Most people think that when they hire me, I’m going to help with social media content, email content, website content. And look, that’s true. I love doing all of that. But what I love even more is helping you understand that content doesn’t stop at the awareness level.
Brand perception and customer experience are content too. It might not neatly fit under the bucket of “content” the way the industry tends to think about it, but I wholeheartedly believe everything in your business is content. It might not be marketing content, but it needs the same intentional, consistent through line.
I’m talking proposals. I’m talking the Google Doc or portal you send clients after they pay you. I’m talking the box that shows up on someone’s doorstep. If it’s a digital asset, if it’s a print asset, if it’s a message you’re communicating in any form… that’s content, and it’s either building trust or destroying it.
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Where this way of thinking actually came from
I have a degree in communication design, which is basically a fancy way of saying graphic design. At 19, I knew nothing about marketing. I knew nothing about sales. I knew design and how to make things pretty. But that degree drilled one thing into my head from day one: you are communicating first and foremost in anything you create.
Yes, you want it to look good. But you’re also telling a message, sharing a story, and trying to create a specific feeling in whoever’s looking at it.
Fresh out of school, I landed an internship at Madison Square Garden as a graphic designer in the marketing partnerships division, which turned into my first real job: marketing partnership activation coordinator. I worked in a small team, which meant I had my hands in everything. Pitch decks. Sponsorship meetings. Mockups. Whatever needed to get built, got built at my desk, because I was the creative.
I got to watch the entire process from start to finish, and that’s the thing that made me who I am today. I kept seeing gaps between departments, and I was always the one asking why. Why are we saying this over here and something completely different over there? Because if people visit one touchpoint and land somewhere else that contradicts it, they’re confused. And nothing kills trust quite like confusion!
So when I talk about content, I need you to know I’m not just talking about your Instagram grid. I’m talking about every single touchpoint your audience has with your brand.
Your content doesn’t stop once someone becomes a client
Your voice, visuals, and verbiage (the three Vs) are present no matter where someone is in their journey with you. Whether they’re discovering you for the first time or already working with you, they’re still experiencing your content. It’s just showing up in a different form.
This is where most founders get tripped up. They pour everything into how they’re perceived on the front end, then the content does a total pivot once it hits sales or the client experience. And when that happens, whatever trust you built on the marketing side evaporates.
That consistency is doing real work for your business, though. It’s calling in the right people, influencing your value and what people are willing to pay you, and shaping your credibility. And the vibes can go funky at literally any stage of the journey, prospect or customer, if you’re not paying attention to what you’re putting out.
The proposal test
Content also includes your deliverables. A sponsorship email, a proposal, a form asking someone to invest real money with you… all of that is content too, and it needs the same care as your Instagram captions.
Picture this from the buyer’s side. Someone’s asking you for $5,000. $10,000. $20,000. That’s a lot of money. Now imagine that proposal actually looks like it took time. It looks like a $20,000 ask.
Compare that to opening Canva five minutes before the meeting, throwing in some crooked stock photos and the cheapest font available.
Both are communicating something, but only one of them is going to close.
If you’re asking someone to trust you enough to hand over their money, but you’re not willing to put that same effort into the pitch itself, you’re making the sale a lot harder than it needs to be.
The unboxing that makes or breaks the whole experience
Once someone does pay you, whatever you hand them needs to match the caliber of everything that got them there. I’ve felt this as a consumer more times than I can count. You invest in a service, you get a Google Doc or a portal that looks like an afterthought, and you’re already annoyed before you’ve even received the actual deliverable.
Think about ordering a foundation you saw all over social media. The marketing worked, you’re excited, you check out and get a discount code for being a first-time buyer. Then the emails start, order confirmation, out for delivery, and you’re riding the high the whole way. The box shows up wrapped in branding you instantly recognize. Inside, there’s a handwritten note and maybe a few extra little touches.
That experience is a completely different animal than getting hit with a surprise shipping fee at checkout, zero tracking information, and a box that arrives dinged up with the product leaking inside. Even if the product’s fine, that hype is dead, and if there’s no way to reach a real human when something goes wrong, forget it.
On the flip side, even if that foundation isn’t the right shade or doesn’t wear well, all those thoughtful little touchpoints along the way still make it a good memory. That’s the power of getting the surrounding content right.
It all comes back to marketing anyway
Someone had to design the unboxing, think through the emails, and plan what went inside that box. Yes, that’s technically customer experience. But in my brain, it’s still content, because if you nail those moments, you create UGC gold: people photographing their orders, capturing that surprise-and-delight moment, which then feeds right back into your marketing.
If you’re only thinking about content as what shows up on social media, you’re missing every other place that reinforces (or undermines) the story you’re trying to tell.
Content is a tool to grow your business. So let’s optimize all of it, not just the parts that live on your feed. Let’s connect the dots. Let’s make sure nothing’s being left on the table, and you’re putting your best foot forward everywhere your audience shows up.
🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
