Through my work at Hedera, I've found that content value extends far beyond leads and sales. I focus on educating readers by sharing insights into building an online presence and the technologies that enable business growth. While few readers may become clients immediately, our expertise establishes us as industry authorities. I use storytelling to make emotional connections. For example, I shared a client's journey launching their startup and our role in their success. Readers enjoyed following the story and saw real results achieved. When including calls-to-action, I build our email list rather than push sales. Our engaged list allows delivering ongoing value through resources and promotions. Over time, subscribers become clients or referrals. Content creates relationships where we understand needs and provide solutions. The sales come when the time is right. Content teaches, inspires and sparks conversation. The trust and connections built sustain and grow my business. Focusing only on short-term gains misses bigger opportunities. Value comes in many forms, and content plays the long game.
As a content marketing strategist, I do not equate value solely to sales. My goal is to establish trust and authority by educating readers. For example, my agency’s blog shares insights on digital marketing and building an online business. While these posts may not directly generate leads, they position us as industry experts over time. I also use storytelling to build emotional connections. I wrote about a startup client’s journey to launch their business. Readers enjoyed following their story, highlighting our ability to achieve results for clients in an authentic way. When including calls-to-action, I focus on building our email list, not pushing sales. An engaged list enables us to continue delivering value through promotions, newsletters, and resources. Over the long run, subscribers become clients or referrals. Revenue and leads are outcomes, not the only measures of content’s value. The true value is in educating and building trust and authority.
Blog posts and articles are an entirely different goal than other forms of content or copy. If a business owner is looking for leads and sales, they need landing pages and sales pages. Blog posts and articles can do this, but their entire design is to show expertise and prove authority - they're trust builders. When people trust the business, then the sales process goes smoother. To measure value, it's all about ensuring content is well-written and then checking the analytics to see what kind of traffic it receives. Blog posts or articles can follow basic copywriting principles of find a problem, agitate it, show the solution, offer a call-to-action. The best ones don't come across as salesy, but rather informational.
I don’t measure the value of content through sales but through brand clarity and client retention. My company offers advisory services that combine coaching, consulting, and strategic problem-solving. Our uniqueness comes from the unusually large range of tools we can use and provide to our clients as they grow their enterprises. Our content is part of that service. We produce thoughtful and research-based articles about exactly the kinds of challenges our clients face. The content offers new ways to think about and meet those challenges. In producing the content, I am always thinking about whether specific or hypothetical clients can apply something to their own work. In that way, the content is not a marketing initiative, but a part of our product offering. Because it’s publicly available, it reinforces the clarity of the brand in the marketplace. For non-clients, it gives them a taste of our work and thinking. Could it generate leads? Yes. But it isn’t meant to do so, so we don’t measure it.
Sales and leads are important metrics, but I prefer to look at a variety of data beyond direct conversions. Content can deliver long-term benefits. It helps deliver value by building brand authority and educating audiences. A well-researched blog can position a brand as a thought leader. It drives organic traffic over time and may help nurture future customers. These factors add to a brand’s overall visibility and credibility. To achieve these goals, I focus on quality, relevance, and audience engagement. This can help bring in more traffic and leads.
When it comes to measuring the value of blogs and articles, It's beyond sales. Blogs and articles allow a business to demonstrate its knowledge and expertise. Writing blogs and articles builds a database of education for customers, as well as allows a business to reap benefits in the SEO area that can result in sales over time. I believe in an all-around marketing strategy And not just focusing on instant direct sales, especially with the sales cycle being 6 to 12 months on average. When working with clients, I use blogs and articles to educate the audience on the current industry landscape, emerging issues, and relevant news. Every month we revisit what topics we need to address because in every industry, the focus of what needs to be discussed constantly evolves. This ongoing evaluation is a crucial aspect of creating content that remains valuable.
