If you ask me: in the next decade, what will determine a company's growth? My answer is content. Why not digitalization? Why not big data? Because I always believe that digitalization and big data will eventually become "infrastructure"—something every company will have without special investment. For example, ten years ago, if you wanted to be a photographer, you had to buy an expensive DSLR and learn complex techniques. Now? You just pick up your phone, set it to auto mode, and you can outperform 50% of photography enthusiasts from ten years ago. Technology only gets simpler, not more complex. Only content, a somewhat mysterious thing, requires us to think harder. When I think about the role content will play in marketing over the next 10 years, I increasingly arrive at a clear conclusion: Only by placing content at a strategic level can we win future competition.

The Changing Role of Content

I've reviewed the history of content marketing in many articles; today, let me briefly explain the changing role of content.

1. PC Era: The Center of Traffic

In the PC era, we treated computers as substitutes for traditional media—portals were newspapers, online video was TV. Our marketing thinking also stayed in the "substitute" mode. For example, if viewers no longer watched TV dramas on TV, we moved the ad placements to online video dramas. What had the highest traffic back then? Of course, big content projects like the Olympics, The Voice, and Empresses in the Palace. Where consumer attention goes, advertiser budgets follow.

2. Mobile Era: The Glue of Media

In the mobile era, every app is a small medium, and user attention is fragmented infinitely. So "integrated marketing" became a must for every brand. How to achieve "integration"? Just bundling a bunch of media resources doesn't integrate; that's only coercion. "Integration" means all resources must convey the same message. To achieve this effect, you can only rely on content. For example, if you define the audience of Empresses in the Palace as your target user group, you'll find that fans of the show appear on LeTV, but also on Weibo, Baidu, WeChat, Phoenix, and various other media. So, good content becomes the glue of media, the core of integrated marketing, helping us hit target users in one go.

3. Pan-Social Era: The Generator of Users

The so-called "pan-social era" is when non-social media all pursue social ecosystems. Dianping, Xianyu, Douyin, Ctrip, Taobao, NetEase Cloud Music... all types of media hope to retain users with social logic and resist user churn. The impact on marketing is: brands shift from advertising logic to operations logic. Through account operations on different platforms, brands can quickly accumulate users, forming their own private traffic. The private traffic model, once undervalued by official channels, became part of the media ecosystem and eventually a must-have for new brands. How to do private traffic? Besides issuing coupons, of course, you rely on content. Only by continuously creating large amounts of content can you connect with more users; otherwise, no one will use your coupons, attend your launches, or watch your livestreams. Content is the generator of users.

4. Algorithm Era: The Catalyst of Business

The qualitative change in content happened in the algorithm era. The biggest change algorithms brought to marketing is that they shifted advertising from "finding" consumers to "creating" consumers. What does that mean? Previously, to find target consumers in a medium, the core methods were technical targeting, content targeting, geographic targeting, time targeting, label targeting... Did content material affect finding the target audience? Almost none. In the algorithm environment? To find a target consumer, you just produce content that the target consumer would be interested in, and the machine can match the people you're looking for. If your content doesn't resonate, the machine won't recommend it to users. This leads to a result: The more quality content you produce, the more it gets pushed to users, and the higher your chance of converting them. So, the increase in ad content can drive business growth; content becomes the catalyst of business. Advertising shifts from "finding" consumers to "creating" consumers. In the algorithm era, content is not just linked to advertising; it's linked to business. Let's break down what happens to the entire marketing chain when content is linked to business.

Advertising: From Art to FMCG

The image above shows the trend of ad lifecycle on a media platform. Simply put, it's how long an ad "lives" from launch to being ignored. We can clearly see that since September 2019, ad lifespan has been getting shorter. Previously, an ad could "live" 35 days; now it's only 10 days. This data is actually lagging; now ads only have a 3-day lifespan. What impact does this have on brands? Previously, we might produce 4 pieces of material a month to support business growth. Now, I need to produce 40 pieces to meet the previous month's needs. Moreover, generally, advertisers on media platforms will only increase, not decrease. So, ad lifecycle will continue to shorten. In another 2 years, your ad might only "live" 1 day. You might think this only happens in feed ad environments like Douyin, Kuaishou, or Tencent News; outdoor ads wouldn't have this worry. I think those who think so underestimate the "destructive power" of algorithms. In the future, all media will be connected to algorithms. This isn't my idea; you can refer to "Homo Deus." Future outdoor ads, like building screens and bus stops, will become flowing information screens like Douyin. Although outdoor ad owners still shout "occupy minds" and "saturated投放," they will change their advertising beliefs in the future. Because only by being connected to algorithms will their ad spaces and times be fully utilized, and they'll make more money. Imagine in the IoT era, all physical objects become media screens. Taxi backseats, McDonald's tables, the wall opposite the toilet... these screens all need content to fill; they are all ad carriers. As an advertiser, how much content do you need to produce to fill these "content black holes"? Clearly, content demand will grow exponentially. Content production will become a heavy investment like product production. Content production capability will determine a company's growth efficiency.

Content Production Capability Will Determine Growth Efficiency

When you need to produce thousands of pieces of content in a week, quantity leads to quality changes, and the content business will look completely different.

