Content is KING - Definitely WRONG

You made some good points. However you fail to realise that the statement 'Content is King" is generally used when referring to SEO methods. In the context of SEO content is indeed king.

I am not buying your comparison. The term "content" refers to marketing strategy itself and not the "content" of the product like what you discussed.

Here:

Peter is promoting Coke (poor taste)
John is promoting Pepsi (better taste)

Peter wrote an article on how great Coke is. A very convincing article that people who has no experience tasting the Coke will surely buy.

John on the other hand wrote an article that is less convincing so people who haven't tried tasting Pepsi are hesitant to buy.

In short, Coke wins because of content. Advertising content and not product content. Content is King...

I think you have the wrong idea of understanding "Content is King".

i lose a lot of sales to people with Much worse content quality than mine, but better affiliate/marketing that they use, that's a valid point. I have top content and decent marketing, i lose sales to companies with really bad content but great marketing. the successful companies are #1 good marketers and 2nd place, content... which is a shame since often best quality content loses the financial race to companies that are affiliate driven marketing machines, with crap content (like a lot of my competitors)

I have a 54% bounce rate and 3.50min average on site because I spend ages delivering the best content possible.

You won't gain more visitors, necessarily, but you'll certainly do a better job of keeping them and making them come back.

Creating compelling content is part of marketing. Content is king when the right strategy is being applied.

mcdonals is not in the food business.

They're in the REAL ESTATE business, and they're winning.

1. Coca Cola sells more because its aftertaste is preferred to Pepsi's. This effect is not measured by a staged taste test.

2. If McDonalds opened up on every street corner in the world, but had terrible or inconsistent food, it wouldn't be successful. They're in the food business.

3. Google Trends says Jackie Chan is much more popular than Bruce Lee in Indonesia, where you live.

What's this have to do with content? If your content sucks, people won't link to it and talk about it, at least not in a good way. No amount of marketing is going to change that.

Sorry, totally disagree.

Content is king.

Just like the example of Bruce Lee,

His Movies show a lots of content about martial art.
Also there are many meaningful scene inside the movies,
Like how he fight for China.

And there are lots of some funny and inspiring quotes inside the movie.

Without Movie, Bruce Lee won't be that successful. it was
because his movies were very high quality, that's why he was successful.

I hope you do more research before showing us some example.

But there is a lots of good content here,

I think you want to show people that no only we should have
good content but we also need to develop other skills, right?

But in my opinion, once you develop your other skills,
you can also transfer it to content, right?

Hope this help,
Marcus

There will always be people who need attention and want to say something provocative to get it.

It's classic "x is dead" territory.

You can substantiate almost any position with generalised or made up statistics, so it's easy to end up in an argument about something where everyone is talking crap and just trying to defend their position, which is just their opinion rather than fact.

Honestly content has never been king online.

People say it is and in a way it might be true. But you do NOT need good content to rank websites. I've ranked PLENTY of websites with only 3 words and one picture on them

and guess what...

They ranked extremely easy, just as easy as it would be with AMAZING content. Having good content will not hurt you... But content has never been king

Your weird examples have almost nothing to do with content and little to do with marketing. Bruce Lee has been dead for 39 years so he hasn't really been all that busy marketing himself and he still comes up on the top of most lists as the fastest martial artist. I think that's because he was. You're other examples are way off too.

I believe that you are using the term ‘content’ as a marketing technique to attract buyers, and comparing it to various other techniques not based on content creation to attract buyers and sell your products.

You are definitively right, Denise. Marketing is king.

I'm a content producer and the promotional method I basically use to attract prospects online is content creation because this is what I’m good at. I hate marketing. I’m a real writer since I learned how to write. So, I have to focus on content creation.

However, who can evaluate the quality of the content I provide? I write about new scientific discoveries, and the public is ignorant. On the other hand, the quality of a website’s content cannot be measured by Google’s tools.

This means that using content creation as a basic marketing strategy doesn’t work as much as many other techniques.

Last year content was king for a while. Today linkbuilding is king. Everything keeps changing.

Of course, good content is always helpful. It does attract the public. However, it is not the magnet it seems to be when you believe that ‘content is king’.

Wish content really was king online, but this is a myth.

