Many companies still treat content marketing as just blogging—publishing articles and hoping they drive leads. But according to Nancy Ryerson, Content Marketing Director at Lantern, that’s a huge missed opportunity.
Content marketing isn’t just about publishing blogs—it’s about creating an ecosystem of content that supports multiple business functions. Great content fuels sales, customer marketing, and brand positioning, making it a key driver of business growth.
In this episode of Global Marketing Leaders, Nancy explains why brands need to expand their content strategy beyond blogs, how to prove the value of content to leadership, and how AI is changing content workflows.
Content Is Everywhere—Not Just on Your Blog
Too many marketing teams see content as just a traffic driver. But Nancy believes content should be treated as a cross-functional asset that serves multiple departments—sales, product, and customer success—not just marketing.
"Content isn’t just about publishing blogs," she says. "It’s the foundation for how your company communicates—across sales materials, onboarding, and customer marketing."
She explains that high-impact content strategies don’t stop at top-of-funnel awareness. They help sales teams close deals, customer success teams educate users, and leadership establish industry authority.
For example, a single thought leadership report can be repurposed into:
A blog post that attracts inbound leads
A sales enablement one-pager to support prospect conversations
A customer onboarding guide to reduce churn
A LinkedIn post that positions executives as industry leaders
Nancy believes companies that limit content to just blogs are missing out on its full potential. Instead, she suggests taking a holistic approach by mapping content to different stages of the buyer’s journey—helping prospects, customers, and internal teams alike.
"Every email you send, every social post, every help center article—it’s all content," she emphasizes. "When you start thinking of content beyond just blogging, that’s when you unlock its true power."
How to Prove the Value of Content Marketing to Leadership
One of the biggest challenges content marketers face is securing leadership buy-in. Many executives still view content as a “nice-to-have” rather than a revenue driver.
"Content marketing is one of the hardest things to measure," Nancy admits. "But if you’re not proving its impact, leadership won’t invest in it."
To change this perception, she outlines three key ways to demonstrate content’s business value.
Tying Content to Revenue, Not Just Engagement:
Most marketers track vanity metrics like page views and social shares, but these do not resonate with executives. Instead, leadership wants to see how content impacts revenue. To prove this, marketers should focus on:
Influenced Pipeline: Analyzing how many deals were touched by content.
Lead Conversion Rates: Measuring whether content-driven leads are closing faster.
Customer Retention Impact: Assessing if educational resources are reducing churn.
Nancy emphasizes, “Leadership doesn’t care how many blog posts you publish. They care about how content moves the business forward.”
Using Data to Tell a Story:
Simply presenting numbers isn’t enough—marketers must frame content success in a way that resonates with leadership. Instead of saying, "This blog post got 10,000 views," explain its direct business impact.
For instance, instead of simply reporting traffic numbers, marketers should analyze how the content directly impacts business outcomes. Did it drive sales conversations by engaging potential customers? Did it shorten the buying cycle by providing valuable insights that helped prospects make faster decisions? Most importantly, did it contribute to closing a major deal? For example, a product comparison guide that played a role in securing a $50,000 sale is far more compelling to leadership than just stating how many clicks or views it received. By showcasing content’s role in revenue generation, marketers can make a stronger case for its strategic importance.
Making Content a Company-Wide Initiative:
Content should not operate in isolation. The most successful programs integrate content marketing across multiple departments:
Sales Teams: Use content in prospect conversations to nurture leads.
Product Teams: Leverage content to support feature adoption and customer onboarding.
Customer Success Teams: Utilize content to educate users and reduce churn.
"When leadership sees content driving real business impact, that’s when they start taking it seriously," Nancy concludes.
By aligning content efforts with revenue generation, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration, marketers can effectively demonstrate content marketing’s true value to leadership.
AI Won’t Replace Content Creators—But It Will Optimize Workflows
AI is changing content marketing, but it’s not replacing human creativity. Nancy believes AI should be used to enhance efficiency, not replace content teams. "AI is great for speeding up workflows, but it can’t replace storytelling and strategy," she says.
One way her team effectively uses AI is for summarization and repurposing. Instead of starting from scratch every time, they leverage AI to transform long-form content into multiple formats:
A webinar becomes a blog post.
A research report becomes LinkedIn posts.
A customer interview becomes testimonials for sales.
"AI helps us repurpose content faster, so we can focus on strategy and creativity," she explains.
AI also plays a role in editing and proofreading, helping the team catch inconsistencies, improve clarity, and ensure content aligns with the brand voice. "It’s like having an extra set of eyes," she says. "It doesn’t replace human editing, but it helps speed things up."
Additionally, AI aids in research and ideation by analyzing industry trends, summarizing competitor content, and organizing large datasets to support data-driven storytelling. However, Nancy warns that AI can’t replace deep audience understanding. "AI can generate words, but it can’t generate trust," she says. "Great content still comes from human insights, creativity, and experience."
Final Thoughts: Expand Your Content Strategy Beyond Blogging
A strong content strategy is multi-channel, multi-purpose, and directly tied to business goals. Nancy’s key takeaways?
Don’t limit content to just blogs—think sales enablement, customer education, and thought leadership.
Prove content’s value by tracking revenue impact, not just engagement metrics.
Use AI to speed up workflows, but never sacrifice originality and storytelling.
"Content isn’t just something marketing does—it’s how your company communicates," Nancy says. "When you treat content as a business driver, not just a blog, that’s when it becomes truly powerful."
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