Just because you can't track it doesn't mean it didn't work.
Not every brand asset comes with a tidy KPI.
Not every win shows up in your CRM.
Not every piece of content will immediately “move the needle.”
And that doesn’t make it a waste of time.
Some content is built to convert now. Some is built to increase trust. And the best brands know when to invest in both.
🔍 The Problem:
Too many teams view content and messaging like a vending machine.
Insert brief. Get ROI. Repeat.
But real brand-building content — strategic messaging, well-crafted sales enablement, editorial storytelling, even web copy — often plays out in the background. It shows up in:
- A prospect who converts after lurking for 6 months
- A referral who said, “I just liked the way your site sounded”
- A lead who chose you because your voice felt human and your process felt clear
These things don’t always come with UTM codes. But they matter.
🎯 What I Tell Clients:
Some content is built to close.
Some is built to clear a path.
If we only value what’s directly measurable, we miss the real strategic compounding that happens when your brand finally starts to make sense, consistently, across every touchpoint.
- That homepage rewrite? It reduces bounce rate and sales resistance.
- That strategic brand doc? It saves your team time and gives your GPT better outputs.
- That one-pager or explainer? It might not “convert,” but it supports your closer in every meeting.
None of it is fluff. You just can’t always see its full weight on a dashboard.
💡 Final Take:
If you’re measuring every piece of content by how fast it converts, you’re missing the long game.
Some content closes. Some content compounds.
You need both.
My Latin teacher used to call them “idiot idioms.” What’s a 21st century update to the idiom, “Putting the cart before the horse?” Founders asking for MOAR CONTENT before strategy. Look, I talk to a lot of founders and heads of content who want fractional help. About 90% of them have the same issue, Messaging Mess™ I can’t create more content before fixing the mess. It hurts the brand and frankly, it’s a waste of money. What they actually need is to pause content and fix the mess. It took me several years in my career to create the solution for these clients — a brand identity and strategy.
Most AI content sounds robotic because it’s trained wrong. Learn the right inputs — customer language, sales insights, strategic positioning — to train AI content systems that actually convert.
You don’t need a big-budget brand study to know if your message works. Here are five simple, fast ways to test your messaging.
Most brand strategies are built on outdated theory. Learn why loyalty is overrated, clarity converts, and what actually drives customer decisions—backed by real research.
Is your value prop are too vague, too clever, or trying too hard to be different? Here’s what actually works—and what the data says about making your message land.
Most brand strategy is a fantasy. This post takes a chainsaw to outdated frameworks like STP and the 4Ps—and shows what actually drives buying behavior (hint: it’s not your tagline). Based on real research.