The Value of Content

If you're tired of hearing about "content marketing," and you wonder about the actual value of content, let me give you a couple numbers. 4 billion. And 1 billion. As in $$. 

The Ultimate Fighting Championship recently sold itself for $4 Billion, mainly on the value of its content (New York Times report). The other big $B story comes from the world of shaving, that's right. Multinational consumer goods giant Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 Billion. That quirky marketing company that doesn't even make anything, including a profit, did have valuable content, at least according to Unilever (story from The Content Strategist).  

The value of UFC, it turns out, is in the content it creates. Photo by HansenHouse Communication. 

Content - and the fans who follow it - is worth big money. It's not necessarily about fighting as a sport. Nor is it about a better way to shave. It's about the creation and distribution of appealing content. 

Two key words in that sentence above: appealing, content. The UFC didn't always get its content right. It was not always appealing. But they tested and measured and kept creating content until they knew it was appealing to huge numbers of people. Dollar Shave Club meanwhile connected with men (not me, I don't shave often) and grew a huge following that Unilever clearly found appealing. 

Content marketing takes a variety of forms. You should try it. It could be worth billions.