In this day and age, people frown upon in your face marketing/selling. They know if you're just telling something just so you can make a sale. I think you can make people believe that you have the best content/product in the whole world wide web but it won't be long before they see past the gimmick. In the case of the Amazon product review site I'm building at this moment, I believe content is king. That's just a newbie's pov. Let's see if that changes.

Hmm...hard to believe Pepsi won the PEPSI Challenge, an advertising campaign set up by PEPSI, lol.

Let stay positive, let content be King and advertising be Queen?

Marketing is the new product.

These are examples of "positioning", not content. It doesn't matter that Pepsi tastes better than Coke, people THINK Coke tastes best, and that's what really matters.

The examples are nice, but couldn't really come to a conclusion...
I think its not only about content, the leaders here has lot of other factors into their business, and they get the edge...

Cool post. I think you have a good point. Much like it's the best marketed singer that's the most popular and makes the most money; not necessarily the best vocalist.

I agree, while great content certainly helps, it's the marketing of that content that is the deciding factor for ultimate success.

Someone mentioned bounce rate earlier. Someone who gets 20 times the visitors because of effective marketing can afford the higher bounce rate and still make more money.

Very interesting... thanks.

Content is KING of traffic and Marketing know-how are Warrior KINGS

Your examples are totally unrelated.
You're saying that content is not king which is FALSE!
You're saying that companies are advertising their products
without having any good quality. You're right! You can use PPC
to get traffic to any website having poor contents, but can you
rank a poor site in search engine? NO.

Acutally, content is NOT the king but only if you've a lot of
money to spend on advertisement.

Thanks

Bruce Lee has the greatest Martial Arts legacy of all time, also due to his innumerable contributions to fight philosophy, cinematography and the popularisation of eastern arts. Not to mention his exhibitions of physical feats plus competition.

A true master, deserved of his title

The fact of the matter is if you have content, you are more likely to generate leads and foster ongoing relationships with customers. So, yes, like many other things, Content is king and its power is only going to grow.

Ask my six year old daughter who makes the best burgers and she will tell you it's McDonald's.

And she is never ever wrong. Trust me!

Hi D,

Content isn't king in online business at all.

It's CONVERSIONS and CONVERTING content that is tested and tracked that matters.

That's so true!

Sometimes getting first to the market can also help you get ahead of the competition even though you may have an inferior product or idea.


If you get there first you have a better chance of it sticking, don't wait around for the competition!

Content is definitely king but for certain situation. When your content and your competitor's content is same, then content might not the king. Then the strategy comes to play.

content is king of course but marketing is also very important. its like you have some good product however people dont know about that

I don't think there will me good conversion with out good content as we need to satisfy the users queries to make the sales.

My guess is that your point is that not only do you have to have a good product but you must have marketing as well.

I think on the web, content is king, because while creative marketing may cause short bursts of traffic they are likely temporary, the truth is content will give you long term relevant traffic.

HTH

I personally think that content is way more important ... In my opinion, i would try different products for once but if the content will not satisfy my need, then i would not go and buy it again even if it's cheaper ... i'd choose content and quality rather than the marketing (like i said, because i happen to be envolved in the marketing thing i distinguish these things but consumers might not)

You are talking about product not about content.

Content is Always King

You are comparing apples to oranges (or Pepsi to Coke, haha )

Good content will always win. Look at Wikipedia, for example.

Here's why content is king. If it weren't, television would just be pure ads and no programming.

Content is King and marketing is queen.

I think Denise,
you are right here but Google has its strategy to see the website with its eye and it want the content strategy.

Content might be king to some extent but not always..
I know a guy who has ranked his site on Google's Page 1 with extremely poor content,,, almost keyword stuffing and his site is ranked on Google Page for 35 keywords..
Its just a matter of luck...

OK so this is true Content is king, the reason they say this is because its one of the larger pointing systems on the search algorithm, Now you have to have a proper optimization with that content to make your self the "King"

You can not just add a lot of content to a website and expect it to bring in your traffic, you must have a strategy beside it and a good setup but if two websites stand beside each other with the same backlinks the same everything except content, content will win.

Okay the battle of the Kings again. What's the sense of debating on which element is king when you should be concerned about what you should be doing to make some money online?

Anyway, I think that what will work will always be a mixture of different elements - content, advertising or promotion, product quality, etc. You need to make these elements work together if you want to hit a home run. Focusing on just one - like content for instance - and ignoring the others is a recipe for failure.