1. Content Cost Control

For a brand to achieve sustained growth, the biggest cost is traffic cost. Some industries seem highly profitable, like facial masks. But if you factor in traffic costs, mask products are only high-margin at best. In the future, beyond traffic costs, content costs will become one of a company's burdens. For the next quarter's sales plan, you may need to estimate how much content material to produce in advance. Content cost control will also become a financial metric in quarterly reports.

2. Batch Content Management

Previously, the review process for a TVC was: the ad agency submits the A-copy, the marketing department reviews, the business department discusses, then it goes to the CEO. But what if you have 100 videos to review in a day? How do you aggregate different opinions from different departments? Clearly, relying on WeChat group chats and meetings won't cut it. You need a content management system similar to ERP and OA, allowing different people and departments to collaborate on the same content.

3. Content Supply-Demand Chain

Because of the explosive growth in content demand, the content supply-demand chain will also undergo disruptive changes. Currently, a company's content suppliers can be categorized into four types: 1) Creative agencies producing high-quality content like TVCs and KVs; 2) Performance marketing companies producing large volumes of feed material, more life-oriented, lower quality; 3) MCN agencies producing influencer material and PUGC content; 4) Individual freelancers providing personalized, small-batch content. But even if you have all four types of suppliers, you still can't fill future content demand. Because the more suppliers, the more discordant factors; each company has its own processes and temperaments. When you need to coordinate over a dozen suppliers simultaneously, how do you ensure everyone clearly understands the client's intent and works in sync? To solve this, you don't just need a savvy PM; you need a collaboration software to make all content work process-oriented, standardized, and visualized.

4. Content Creation Philosophy

Even if you can have dozens of suppliers collaborate simultaneously, sometimes it's not a wise choice. Because even the most scientific management has flaws; the more resources you manage, the more flaws are exposed. Facing explosive content demand, the best way is to use machines to replace manual content production. If we use machines to replace manual content production, we need to view content from another perspective: the "engineer's perspective." In the past, we've been used to viewing content from an artist's perspective. The keywords for content creation are inspiration, insight, and Dionysian culture. But in an engineer's eyes, content is a different color. What is visual style? In an engineer's eyes, it's the arrangement of color blocks. What is creative inspiration? In an engineer's eyes, it's the recombination of old elements. In the future, Big ideas will still be handled by human brains, but countless small ideas and extensions of Big idea materials will be generated by machines with one click. The above is just the impact of content in advertising. Since I say content is not just marketing but a strategic capability, its influence will extend beyond advertising. The first area to be affected is channels.

Channel Decentralization: From Rent Collection to Win-Win

We often talk about media decentralization, but few see channel decentralization. In recent years, countless new channels have risen, not only diverting sales from traditional channels but also gradually forming another sales model. I have an FMCG client whose offline sales leader often complains to the CEO that the marketing department doesn't support his work. So, the CEO asks the marketing director why he doesn't support offline marketing. The marketing director is aggrieved: "It's not that I don't support; it's that their needs are too many and fragmented; we can't handle them all." In the past two years, many new channels have emerged offline, such as convenience stores like Bianlifeng, new retail stores like Hema Fresh, and fresh food stores like Xianfeng Fruit. These sales channels are very different from traditional ones; they are just starting out like new consumer brands, and they value growth more than profits. In traditional sales channels, if a brand wants to do promotions, it has to pay various fees to the channel, like display fees, shopping guide fees, etc. But in new channels, if you have a good plan, they might even waive these fees. Because they want to use your plan to bring more traffic and achieve higher growth. These new channels, during Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival, and store anniversaries, especially hope brands provide planning support to help drive in-store traffic. For example, a potato chip brand can launch a "kiss for discount" activity on Valentine's Day, using its celebrity spokesperson as the initiator, creating a bunch of card materials or a display in stores. Such marketing plans are simple; they don't require the marketing department to come up with a Big Idea, but there are too many of them. Moreover, it's not just offline sales teams that need such plans; online sales teams rely even more on this sales model. Previously, we only called platform e-commerce like Tmall and JD.com online channels, but now? Any platform with traffic can become a sales channel. Are Li Jiaqi and Viya streamers or channels? Are Nian Gao Mama and Yitiao self-media or channels? Are Douyin and Kuaishou short-video media or channels? All internet media, seemingly media, are evolving into sales channels. Interestingly, if a medium doesn't have channel attributes now, it's definitely not a hot platform. Think about it; you can easily judge which media are worth investing in and which are big ad spenders. With so many channels, they all have common marketing nodes and their own nodes. For example, if you want to participate in Viya's member day, you might need to present a plan to impress the Qianxun team. The relationship between brands and channels has changed: from a rent-collection model to a win-win model. Brands' sales models are also evolving from "policy support" to "planning empowerment."

