Assessing the Cost-Effectiveness of Content Marketing and its Necessary Resources

Content marketing, like every other marketing endeavour, incurs costs on businesses. Creating content in the form of blogs, videos with paid advertising mixed in, can be easily dismissed as an unnecessary budget drain. However, content marketing has proven to be less costly than traditional methods and generates more leads.

Cost Effectiveness of Content Marketing

There are two main factors that lead to this reduction in cost per qualified lead acquired. First of all, the cost of distributing content is significantly lower thanks to the online world. Social media platform accounts are free and can be leveraged to build a following. Blogs can be hosted on websites and e-mail campaigns have become commoditized and are accessible through various services.

Secondly, content marketing is less demanding in the availability of resources. While advertising campaigns might require hiring an agency and interactive web properties may require the services of a web developer. For content marketing however, the biggest resource is your knowledge and creativity. With a skilled writer and some creativity, content generation is a process of transferring your knowledge to your readers in an easy to digest format.

Intellectual Capital

Intellectual capital is defined as the value of a company or organization’s employee knowledge. In the specific context of content marketing, this refers to the expertise and knowledge of your team that can be used for content purposes.

Intellectual capital is the primary source of content for B2B companies in particular. White papers, articles or any other content needs to illustrate to prospects complex B2B solutions in an easy to understand format. By showcasing the ability to analyse a complex issue customers are facing and offering a solution is a great way to establish your position of authority within your industry.

For B2C companies, this concept is not so evident, but still persists. Content for consumer facing products will usually focus more on the lifestyle a product can enable. As such, your intellectual capital is the collective workplace and consumer culture that you’ve developed, and the ability to articulate that culture to others.

Creativity

While intellectual capital refers to the expertise your team possesses relevant to your domain, creativity refers to expressing that information in unique and engaging ways.

In this capacity, your team can vary greatly and can be outsourced to specialized creative outlets. There specialized agencies that possess the creative abilities to make your campaign a success, giving you the time to supply the expert knowledge while creative professionals manage the visual and textual details.