"Content" is a boring word

What if publishers never used the word “content”?

I had a great discussion with Paul Gerbino and Dominic Young on LinkedIn yesterday about the word “content.” Dominic hates the word, Paul loves it, and I think it’s useful, but too general.

I started the conversation with this.

"Content" is such a bland word. Publishers: How would it transform your business to replace the word "content" with "answers," or "solutions," or "entertainment," or anything more precise and benefit-oriented?

My intention wasn’t to diss the word “content,” but to highlight the benefit of being more specific.

If I ask “What’s for dinner?” and my wife says, “food” – that’s true, but not very helpful.

Or let’s say I’m curious about jazz, and I go to the music store and say, “I’m interested in jazz,” and the store owner says, “sure, we have lots of content.”

Do I feel satisfied with that answer?

I know the music store has “content,” but I’m specifically interested in jazz. Preferably big band, 40s to 50s-era stuff. Or maybe Maynard Ferguson.

“Content” is a meta category. It includes text, video, audio, graphics, etc., and it doesn’t discriminate between business, personal, or educational, or between different topics. It’s useful as a very broad category. If I imagine a store that had books, music, videos, art, it would have every kind of “content” I could possibly want.

That’s great in terms of being comprehensive. But nobody goes to the store for “content.” They want something more specific.

Now Paul makes a good point that “content” is precisely how a publisher interacts with its customers. It’s the content that informs, educates, inspires, builds trust, etc.

I agree. Up on my white board I have a list of things “content” should do:
Update me
Divert me
Educate me
Keep me on trend
Give me perspective
Inspire me

Paul helps publishers license their material, so “content” is exactly the right word for him because it’s broad and all-inclusive.

But when you’re creating or selling content, you need to dig down and talk about it more precisely. I think that precision of thought and language leads to better outcomes.

If you’re in the market for selling answers, you don’t promote “content,” you promote answers.

What I’m suggesting is that publishers should find their niche in the “content” universe and try to use those words.