Generating compelling content is actually a part of advertising. Information is actually california king when the correct strategy will be put on.

I think you missed the truth. Brand loyalty.

The reality is that "Knowing What Motivates Your Customer To Be Interested and Buy" is King...if you have content that taps into those motivations, frustrations and desires - then content WILL be king.

The problem is that 99% (anyone want to argue??) of businesses (especially online businesses) lack total or have at least only a partial understanding of...

1) Who their target customer is
2) What they are MOST interested in being, having or doing
3) WHY they MUST get what they want (the beliefs, conversation and pictures they have painted in their heads of why they must have what is outlined in #2)
4) How to present your product/service or expertise in the best possible way so as to maximize desire and increase perceived value in your products/services

So, if you have content that matches these factors, you will WIN - if you scatter or miss the mark with your content, you won't.

Jeff

I agree, content isn't always king, but it helps. I've seen websites rank without even changing the random latin text that comes with most website templates!

if you're talking about getting rankings for seo...then yeah....content is king...

...if you're talking about making money....then yeah marketing is king...

2 totally different topics....

..and um...yeah...Bruce Lee is and always will be the fastest...maybe not the strongest...martial artist ever....period. He had to slow down all of his moves...in his movies...because the camera couldn't film his fast moves...he was so fast he had to slow down his movements...

...have you ever heard of Chuck Norris...or Segal..or Van Damn....having to slow down their movements for filming cuz they were too fast?...

...Didn't think so...lol

Coca Cola and McDonald's spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on advertising to create demand for mediocrity. You can't do that and if your content isn't good enough to engage the people who visit your site G will bury it.

How is "marketing" separate from "content"?

Marketing IS content.

This can be an unending discussion, but for me quality content is still important.

And coca cola always taste better than pepsi.

So I really still believe in good quality content plays a big part in every site's or online business' success.

While I agree that advertisement content is king and the product itself is not, remember the success of every popular beverage. They succeed in both advertisement and the product, so people will NOT STOP buying their product after one trial.

No, I don't agree with your premise because you're making an apples to oranges comparision.

Marketing vs. Content doesn't make any sense because content is a part of the marketing umbrella (which you do state toward the end, so that left me a little confused). When most people say or write "content is king" they are making that statement within context, not in a vacuum. Sometimes they're referring to content sydication or curation; sometimes they're referring to SEO; sometimes they're referring to viral marketing campaigns or free publicity.

It depends on the context.

RoD

I think McDonalds food is DELICIOUS. I love their fries and chicken nuggets. BUT I also believe that they are garbage and bad for me, even though they taste good. On the other hand, I can go to Whole Foods and buy food from their hot bar and it is healthier, IMO, and tastes almost as good, IMO. So... content is king... just are you peddling fast food like content... tastes good... but unhealthy... or content of TRUE quality that is TRULY valuable and tastes good, metaphorically speaking.

You make valid points that McDonalds, Coke and Bruce Lee may not be the best at what they do, it's all about marketing. I agree on that. However Coke and McDonalds do provide people with what they want.

When it comes to internet marketing the reason that 'content is king' is because if you provide good content you're creating something that people will naturally market for you, they'll tell people about it on social media, mention it on forums and their blogs, you'll keep your readers happy AND Google happy. So it's better to have good content than bad content as other people will do a lot of the leg work for you when it comes to marketing it. However good content alone isn't enough (unless you've already built up a huge fan base) as it's going to be difficult to get that content in front of people for them to share it in the first place so you still need to do the marketing part initially.

I enjoyed to read all posts with good content... and I like Pepsi and Bruce Lee.

Forget Coke and Pepsi. Michael Jackson is the king of pop.

And given the choice between content and discontent, I'd say content is king...

I think all these examples show that content is not everything. There are many other elements in a product that are important to the whole experience. However, content is very close to the top in importance for the user. If there is no content, they will feel that the product is not satisfying their needs. Ultimately, people providing good content will gain the trust of the consumer.

Can't speak on Bruce Lee.

But Coca Cola has always been the bigger company.

Furthermore, whatever advantage Pepsi had on the "sip test", they didn't have on the "finish the can" or "drink a whole 12 pack" test.

