Marketers love talking about content. They invest in production, polish every detail, and expect results. But what happens when great content doesn’t translate into business impact?
In today’s digital world, creating content is only half the battle. The real challenge is getting it seen, engaged with, and acted upon. Without strategic distribution and activation, even the best content gets lost in the noise.
In this episode of Global Marketing Leaders, we sat down with Shuchi Sarkar, Global CMO of LTI Mindtree. With a career spanning marketing leadership at AWS, HP, and Motorola, Shuchi has worked across B2C, B2B, and startups. She shares what most marketers miss when it comes to making content truly work for business.
Content Without Distribution is Like a Billboard in the Desert
Marketers often assume that if they create great content, people will find it. But in reality, content without strategic distribution is worthless.
Shuchi explains that even in her early days at Ogilvy, she learned that messaging alone isn’t enough, it has to reach the right audience at the right time. Later, when she was launching Motorola’s first cell phones in India, this lesson became even clearer. No one knew what a cell phone was at the time, so simply putting out ads wouldn’t have worked. Instead, her team had to create market education programs, collaborate with telecom partners, and build category awareness from scratch.
“Nobody understood what a cell phone was in India at that time. We had to build the category first, before we could even think about brand preference.”
The fix to stop treating content as a one-and-done effort. Build a full distribution strategy using:
Owned media (email, blogs, communities)
Paid media (ads, partnerships, syndication)
Earned media (PR, influencer collaborations, industry mentions)
Content needs to be activated across the right channels to drive real engagement and impact.
Marketing is a Growth Driver, Not an Expense
Many companies cut marketing budgets first when times get tough, treating it as an overhead cost. But marketing is not a cost, it’s a business accelerator.
Shuchi shares how, earlier in her career, she used to feel apologetic about marketing spending, until she reframed her role as a revenue driver. This mindset shift allowed her to justify investments and prove ROI to leadership.
“The minute I changed my mindset from ‘marketing is an expense’ to ‘marketing is a growth engine,’ everything changed.”
When she worked at HP Enterprise, this approach helped her turn a small, underdog brand into an award-winning competitor. By focusing on high-impact marketing that directly contributed to business growth, she was able to prove marketing’s strategic value.
The fix Marketers need to:
Tie every campaign to measurable business outcomes (leads, conversions, sales influence)
Work closely with sales teams to align efforts and showcase impact
Shift from talking about content to talking about business results
Marketing isn’t just about brand awareness, it’s about driving demand and business growth.
Attention is the New Currency, And You Have Seconds to Win It
The real challenge today isn’t creating content - it’s capturing attention. With digital noise at an all-time high, most content never gets noticed, let alone acted upon.
Shuchi points out that many marketers still operate with outdated mindsets from the pre-digital era, where brands could afford to push long-form messaging. But today, attention spans are shorter than ever, and content must hook audiences instantly.
“Most people suffer from some level of ADHD today. If your content doesn’t grab them in seconds, they’re gone.”
The fix to ensure content earns attention and drives action, marketers need to:
Front-load value: The first 3 seconds of a video or post should hook the audience
Tailor content to platform behavior: What works on LinkedIn won’t necessarily work on Instagram or YouTube
Optimize for engagement: Create interactive, shareable, and personalized experiences instead of static content
The best content in the world is useless if no one engages with it, marketers need to think like media companies, not just content creators.
Final Thoughts
Marketing’s biggest blind spot? Believing that content alone will deliver results. The truth is, without strong distribution, activation, and engagement strategies, even the best content won’t move the needle. Marketers need to think beyond creation and own the entire journey; from visibility to conversion.
Let’s stop creating content for the sake of it and start making content that actually works.
Past Episodes
Resources for growing your product