Delivering value through content, especially written content like blog posts and articles, goes beyond just driving sales. While leads and sales are important metrics, I believe that true value in content comes from building trust, educating your audience, and fostering long-term relationships. In my approach, I measure value in several ways: Engagement: Are readers interacting with the content—commenting, sharing, or spending time on the page? High engagement often indicates that the content resonates with the audience and addresses their needs or interests. Brand Authority: Does the content position the business as an expert in its field? By providing well-researched, insightful, and relevant information, you can build your brand’s reputation, making it the go-to source for your audience. SEO Performance: Is the content improving the site’s search engine rankings? Well-optimized content can increase organic traffic, making it easier for potential customers to find you. This leads to more opportunities for conversions over time. Customer Retention: Content can play a huge role in keeping existing customers engaged and loyal. Providing value through how-tos, tips, and updates can strengthen the customer relationship and encourage repeat business. So, while sales are a critical outcome, I don’t measure the value of content solely by that metric. Value is also about how content contributes to long-term business goals, enhances the customer experience, and strengthens the brand. When I create content, I focus on understanding the audience’s needs and delivering information that solves their problems, answers their questions, or simply makes their lives a little easier. It’s about adding genuine value, which ultimately leads to trust, loyalty, and yes, sales—but in a way that’s sustainable and beneficial for both the business and its customers.
While sales is always a key indicator that your content was successful in converting the target audience into a customer, it shouldn’t always be the first goal. I believe businesses should first prioritize delivering value in written content by providing your audience with content that’s truly helpful, and not just trending. Topics like these that offer evergreen information are going to go much further in value for a target audience than buzzword content will go. There’s nothing wrong with buzzword content when used strategically, but it’s important to first establish the evergreen content to build credibility and trust with your audience. When creating this type of content, always remember to do keyword research to find out what people are actually searching for and needing to know. By using this information, you can then put together an even more updated piece of content that’s not only more relevant, but that the reader will be able to refer to find the latest information on a given topic.
I believe delivering value through written content starts with understanding your audience’s needs and challenges. It’s not just about driving sales but building trust and establishing your brand as a go-to resource. When I create content, I focus on providing actionable insights, answering common questions, and offering solutions that genuinely help the reader. This approach builds a relationship that can lead to sales, but the immediate goal is to engage and educate. I don’t measure the value of content solely through sales because content serves different purposes along the customer journey. In my opinion, metrics like engagement rates, time on page, and social shares are also important indicators of value. They show that the content resonates with people and keeps them interested. By consistently delivering content that’s informative and relevant, you lay the groundwork for long-term customer relationships, which, in turn, lead to more sustainable sales growth.
PromoGen is committed to delivering value through content by focusing on more than just direct sales outcomes. While sales are a crucial metric, value in content goes beyond immediate financial returns. At PromoGen, we believe that content serves as a long-term asset that builds brand credibility, educates your audience, and nurtures relationships that eventually lead to business growth. Here's how we deliver value through content: Audience Engagement: We create content that resonates with the target audience, answering their questions and addressing their pain points. This establishes trust and positions your brand as a thought leader in your industry. SEO Optimization: Well-crafted content improves your search engine rankings, driving organic traffic to your site. This increases your visibility and attracts potential leads who are actively searching for solutions you offer. Lead Nurturing: Content like blog posts and articles are crucial in nurturing leads. They guide potential customers through the buyer's journey, providing the information they need at each stage, and keeping your brand top of mind. Brand Authority: Consistently delivering high-quality content helps build your brand's authority and credibility. This leads to a stronger reputation, which can have long-term benefits for customer loyalty and business partnerships. Customer Education: By offering valuable insights and information through content, you empower your customers to make informed decisions, which increases their satisfaction and reduces churn. Content as a Sales Tool: Although not every piece of content directly drives sales, it plays a critical role in supporting the sales process. It provides your sales team with resources to share with prospects, helping to address objections and move them closer to a purchasing decision. In summary, while sales are an important measure of content value, at PromoGen, we believe in a holistic approach that considers the broader impact of content on brand growth, customer relationships, and long-term business success. By focusing on quality, relevance, and strategic distribution, we ensure that every piece of content contributes to our client's goals in meaningful ways. For more details on how PromoGen can help you enhance your business development efforts, visit us at PromoGen.
