About a decade ago, when we launched Masthead, the content marketing scene was just heating up. Back then, forward-thinking brands were tentatively testing the waters, experimenting to see if content could help them connect with audiences, nurture leads, and boost sales. 

It didn’t take long for those experiments to pay off in a measurable way. As content marketing proved its worth, it started catching the attention of departments outside of the usual marketing circles—think customer service, HR, and sales.

Fast forward to today, and the most forward-thinking brands are taking a more holistic approach to content. They're creating global content strategies that reach across the entire organization, tapping into the power of content to connect with everyone from job seekers to new business prospects to loyal customers. 

In this way, content marketing has found its way into some fairly unexpected corners of company operations. From transforming customer service to enhancing recruitment efforts and empowering sales teams, let’s explore three unexpected areas where content marketing can make a significant impact within a brand.

How Content Marketing Helps Your Customer Service Team

The customer service department represents your brand daily, including countless direct interactions with your audience. They’re “real people” who address questions or concerns or proactively reach out to customers to help them onboard or feel positive about their purchases on an ongoing basis. 

Because they hear and speak to the same challenges over and over again, the customer service team can be a fantastic resource for content ideas. Their knowledge of pain points and friction can then be turned into helpful compelling multimedia assets (e.g., blog articles, guides, videos, FAQs,) that’s then used to improve the customer experience.

As an example, Hubspot has produced (and has added to) an entire “academy” of content that trains customers on the use of their SaaS products. This knowledge would take days for a customer service agent to speak through on a time-consuming, one-to-one basis.

By the same token, Apple often supports its customer service calls by texting or emailing articles that enable the user to learn more or solve a problem independently. 

When these are publicly available online, they can be a goldmine for organic search. Don’t dismiss the power of branded search queries! They draw in new prospects for brands and help buyers to feel more comfortable before making a purchase. 

The secret to creating highly successful customer service content is to apply the editorial process. That means interviewing stakeholders (for ideas), planning out your assets on an editorial calendar and tapping highly skilled editorial specialists to create content in your brand’s unique voice and tone. 

The goal—even for content seen by a very small audience—is to ensure that it truly feels like it’s coming from you. It should be united with the spirit of all other messaging across the brand. 

Voice and tone guidelines should be provided to the customer service department in the same way they are provided to every writer or social media strategist on your team.

Why Human Resources Needs Content Marketing

Human resources covers everything from talent acquisition to internal communications to employee training. Well-crafted content can support all of these functions. 

Talent Acquisition

In highly competitive job markets, attracting top talent requires more than just posting job openings. Content marketing can help HR teams showcase your company culture, values, and opportunities for growth. 

Employer branding content includes:

• Employee testimonials

• Behind-the-scenes videos

• Social and blog posts highlighting company initiatives

By creating these, the recruiting team can attract candidates who align with the organization's mission and values. This kind of content resonates particularly well with Gen Z, who typically research what it’s like to work for companies online and through social media before they’ll accept a job.

Internal Communications

Once you have the right candidates in the door, it’s essential to give them a fantastic experience so they’ll want to stick around (and recommend your company to others as a great place to work).

Content can play a major role in establishing a cohesive, collaborative, and happy workforce. Think of every interaction you have with your employees as an opportunity to keep them informed, motivated, and connected to the company's goals and initiatives. 

You’ll get the chance to make positive, powerful connections in the form of internal communications content: 

• Company newsletters

• Employee apps

• Internal articles

• Video updates

• Live event content (think: town halls and all-hands meetings). 

Treat these content assets as powerful opportunities by creating a content strategy around internal communications—complete with metric and non-metric KPIs. 

Learning Experiences 

Most employees want to keep growing professionally when they're with your company—and you in turn, probably have things you want for them to learn. You can achieve both missions by producing compelling learning experience content. 

Learning experience content includes:

• Interactive e-learning courses

• Instructional videos

• Knowledge-sharing platforms

If you’re thinking about developing these materials for employees, work with a content team that specializes in making them truly engaging (otherwise, there’s a high risk that your team will never finish them!). When done right, however, you can create a compelling, interactive asset that dramatically improves retention of important information. 

Helping Your Sales Team With Content Marketing

Content marketing and sales are two sides of the same coin, yet they often operate in silos within organizations. 

Content marketers excel at crafting compelling narratives—but they don’t always have access to the info and stakeholders needed to really get customer pain points. Similarly, sales teams are extremely knowledgeable about customer needs and preferences, but they don’t always have the right piece of content at the right time (or don’t use content to support their process at all).

Ideally, these two departments would work in tandem, sharing insights and resources to enhance the customer experience at every touchpoint. By aligning content marketing efforts with sales objectives, organizations can create a seamless journey for customers, from initial engagement to post-purchase support.

For example, marketers can provide sales teams with targeted materials to address specific customer objections or highlight the unique value propositions of products or services. These assets include:

• Case studies or customer stories showcasing successful outcomes

• Interactive product demos/videos that showcase key features

• Email templates and sequences in a more nature, “non-salesy” voice and tone

• Articles and FAQ pages that address prospect questions or concerns

• Shareable social media assets highlighting industry trends, customer testimonials and success stories

• One sheets explaining your product and its benefits

At Masthead, we’ve seen another layer of content support needed when a third party takes on the role of selling your products (such as an insurance broker or financial advisor). Those teams should have access to content that helps them understand the intricacies of the products or services they’re selling and supports the sales process from end to end.

Some examples include:

• Educational content: Whitepapers, guides, or interactive modules that explain complex concepts in simple terms.

• Sales enablement resources: Sales scripts, presentation decks, and product comparison guides that empower salespeople to effectively communicate the value proposition of the products or services to their clients.

• Marketing collateral: Brochures, flyers, and digital assets (social media, email templates.

Truly effective content marketing is a two-way street. In addition to leveraging the assets provided, sales teams should provide as much data and insight as possible to marketers about the effectiveness of different messaging strategies and the types of content that resonate most with customers. 

As we’ve experienced over the past few years, content marketing has evolved far beyond its traditional role in brand awareness and lead generation. It now plays a critical role in supporting various functions across the organization, from customer service and human resources to sales and beyond. 

By recognizing the untapped potential of content marketing in unexpected areas of business operations, organizations can unlock new opportunities for growth, innovation, and customer satisfaction.