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell went into significant detail on how Pepsi managed to beat Coke using a sip test.

Coke was really scared though. I don't know if you're old enough to remember "New Coke", but that was how scared they were. They changed their 100 year old formula because in their own testing, people preferred Pepsi to Coke.

Well as the rest of us old timers (everyone 30+) can tell you, New Coke lasted a few weeks before old Coke aka Coca Cola Classic had to be brought back.

2) It's kind of misnomer that McDonald's is in the real estate business.

McDonald's generally seeks to find the real estate with the highest traffic and visibility in a market. That's the goal anyway, but driving around major metro area, you'll find plenty of McDonald's that are in awful locations, as well as failed McDonald's. You'll also find thriving businesses not in the best real estate, and restaurants in essentially the same place as McDonald's doing as well, poorly, or better than McDonald's.

The real strength of the McD's business goes far beyond location.
- multi-generational marketing
- a streamlined process from order to delivery
- attractive pricing
- and depending on who you talk to, food that's been engineered to be addictive (like using a little bit of sugar in your french fries, or slightly larger diameter straws for their soft drinks)

That's just to name a few.

Right now, the hottest food franchise in the business is 5 Guys, who don't have a drive through, don't have the same huge menu as McDonald's, and make people wait for their burgers.

I'd probably mention Chik-Fil-A as having a great business model that purposefully gives away its Sunday revenue.

The great thing about business is that you can be successful in all sorts of counter-intuitive ways.

Taste, Content, Speed, Location, Service, Size, Cost, Quality, Convenience - and you don't even need to be a master at any of them. Take Arby's for instance...

Content isn't King, but that's because there is no throne.

Strasburgo

There's a bunch of "talking past each other" in this topic.

For the purposes of this discussion, original poster, are you talking about "content" from the standpoint of "content as marketing itself"?

Or "content" as in "content is the product"?

Like some of the other posters here, I believe you are confusing product with content.

Coke's dominance over Pepsi first came about from a song - remember the song from the late '60s/early '70s... "I'd like to teach the world to sing"? That's when it happened. As a result of that ad campaign, Cake gained the lead and has been there ever since.

Song = Audio Marketing = Content

Mickie-D's dominance was secured by a big purple blob and a "Ham-Burgler" They went straight for the throat (your kids) and it succeeded big-time!

TV Commercials (Video Marketing) = Content

Bruce, as pointed out in previous posts, owes his dominance in MA to his movies.

Movies = Video Marketing = (once again) Content

Burgers, Coca Cola, and MA are all Products, made popular by Content.

BTW: I used to know a guy who was a MA "insider" back in the 60s and 70s. He said he had seen his master (Chinese Kempo) defeat Bruce hands-down. Bruce used to do exhibition matches with masters of different styles. According to my friend, Lee stopped doing exhibition matches shortly thereafter.

My friend also claimed (quite emphatically) that they filmed Bruce's fight scenes in slow motion, so that his moves looked faster when played at regular speed in the movie.

I'm sure there are Bruce Lee fans who will differ...

Thanks for any response coming out...I never thought there will be so many replies
Ok, some of them don't definitely agree with I have stated in the beginning.

Basically, the message I want to deliver to all of you is don't just focus on the content itself. You have to give another focus on marketing what you have already produced.

Instead of keep working, working, and working hard to make the content as best as possible, you also have to think the best strategy how to market your product as well.

I know that, for doing SEO, we can't rely on poor content as google will never like it.
I know that, if McDonalds fried chicken tastes so horrible, people won't spend their money to buy that food.
I know that, if Coca Cola tastes like water, people will never buy it.

Let say you have the most delicious fried chicken in the world, but you couldn't give the message to all people that your food is delicious. What do you think will it be ?

Let say you are the best martial artist in the world, but you can't show to producer that you are the best one. How could it be ?

Content is part of success, so is marketing.

And the content of that marketing is king, would any of the aforementioned have acheived their status if the content of their marketing consisted of "Umm me good"?

Content is king, needs to be well written, know your audience and target market.

Funny you should ask. I was just discussing this quite recently with a friend. The real reason is that Pepsi was sweeter and it tasted better to most people in a tiny sample like the one used in the test. But people actually found they didn't like drinking it in larger quantities.

Will

Content is King? No way!

Traffic+Conversions is king!