Channels: From Policy-Driven to Planning-Driven

In the past, to drive channel sales, we mainly sought "policy support" from channels: After building good relationships with channel personnel, we'd secure favorable channel policies, like shelf positions; then, we'd apply for higher fee support from within the company, like a promotion fee for Mid-Autumn Festival to allow in-store tastings. But now? This policy support is outdated; channels crave "planning support," hoping brands empower their stores! Simply put, new sales channels, whether online or offline, operate similarly to Tmall, hoping to use content to drive users and leverage traffic growth. These many planning activities are waves of content production. For many emerging brands, the sales department may crave content more than the marketing department and want more content talent. After seeing content's impact on channels, let's look at its transformation of products and supply chains.

Products: Products Will Also Become Information Flow

There are two convenience stores near my company. One is inside the office building, opened by an employee; the other is a Bianlifeng across the street. Anyone who has opened a physical store knows that location almost determines half of the store's traffic. Logically, the store inside the building should do better, but the opposite is true: the in-building store is deserted, while the Bianlifeng across the street has lines every day. Why? Because Bianlifeng's products are "alive," while traditional grocery stores' products are "dead." Bianlifeng uses its shopping data to adjust product selection, restocking cycles, and product placement. The store is like Douyin's algorithm; the more people around buy, the more it knows what to sell you. So, the store's operational efficiency keeps improving. Even if the in-building grocery store often discounts, it's hard to shake Bianlifeng's business. This is the future new retail model; we call it C2B. It means: using consumer purchase data to reverse-determine what products the supply chain produces and how many. With the spread of big data and faster logistics, this small-batch "flexible customization" is rapidly landing. Many top streamers use this model to negotiate with factories because they can accurately estimate how many units of a product will sell based on past livestream order data. We can easily draw a conclusion: In the future, the cycle of product launches and removals will be faster, flowing like information. Consumers benefit because they can buy what they need more; supermarkets like Bianlifeng and Walmart benefit too, not only by stocking on demand, reducing inventory, but also increasing sales. But product brands are crying. Previously, if I entered a supermarket and negotiated policies, my product could stay on the shelf. Now, the supermarket not only wants money but also adjusts my shelf cycle, shelf position, and product categories based on consumer shopping behavior. This business is frustrating; I'm completely choked by the partner. Under the dominance of big data and algorithms, what should product brands do? I believe current flexible production only achieves "demand matching," but whether a product sells well depends not only on matching demand but also on matching personality, achieving "personality matching." "Personality matching" is the future focus for product brands. For example, you go to 7-Eleven to buy a drink, not planning to buy yogurt. But seeing an co-branded yogurt from Yili and Brown Bear, you're charmed by Brown Bear and grab two boxes. Without the Brown Bear co-branding, the purchase wouldn't have been triggered. So, product packaging and product quality both affect purchase rates. In the future, if products can be produced on demand and distributed to different shelves on demand, then product packaging can too. Based on store purchase data, brands can continuously update product packaging, using content operations on packaging to meet consumers' personality needs, thereby increasing order rates. Suppose you're a sparkling water brand shipping to two 7-Eleven stores. One is under a convention center, the other on a university campus. For the convention center store, consumers are mostly business people; you can ship co-branded products with the British Museum to increase product premium. For the campus store, consumers are students; you can ship co-branded products with League of Legends. The product is the same, but through content changes on packaging, brands can achieve "personality matching." A few days ago, I ordered from Heytea; when ordering via the Heytea GO mini-program, Heytea already allows users to customize cup stickers. I predict that in the future, all products will become content-based products. We'll operate product packaging like we operate Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu. Your content operation capability on the product side will more directly determine product sales and the channel's support for you. Products will also become information flow. When products, channels, and advertising all require strong content production capabilities, our organizational forms will inevitably undergo disruptive changes.

Organization: The Birth of Content-Driven Organizations

In the future, all business will be content business, and all organizations will become content-driven organizations.

1. New Departments

We have data middle platforms, technology middle platforms; in the future, "content middle platforms" will emerge. Every department in a company will hire its own content talent for small-scale content production. Large content needs will rely on the content middle platform for support.

2. New Roles

In the future, a company's content needs will be too complex, requiring both strategic content like brand positioning and random content like community copy. The entire content system must be both consistent in tone and personalized. Such a content system isn't created; it's architected. So, future companies need "content architects," not chief creative officers.

3. New Technologies

Such massive content demand requires various SaaS tools. For example, batch content material management software, automated video editing tools, automated design layout tools... etc. Scientific content tools will be a major track for future entrepreneurship.

4. New Assets

We often say data is a company's asset, but most people's definition of data is still stuck in a science student's mindset. For example, you're a vacuum cleaner brand. On Women's Day, you release a touching ad, and a user places an order after watching. A science student would label this user as "home appliance audience," but a liberal arts student would label them as "emotionally influenced consumer." I call the first label "rational data" and the second "emotional data." Rational data divides users by "attribute attribution," but emotional data divides people by "content perception." In the future, there will be a large amount of content-based "emotional data," decoding shopping behavior from user temperament. Finally, I want to say: the boundary of content's influence is expanding from advertising to channels, products, and organizations, becoming the most important strategic capability for companies. Abandon content marketing, embrace content strategy, to grasp the growth key for the next decade. ** -END-** Source: Liang Jiangjun (ID: liangjiangjunisme) Author: Liang Jiangjun Are you "watching" me?