Why Smart Business Leaders Still Get Content Marketing Wrong

Content is the first "product" most potential customers will ever see or use.

Before they talk to sales. Before they see a demo. Before they even know what your product does — your content is doing the selling.

But it's not through self-promotion (a blog is not a landing page!). Great content sells by educating around the need, and by establishing credibility and trust by positioning you as an authority who understands the problem better than they do, and can help them solve it.

That makes it a growth lever. Not just a support function.

It’s the blog post that brings in demo requests. The webinar that drives pipeline. The guide that gets passed around a buying team and makes people say, “We need this.”

Here’s the challenge: most content teams are stretched thin, moving fast, and getting asked to show results before they can take the time to build something worth showing — let alone connect the dots of a customer journey that actually builds pipeline.

So content becomes reactive. It exists to fill holes, meet deadlines, answer quick asks. Not to lead. Not to compound. Just to keep up.

I've been in that "checkbox marketer" position — rushing to get another blog out the door because someone’s calendar says “new post due.”

When that’s the reality, content never has the chance to become what it could be:

• The warm-up act that makes sales calls easier

• The magnet that brings in better-fit leads

• The proof that you know your customer’s world

• The brand voice that makes your company feel human

Content doesn’t need to be flashy to work. It just needs to be useful, honest, and relevant to the customer's headspace and buying stage.

If you’re a business leader, here’s the ask: Don’t treat content like an accessory. Treat it like the pre-sales engine it is. Give it time, trust, and a real seat at the table.

Because when content leads, growth follows.