I recently rewrote the copy for the Sharp Pen Media website, and I think the reasoning is instructive for content marketers in general — and especially their buyers.

I think it would be fair to conceptualize the evolution of our positioning in three stages. And I hope that by examining this evolution those looking for content services will come to understand why they shouldn’t settle for “content marketing,” instead seeking and demanding a narrower offer more targeted to their needs.

From freelancer to content marketing agency to premium content studio

The first stage of Sharp Pen’s evolution was essentially the freelancer stage — after I had started bringing on some help and legally started the agency but before our launch. At that point, I was calling Sharp Pen Media a content studio, and we were just helping companies, mostly in adtech, with content.

The second stage, from the launch in February until November 2022, was the adtech content marketing agency stage. I hadn’t yet narrowed our service or identified what exactly our service offering would entail within the broad universe of “content marketing.” The niche was purely vertical — we were a content marketing agency that mainly served adtech companies.

But we’re not best understood as an adtech content marketing agency for two reasons. 

First, we serve clients outside adtech, and not only do we do that, but some of our best client relationships are outside that space because our adtech expertise, while a significant selling point for those companies, is not our most valuable asset. Our most valuable asset — or unique selling point — is the deep research, thinking, and writing credentials of our team, which is composed of journalists and humanities academics.

Second, because we’re a team with extraordinarily deep writing capabilities but little experience working as in-house marketers, we’re not suited to provide all that comes with content marketing. We were able to scale the business from $10k/month to $70k/month because we write top-notch content quickly. We bring compelling ideas to the table. We capture the nuances of our clients’ verticals, products, and positioning. We’re reliable and highly organized. But we’re not SEO experts, analytics nerds, or reach-accruing, social-hacking gurus. 

Where I think we erred, then, in billing ourselves as an adtech content marketing agency is also twofold.

First, we invited partnerships with a lot of companies that had virtually no marketing infrastructure and needed us to build their marketing programs from scratch. Now, we certainly can contribute something to those companies. We’re well positioned to create thoughtful content at scale and even pitch it to third-party publications via our media relations partnerships. But we’re not an ideal fit for companies looking to build a content marketing strategy from scratch or turn a blog with zero traffic into a revenue-generating machine. Those companies are looking for SEO-focused content marketing agencies or analytics-driven strategists. We’re better suited for companies that have some marketing infrastructure as well as an existing content marketing or PR program — companies that are looking to scale and elevate the quality of their content.

Second, in addition to opening ourselves up to a suboptimal audience with the positioning of adtech content marketing agency, we shut out or failed to optimally attract other ideal-fit clients: both non-adtech companies and more mature companies in need of what I think we really provide: premium, research-driven content written by journalists and humanities PhDs. 

We commoditized our offering as “content marketing,” which is vague, when we should really be seeking at least moderately mature marketing organizations that are looking for a partner that produces extraordinarily well-researched and well-written content. This is the client for whom we can produce the best possible results and who is therefore most likely to stay with us for a long time and refer others to us, preserving the flywheel of referral-driven growth.

Content marketing buyers need a targeted service

The story of our own positioning’s evolution is just an example. The broader lesson is that every content marketing agency or content studio has its strengths, and every buyer of content services requires different solutions. Buyers need to understand the nuances across those solutions — and sellers need to understand the granularities of what they’re selling — to foster ideal partnerships. 

Buyers need to think about:

• How mature their own marketing infrastructure and strategy are and therefore how much help they need from agencies on project coordination and content strategy

• Whether they need SEO and/or content analytics

• Whether they need media relations, or talent that can pitch thought leadership bylines to third-party media

• How strong the writing credentials of the agency are and how important it is to them to hire the most qualified writing talent available

• How much they value industry expertise or at least a demonstrated capability to research and learn about their industry

• The scale of the content offering required

I think what my team of writers, all of whom share my background — journalists and humanities PhDs — is best at is using our journalistic and academic skills to research a client's industry, interview their subject matter experts, come up with original, differentiated ideas, and write clear and captivating content. This is the more precise, elite service we want to offer and be judged on, as opposed to the much broader "content marketing.” We'll be honing our ICP to focus on companies, like several of our current clients, that need that service.

But there are many companies that fall outside that category — companies that will be looking for one of the many other offerings within the content marketing industry. To those prospects, from now on, we’ll be extending invitations to speak with our many peers who specialize in SEO, content strategy, and other offerings — or we’ll partner with those peers so that they provide the aspects of content marketing where they excel and we provide those where we offer the best possible service.

No matter what, the scope of work will be far more targeted than content marketing. Because, on the most granular level, there is no such offering.