Why so much content gets made, but so little of it drives growth.
Most businesses are not short on content. Blogs go live, social posts are scheduled, SEO pages stack up. SQ Magazine estimates over 90% of organisations now use content marketing in some form.
But the problem shows up in the same question, asked sooner or later of content marketing:
Is this actually working?
We know from experience in this industry that many businesses struggle to connect their content activity to authentic business outcomes. And now, studies show fewer than half of content marketers strongly agree they are effectively measuring return on investment or customer behaviour changes driven by content.
Something is missing here.
Without strategy, content scatters.
You end up present in a lot of places, but not clearly positioned in any of them. Your message shifts by channel, and your strongest thinking gets diluted.
Growth becomes unpredictable because nothing is compounding.
What you need is a good content strategy.
We always tell clients we’re “strategy-first”.
What this means is that we take the time to get things right, and we want to help others get it right, too.
Having a solid content strategy forces clarity on questions a lot of marketing teams quietly skip:
- who the content is for
- what outcome it is meant to influence
- how it supports growth
- how success will be judged in terms that matter to a business
Many explanations of content strategy can fall short. They catalogue deliverables, then label the list a strategy, and its contribution to business growth is muddy at best.
I just don’t think this just that cuts it anymore.
Why strategy is so vital in the current market.
Competition for attention is higher across search, social and email.
The content landscape is what many experts call an attention economy, where every brand is competing for ever-scarcer focus. In the broader digital ecosystem, organic content is no longer guaranteed visibility simply because it exists.
Expectations around quality increase.
Marketers are increasingly prioritising quality over quantity: in a 2026 survey, most professionals indicated that improving the quality and value of content was a key factor in success, and nearly half reported that quality improvements led to stronger content performance overall.
Platforms filter and prioritise content algorithmically, making distribution less predictable.
Across major social and search platforms, distribution is governed by complex recommendation systems that aim to maximise engagement. Organic reach is no longer a given, instead, content must meet multiple algorithmic criteria (such as completion rate and early engagement) to be surfaced widely.
In this environment, content without strategy becomes risky. It is hard to improve systematically, difficult to prioritise, and easy to deprioritise when pressure builds.
No one can afford waste on directionless marketing in this economic environment.
Content can grow your business – if you invest in strategy.
Content does not operate in isolation. Its impact compounds when it is designed as part of a wider system that accounts for search behaviour, brand perception, paid amplification and conversion pathways.
Many organisations struggle here. Content is planned channel by channel, while growth actually happens across the full journey. Strategy exists to bridge that gap.
Before formats, channels or campaigns are discussed, content strategy must be treated as a discipline focused on direction and intent, and it must focus the end user. The person behind the click.
The challenge is that strategy requires upfront work, and organic content takes time to deliver results.
Content marketing is a long-term investment, which naturally makes some businesses hesitant.
4 reasons content strategy is worth long-term investment.
01: It assigns content a clear role within growth:
A content strategy defines what each piece of content is meant to influence, whether that is discovery, consideration, credibility or conversion. This avoids the common trap of expecting every asset to drive traffic, leads and revenue at the same time, which usually results in none of those things working particularly well.
02: It connects performance to real user behaviour, not vanity metrics:
Strategy shifts measurement away from surface-level signals like page views and likes, and towards behaviour that actually indicates progress. That might include assisted conversions, return visits, depth of engagement or movement through the decision journey. This makes content performance easier to evaluate and defend commercially.
03: It creates consistency of direction across channels without forcing uniform execution:
A good strategy aligns messaging and intent across SEO, social, email and paid support, while allowing each channel to do what it does best. The result is cumulative impact, not fragmented activity that resets with every new campaign.
04: It enables informed decisions about what not to produce:
Perhaps most importantly, content strategy introduces restraint. It provides a rationale for saying no to low-impact ideas, one-off requests and reactive content that drains time without contributing to growth. In practice, this is often where the biggest efficiency gains are found.
We are on a mission.
We see the same pattern again and again.
Businesses invest time, budget and energy into content, but lack clarity on what it is meant to do, how it should work together, or how success should be judged.
This series exists to explore that gap and give it the explanation it deserves.
In this series on content strategy, we’ll break down:
- the importance of foundational work
- the essential intricacies of tone of voice
- how to integrate content strategy across all channels
- how a content ecosystem can be structured & measured to support growth
- what effective content strategy looks like in practice
The aim is not theory for its own sake, but practical clarity. There is already enough noise and sensationalism around content without adding to it.
Content strategy done well is not about producing more. It is about making what you produce work harder, for longer.
So that’s what we’re doing.
Psst.
If you’re interested in the practicalities of setting the right foundations in any kind of marketing strategy, take a couple of mins to read about our Discovery Consultation Process. You’ll get a clear understanding of how it helps set direction before investment.
Or, just send us a quick message if you have a specific question.
We promise we’ll give you insight, not a sales pitch.