Yes, content rocks—today, tomorrow, before AI, and after AI. People don’t get it, but AI can scrape and compile; it can’t generate something truly fresh and original. That’s the magic of well-written content—it brings new ideas, perspectives, and authentic human experiences that AI just can’t replicate. As a writer and author, I’m 100% sure I am where I am today because of the content I wrote and published—that’s it. When I create content, it’s not just about driving sales. Sure, sales are important, but real value comes from connecting with readers, answering their questions, solving their problems, and building trust. If someone reads a blog post and feels like they’ve learned something useful or gained a new perspective, that’s value. It’s not always about instant sales; it’s about building a relationship with your audience. Over time, that connection leads to loyalty, which eventually drives business.
Digital Marketing Strategist for Over 30 years at AZ Social Media Wiz
Answered a year ago
Getting leads and sales are great and, of course, it's your bottom line. However, other benefits of creating quality, helpful content is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). To be able to get those conversions, leads and sales, people have to find you. Obviously, your website -- and content -- need to come up when a prospective customer is searching for what you have to offer. Google, is still the main global search engine with over 90% of search worldwide. Google wants fresh, quality, helpful content written for the human reader in natural language. They recommend following the E-E-A-T guideline which stands for: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Basically, you write for your target audience, in language that they understand, offering advice, tips, and general information addressing their pain points -- problems -- that you're going to help them solve, cure, or relieve. This showcasing of your authority in your industry or field will help the potential decide take that step toward a conversion. You can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to help you with research, however, you must rewrite what AI gives you so it sounds like a human wrote it not a computer. Here's where you add your experience, expertise, and authority on the subject. Add examples of past clients whom you helped. Tell stories. Use phrases like "in my experience...", "I once had a client...", "for example...", etc. This builds trust and credibility. People buy from whom they know and trust. This also goes for other forms of content marketing like videos and social media posts. Google indexes social media posts and YouTube videos! This becomes "Social Proof". To do this effectively, you need to first clearly define your target market(s) and understand their pain points and problems. Then plan out your content marketing calendar so you can consistently put out that helpful, quality content that will get you noticed.
First off, I think of content as a way to genuinely help people. For example, when I write blog posts or articles, I focus on answering real questions and solving problems my audience faces. If someone reads a post and finds a useful tip or solution, that’s a win. It builds trust and shows that I understand their needs. Another key aspect is being relatable and authentic. I share personal stories and experiences because it makes the content more engaging and human. When readers connect with the content on a personal level, they’re more likely to come back for more. I also measure value by how much my content gets shared or talked about. If people find it helpful enough to share with their friends or colleagues, that’s a sign that it’s hitting the mark. It’s not just about immediate sales but about building a relationship and establishing credibility over time. Additionally, I look at the feedback and comments from readers. If people are asking questions or leaving thoughtful responses, it means the content is resonating and making an impact. That’s how I know I’m delivering real value. In short, creating value through content isn’t just about the end sale. It’s about helping people, building trust, and engaging with them meaningfully. Focusing on these aspects ensures that the content I produce is genuinely valuable and worth the effort.
I believe that content's ultimate results should be sales, but I also think that the value of content isn’t just about immediate sales or leads—it's also about engagement and building a connection. As for our brand, content’s role is to be informative and build a more profound relationship with the consumer. While writing articles or developing content, we keep in mind that our content needs to be informative and not just a mere advertising platform. For instance, we produce content such as highly specific essays and how-to guides that will suit our business and appeal to potential clientele who may be struggling with a problem. When providing such values we earn the mantle of authority hence gaining the trust of our clients. Of course, we do not stop at sales when evaluating the effectiveness of our posts. Statistics such as the amount of time spent on the page, comments, and the number of shares give us a lot of information on the value that we are delivering to our readers. This means that when people are actually spending time with our content, sharing it or merely engaging with it, it helps us understand that it is on target. Such actions make the reader inclined to make a sale in the future because we have been able to create rapport with the reader. Thus, while providing direct sales is crucial, and, let me assure, we do keep a record of them, they themselves are not definitive of content’s worth. For us, it is more of a strategy of content creation that is engaging and ensures that there is a family of people that supports our brand as this will help in the growth of the company.
