Is Data the Key to Better Content Marketing?

Many marketers I’ve seen approach content marketing with the sole aim of driving more sales for their business. While I appreciate their “let’s get down to business” attitude, and totally agree with the fact that content marketing can and does drive sales, here’s a caveat—when you kick off your content marketing program without giving so much as a second thought to value creation, it’s a recipe for failure. Why? Because today you’re marketing to a new breed of buyer that doesn’t want (or need) to talk to the sales people until they are more than half the way through the buying cycle. Not to mention, with every brand donning the publisher’s hat and new channels of brand-customer interaction opening up, it’s becoming more difficult to capture buyers’ attention.