Time for richer content
Around 2003, as a blog start to hold on the internet psycheIt’s clear that these writing tools can be more than just an outlet for one’s contemplation – they also have enormous potential for business and marketing.
In 2006, Hubspot launched as a way to capitalize on trends, giving marketers a platform designed to get leads through blog posts. That means customers coming to your site drawn by your blog content without the sales team having to explicitly call and ask them to buy something.
Around the same time, a marketing professional got tired of corporate life, David Meerman Scott, is writing a pamphlet for marketers to understand how to deliver this new content. That book, “New rules of marketing and PR,” Published in 2007 and proved to be a well-known work in the field. It helps marketing teams understand that they need to create compelling content, not reproduce the glossy copy of brochures of the past, on the internet.
It turns out that corporate blogging is just the first step in a longer, broader communication journey. Over the past few years, we’ve started to see content marketing take a huge leap forward as SaaS companies like Salesforce, Hubspot, and Shopify start to act more like media companies, with content being the center of attention. the heart of everything they do.
But why did it happen? And, can startups mimic the kind of content production we’re seeing in incumbent SaaS companies?
Time for richer content
While content marketing is evolving, as with any technology, the old isn’t simply going away. This venerable blog post isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but over time companies have created more rich content like podcasts and videos.
Last year, Salesforce took it to another level when announced a huge media arm called Salesforce+. The company built a Hollywood-style studio to produce entertaining content with the ultimate goal of attracting customers.
In another example, Hubspot, which has expanded over the years to offer a wide range of sales and marketing solutions, last year buy Hustle. The deal includes a free newsletter with 1.5 million subscribers, a subscription newsletter called ‘Trends’ and a podcast called ‘My First Million.’
