but clearly even he couldn’t have envisioned the extent to which content would evolve. 
“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,” the business magnate wrote.
“Possibly video” is an understatement. 

According to Hubspot’s State of Marketing Report 2023, video is the most powerful and popular media format for content creation and provides the highest ROI of any content type.
And when Gates was jotting down notes, he had no way of predicting that other visual mediums like infographics, audible platforms such as podcasts, and interactive formats like quizzes and polls would become digital-content linchpins. 
Even traditional written content in the internet era has both evolved and expanded. Once-foreign concepts such as landing pages and e-books are now pivotal pieces in many content strategies.

And while website copy and blog posts have been regular faces since the internet’s birth, they too have had to adapt considerably to appease anything from search engines to an ever-growing thirst for content consumption on the run.
In fact, more than 50% of worldwide internet traffic is viewed on mobile devices, according to Statcounter GlobalStats.

The point? Content is an ever-changing beast. It’s anything and everything. This article could well be outdated by the time you’re reading it (but because we’re good at our jobs, we’ll refresh it accordingly!).
And businesses that keep up with the latest content-creation trends are best-placed to stay ahead of their competitors – or at the very least remain relevant in consumers’ eyes.   

In short, having a digital presence in today’s hyper-competitive world is essential.
Content draws eyeballs to your brand and the products or services it provides, allowing you to connect with and grow your audience or audiences.
Ultimately, that connection helps drive revenue. 

Before we get to the conversion part, let’s back it up and explore six key areas to demonstrate why content creation is important to your business.

As mentioned above, creating content allows your business to establish its brand identity and demonstrate its point of difference from competitors.

Regularly producing relevant, SEO-driven content leads to increased organic traffic and online visibility.

Then, sharing this compelling content on your social media platforms broadens brand reach and attracts new audiences.
Better yet, engaging content encourages social sharing from consumer to consumer, amplifying brand exposure even further.

Quality content provides your businesses with an opportunity to showcase your expertise, thereby building trust and credibility among consumers.
Educating customers through informative content establishes your company as an industry authority, fostering long-term loyalty.

Moreover, engaging content that addresses customer pain points and offers solutions instills confidence in your brand’s products or services.
Content creation also enables your business to position itself as a thought leader and trusted authority within your industry – with the potential to develop key business partnerships.

Fresh and engaging content encourages repeat website visitation, leading to increased site traffic and prolonged browsing sessions. It also drives social sharing and inbound links, further amplifying website traffic.
Interactive content formats such as quizzes, surveys, and video enhance user engagement, increasing time spent on your website – and directing people further down the sales funnel.

Top tip: When you’ve built a bank of content over time, plan an audit. Updating the likes of blogs and articles ensures they remain relevant and retain their value.

Personalised and relevant content helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level, fostering stronger customer relationships.
Delivering this content via e-newsletters and email campaigns enables your business to stay top-of-mind and maintain ongoing communication. 

In other words, consistent but relevant messaging is a great ‘excuse’ to keep conversing with customers – no matter what stage they’re at in the sales cycle. And this increases the chances of conversion when purchase intent arises.
Top tip: Soliciting and responding to customer feedback through content creation demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In a dynamic market, content creation provides your business with the flexibility to adapt and respond to market trends and changing consumer demands.
By continuously producing and updating content, you can remain relevant and responsive to industry shifts.

Additionally, monitoring content performance and gathering feedback allows for strategic adjustments to optimise marketing efforts.

Content creation serves as a powerful lead-generation tool by attracting and engaging potential customers.
Valuable content such as e-books, whitepapers, and webinars can be offered as gated resources, capturing valuable customer information.

By nurturing leads through targeted content, businesses can guide prospects through the sales funnel, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

We’ve outlined why content creation is important for your business. But where do you begin? 
In the previous section, we touched on brand identity. Establishing your brand image and identifying its strengths – and even its uniqueness – is a solid starting point. 
Defining your tone of voice is a critical piece of the puzzle, too.

From there, we’ve identified eight critical areas to focus on re: digital content creation. 

What are you trying to achieve by creating content – beyond the obvious answer of increasing revenue? 
Identifying specific objectives is paramount. Perhaps it’s growing your social media presence or email database or increasing website visitation. Or all of the above!
Whatever it is, begin by understanding your target audience’s needs, preferences, and pain points and addressing them – so, what is it about your brand that offers the audience a solution or fulfills a need or want?

This approach gets results. Consumers actively seek valuable and relevant content before making purchasing decisions. According to Demand Metric, 60% of consumers enjoy reading relevant content directly from brands.
Relevance is key, though. Your content has to be applicable to your brand and its audience to have any meaningful cut through. 
Also, it’s pointless producing content that your audience isn’t asking for. Keyword research provides tangible insights that measure audience interest – more on that at point no.4.

In short, your content strategy should align with your marketing strategy. If you have neither, start by defining your established business purpose and organisational goals and go from there.
We’ve mentioned the importance of creating content that resonates with your audience and which recognises their various positions within the sales funnel. 
With this in mind, diversity of content types is important – blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts, etc. – as well as the messaging that comes with it.

Also, consider different platforms with varying audiences for content distribution: i.e. email marketing versus organic search or Facebook versus LinkedIn. Or at least consider tailored messaging on different platforms.
All this will help your business to establish a strong connection with its target audience.
Top tip: A simple but often overlooked component is creating an editorial calendar to plan content production and distribution. Even the most basic of calendars provides visibility for your team – including a team of one! – and ensures ownership of content creation.

We’ve already touched on this topic, and it’s an important point to remember. 
An oversaturation of digital content makes it tough to stand out, but quality rises to the top. 
More importantly, readers demand quality content, and it’s essential for getting into Google’s good books. 
How do you create top-shelf content? In short, it should be well-researched, original, and provide value to the audience.

Remember that earlier stat about the high volume of website traffic via mobile? It’s often an underutilised consideration. 
Content has to be optimised for mobile – meaning easy to read and easily digestible when viewing on a phone or tablet – or consumers will quickly disengage. This is particularly worth keeping in mind when creating long-form written articles or landing pages. 
Incorporate relevant visuals, such as images, videos, or graphics, to enhance the content’s appeal – making it more ‘scannable’ and providing readers with greater reason to interact with it.

Tailoring your content to suit Google’s complex algorithm is the single most important factor to gaining organic traffic.
To begin with, conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant topics for your business and its audience, preferably with high search volume and low competition.
Implement on-page SEO techniques, including keyword optimisation and meta tags and focus on creating content that is easy to read, well-structured, and mobile-friendly.

To help, we’ve put together 10 top tips for creating SEO-friendly content.

You understand why content creation is important for your business. Great. You’ve produced this amazing piece of content. Excellent. It’s optimised for organic traffic. Even better. 
But the story shouldn’t end there. Instead, make that content work harder, so it’s discoverable by as many people as possible.
To do this, leverage social media platforms, email marketing, and influencer collaborations to amplify its reach.

Additionally, adapt your content to consumer preferences. Understanding the format preferred by consumers, such as videos versus long-form blogs, and favoured channels, such as Instagram versus TikTok, enables you to deliver content effectively.
On top of that, consider utilising paid advertising channels to boost content visibility and attract new audiences.
Lastly, engage with your audience through comments, shares, and discussions, as this helps to provide personality and authenticity to your brand and foster a sense of community.