9 Insights Into Using Content As a Competitive Advantage
Creating content that grabs attention and drives sales isn’t easy.
With competition at an all-time high and sales teams under pressure, it’s not enough to simply push out information. You need content that connects, builds trust, and speaks directly to what your audience cares about.
That’s exactly what we explored in our recent webinar, Content as a Competitive Advantage in Sales, hosted by Mark Walker, Co-Founder of RevvedUp.
He was joined by industry experts Lucy O'Boyle from Lumen Labs, Canberk Beker from HockeyStack, and Tom Kirkham from Transatlantic, to share how businesses can use content to stand out and close more deals.
Here are the key insights from their discussion.
Missed the webinar? You can still catch the full recording and dive deeper into the strategies shared by our experts. Watch the webinar on demand now.
1: Know Your Audience Before Creating Content
Creating content that resonates requires a deep understanding of your audience. When content doesn’t match their preferences, it can backfire and harm your brand’s reputation.
Webinar Example: Canberk shared how a company targeting DevOps professionals with a generic ebook received fake email addresses in response. Despite this, they tried to reverse-engineer the email addresses and reach out anyway, which only frustrated the audience further and led to backlash on social media.
2: Create Resources That Offer Value and Build Trust
Providing your audience with useful, actionable resources—like templates, guides, or tools—helps build trust and strengthens your relationship with them. These resources showcase your expertise and demonstrate that you’re invested in helping your audience succeed, which encourages long-term engagement.
Webinar Example: Lucy shared how Agency Analytics used their deep understanding of agency founders to create tailored templates and guides that addressed specific business challenges. By offering these resources, they built trust and engagement, setting themselves apart from competitors.
3: Avoid Self-Serving Thought Leadership
True thought leadership isn’t just about promoting your product—it’s about showcasing your expertise and providing real value. When companies focus too much on selling, their content can feel disingenuous and be rejected by audiences.
Webinar Example: Tom shared an example where a company’s self-serving content was rejected by a major publication after repeated attempts to make it appear as thought leadership. This highlighted the importance of providing genuine insights and value, rather than using content as a disguised sales pitch.
4: Value Beyond the First Interaction
Content shouldn’t only focus on the early stages of awareness. Instead, it should add value throughout the buyer journey—from first contact all the way to retention. When your content is relevant at every touchpoint, it creates a deeper connection with your audience.
Webinar Example: Lucy shared a story about a company that viewed content as purely top-of-the-funnel. However, by creating valuable content for each stage of the journey, from awareness to post-sale engagement, they saw better alignment between marketing and sales, as well as better results.
5: Sales and Marketing Must Work Together
For content to have an impact, sales and marketing teams need to be aligned. When these teams collaborate, they can ensure their messaging speaks directly to the needs of prospects at every stage of the buying process.
Webinar Example: Mark shared one horror story that involved a marketing team creating content that sales refused to use because it didn’t resonate with prospects.
The content didn’t reflect how sales wanted to communicate with customers, which led to frustration on both sides.
6: Maximise Content Reach
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with every new piece of content. Take one big idea and repurpose it—like turning a detailed report into multiple smaller posts or videos. Sharing content across different channels will help you reach a wider audience and make the most of your efforts.
Webinar Example: Lucy mentioned a campaign where they created a long-form report with quotes from industry experts. They then repurposed that content into graphics, social posts, and shorter articles, asking the experts to share those pieces with their networks, significantly increasing their reach.
7: Test and Tweak for Success
Before diving deep into content creation, start small. For example, try sharing a topic on social media to see how it resonates. Gathering early feedback helps refine your message and make it more impactful.
Webinar Example: Mark mentioned testing content on platforms like Twitter and Reddit to see what language resonated with prospects before creating full-scale campaigns. This approach saved time and resources while ensuring content was on target.
8: Leverage AI, But Don’t Skip the Human Touch
AI tools can help speed up content creation, but they shouldn’t replace human insight. Use AI to generate ideas or fill in gaps, but always edit carefully to ensure the final product feels authentic and aligns with your brand’s voice.
Webinar Example: Tom mentioned that he could tell when content was purely AI-generated because it felt generic. He emphasised that AI is best used to overcome creative blocks, but human oversight is necessary to ensure originality and quality.
9: Measure What Matters
Don’t just look at content for lead generation. Pay attention to how it influences the buyer’s journey. Does it speed up sales cycles? Does it help build trust? These are the real indicators of effective content.
Webinar Example: Canberk shared a success story where HockeyStack’s labs, which provide unique industry data, doesn’t directly generate conversions but significantly shortens the sales cycle by building trust with prospects.