As CEO of a digital marketing agency, I don't measure content value through sales alone. My goal is to provide useful information and build trust over time. For example, on our blog we share insights into SEO, social media and website design. While these posts may not directly generate leads, they establish our authority. Over months, this expertise translates to more referrals and sales. I also use storytelling to build connections. I wrote about launching a startup client's business. Readers enjoyed following their story, and it highlighted our results in an authentic way. When using CTAs, I focus on building our email list rather than pushing sales. An engaged list enables us to continue delivering value through newsletters, resources and promotions. Over time, subscribers become clients or refer us to others.
I constantly provide value through detailed, data-driven content that offers free advice and resources. I've found business owners increasingly expect content to prove ROI, but I disagree sales alone equal value. For example, my agency's blog educates readers on strategies we've successfully implemented for clients. While few directly become customers, these insights establish our expertise, and engaged readers often return or refer others. I also share real-world case studies demonstrating how, leveraging cutting-edge tactics like AI, we achieved 12x higher traffic for a law firm or 527% revenue growth for an ecommerce store. Rather than a hard sell, I drive readers to sign up for newsletters where they receive ongoing tips. Over months, as we solve their questions and build familiarity, many subscribe or book consultations. Content lays the foundation for long-term relationships where we learn customer needs and determine the best solutions. Value comes in trust, authority, and community. If I aimed only for short-term gains, I'd miss bigger opportunities. My content plays the long game, the compounding effects of which fuel sustainable success. The key is balancing patience for results with consistently delivering information readers truly find useful.
As a content marketing agency owner, I do not measure value solely through sales or lead generation. My goal is to provide useful information and establish trust with readers over time. For example, on my company's blog I share insights into digital marketing and legal industry topics. While these posts may not directly lead to new clients, they position my agency as a thought leader. Over months and years, this expertise and authority translates to more referrals and sales. I also use storytelling to forge emotional connections. For instance, I wrote about the journey of launching a startup client's business. Readers enjoyed following their story, and it highlighted the results we achieve for clients in an authentic way. When using calls-to-action, I focus on building our email list rather than pushing sales. An engaged email list enables us to continue delivering value through newsletters, resources and promotions. Over the long run, subscribers become clients or refer us to others.
As a content marketing agency owner, I do not measure value solely through sales or lead generation. My goal is to provide useful information and establish trust with readers over time. For example, on my company's blog I share insights into digital marketing and legal industry topics. While these posts may not directly lead to new clients, they position my agency as a thought leader. Over months and years, this expertise and authority translates to more referrals and sales. I also use storytelling to forge emotional connections. For instance, I wrote about the journey of launching a startup client's business. Readers enjoyed following their story, and it highlighted the results we achieve for clients in an authentic way. When using calls-to-action, I focus on building our email list rather than pushing sales. An engaged email list enables us to continue delivering value through newsletters, resources and promotions. Over the long run, subscribers become clients or refer us to others.
Content value is measured beyond leads or sales alone. I focus on sharing knowledge and building authority to establish long-term trust with readers. For example, I regularly write about scaling businesses and the latest technologies on my company's blog. While few readers may become clients immediately, our expertise positions us as industry leaders. I also use storytelling to create emotional connections. I shared the journey of launching a client's startup, highlighting our impact through their success. Readers enjoyed following the story and saw authentic results achieved. When including calls-to-action, I build our email list rather than push sales. An engaged list allows delivering ongoing value through resources and promotions. Over time, subscribers become clients or referrals. Content sets the foundation for a relationship where we can understand needs and provide solutions. The sales come when the time is right. Through content, I aim to teach, inspire and start conversations. The connections and trust built sustain and grow my business. Focusing only on short-term gains risks missing bigger opportuniries. Value comes in many forms, and content plays the long game.
As a digital marketing agency founder, I do not measure value solely through sales or lead generation. My goal is to provide useful information and establish trust with readers over time. For example, on my company's blog I share insights into marketing and software topics. While these posts may not directly lead to new clients, they position my agency as a thought leader. Over months and years, this expertise and authority translates to more referrals and sales. I also use storytelling to forge emotional connections. For instance, I wrote about the journey of launching a startup client's business. Readers enjoyed following their story, and it highlighted the results we achieve for clients in an authentic way. When using calls-to-action, I focus on building our email list rather than pushing sales. An engaged email list enables us to continue delivering value through newsletters, resources and promotions. Over the long run, subscribers become clients or refer us to others.