This article is about your business content.
Mailchimp recently acquired Courier. While the deal was announced in March, Mailchimp recently alerted their customers via email. Why did this deal happen?
Simple.
By acquiring Courier, Mailchimp gets Courier’s subscribers and fans, meaning more potential users for their marketing software, as well as great content that may gain the attention of potential buyers for their email management services, CRM, and so on.
Mailchimp has always had content, but they now have a lot more. That content is the potential driver of new business for them.
What does this mean for you?
Well, if you are a Mailchimp user, you have simplified access to content you may like, but let’s dig way deeper than that; what you can learn from this deal?
Content and acquisition of content are the big themes here.
With great content you get users and potential users. By acquiring content from others or by working collaboratively with others to develop content (instead of doing it all yourself) you get to focus on what you do best–while bringing in the content you need to create opportunities for your business.
Let’s Try a Hypothetical Example
Let’s say you are a small, local law firm. Your focus is on legal contracts for small businesses—everything from buy/sell agreements, to working with the secretary of state, to M&A. You’ve heard about this content thing, but you just aren’t there yet. That’s normal. That’s typical. And that’s OK. One way or another, you will realize eventually that content is a place your firm needs to spend time.
It’s like the iPhone or Facebook. Remember when the Blackberry was the thing? Then the iPhone came out and people in business were like “no way.” Deny it if you want, but you know it’s true!
Or Facebook. People said “kids are on The Facebook too much.” And now guess who uses Facebook all the time? The point is, content may seem like just the newest “thing,” but it works, whether you are a late adopter or not.
So imagine you, the small law firm, found a company that creates content geared towards business owners, content the business owners pay attention to, like blogs and podcasts and social media posts, an overall brand.
Imagine if you acquired that content or that content brand, that talks directly to your potential clients?
Imagine if you now owned that content and every time someone reads it, they see your brand, your name, your services, your contact information. Might they be inclined to trust you because you are giving them such useful information?
Sure, you could go create your own content. And that’s a great idea. We love that idea, and we’d be happy to help you do it. It’s just that not every law firm (or any other kind of business) has the time, energy, and resources to take on such a venture—but they may have the money to acquire content. It’s faster.
Mailchimp was already creating content. It wasn’t half-bad, but their content was very self-focused, and they needed more content that spoke to their audience, not just about themselves. Now they have that provocative content their brand needs.
I urge you to see how you can do something similar.
Creating your own content is fun, eye-opening, a learning experience, and provides so many side-benefits it’s crazy! But it’s not for everyone. That’s why the acquisition of content has a big place in today’s market. It’s a way to drive your business faster.
Did someone say podcasts? Here’s one of ours: Apple Podcasts.