Many advertising agencies would agree with Bill Gates’s 1996 assertion that crowned content as “king.” However, in reality, the declaration of content as king is vastly inaccurate. Let’s dig into this debate:
Kings are automatically respected or feared. Kings speak, and people listen or risk penalty. Even the best content cannot, simply by existing, declare that all must heed it.
If you’re looking to keep some semblance of a royal analogy, then the audience is really the king, and content is the jester. A jester was the only person in a monarchy that was able to insult the king without fear of reprisal. A jester could call it as it was and educate the masses, as long as it was done in a way that was entertaining to both the public and the king. Of course, if the jester couldn’t keep the king’s attention and good favor, then the jester risked being… replaced. So the content had better be good.
“Jesters do oft prove prophets.”
–King Lear, William Shakespeare
As a descendant in a long line of peasants, I prefer to avoid the royal analogies altogether.
If you’re looking for a slogan to define the importance of content, and you’d like to keep that alliteration on the hard “K” sound, “Content is Core” is a more accurate saying.
Plus, it uses two Cs instead of a C and a K, which makes it better anyway, let’s be honest.
By definition, a core is in the center of something. It is a relative term; you cannot immediately be at the core, you have to traverse some medium to arrive there. For example, if the content in question is a white paper, then you need the inbound marketing required for potential readers to find their way to the content. What is the benefit of reaching the core? In fruits, for example, the core is where the seeds are. The same is true for good content. When you interact with good content, it inspires growth, new ideas and action.
Content is required for growth. That being said, the ability to possess or create content is only one part of the equation. The content needs to have multiple discovery channels, so that the appropriate audience can find and interact with the content. The ability to create excellent discovery channels–or, in our most recent analogy, grow a great fruit– is an entirely different skill.
With a modern all-in-one advertising agency, or complete marketing agency, you don’t have to worry about that. Complete agencies are required to employ all of the skill sets necessary to create great content, as well as the ability to drive customers to interact with said content.
