70+ List of Game-Changing Content Marketing Quotes for Some Inspiration

All of us faced a situation where we have sunk into a creative slump or start questioning whether at all content can be done better? And that is understandable since no one said content marketing was easy. Well, what’s the way out of that dry spell that you are experiencing? For me, what has always worked in such situations are quotes. They carry that nugget of wisdom, motivation, inspiration, encouragement all knit together, which is powerful enough you to propel you forward. 

Yes, you heard right. I always keep a list of powerful content marketing quotes handy to give me that instant jab of inspiration, motivation, and know-how. 

And then I thought, hey why not put together a list of the most powerful content marketing quotes so anyone could use it in times of need – and by need I mean anyone looking for that extra push, encouragement, insight, enthusiasm, illumination that will help get out of their struggles with content strategy, content creation or marketing. 

So here you go – a list of quotes 70+ game-changing content marketing quotes from expert marketers and content creators who share their practical knowledge, how-to guidance, advice, and some real-world examples of building up a content strategy, how to make the most of your content, how to repurpose your content, and how to create the right content marketing mix that works for you. 

Keep reading to find some really useful quotes that can help you in your marketing efforts. 

(A) Quotes that will help you become better at Content Marketing 

These quotes provide us an insight into the importance of content marketing. They also help you get insight into how to create content that catches the eye of the readers, how to publish it, and how to distribute your content and ideas. These quotes will help anyone and everyone in the business, irrespective of what product or service your company sells. 

1. “Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” ~ Seth Godin

2. “Banners have 99 problems, and a click ain’t one.” ~ Scott Sorokin 

This next one is what we marketers should always remember. This is the true essence of content marketing – pull not push. 

3. “We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” ~ Craig Davis

4. “Make your customers the hero of your stories.” ~ Ann Handley 

5. “Content Marketing provides 4x the ROI of our traditional marketing spend.” ~ Julie Fleischer

Really love this one by Andy. 

6. “It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best-promoted content that wins.” ~ Andy Crestodina

7. “The buyer’s journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.” ~ Analyst Firm IDC

8. “What helps people, helps business.” ~ Leo Burnett

This one by Lee is pretty old but rings true everyday. Anyone looking to have a career as a writer or a content marketer, this is something to remember. Pay attention to your content, its quality, its processes, its structure, and you have already won half the battle.

9. “Content isn’t king; it’s the kingdom.” ~Lee Odden

10. “Content is king, but distribution is queen. And she wears pants.” ~ Jonathan Perelman

This is so right. Whether you are creating your website content, social media posts, case studies, infographics, videos, listicles and what not, always remember this and then write. Hear you Marcus.

11. “Great content is the best sales tool in the world.” ~ Marcus Sheridan

12. “Content marketing is no longer a numbers game. It’s a game of relevance,” ~ Jason Miller

13. “Traditional marketing talks to people. Content marketing talks with them.” ~Doug Kessler

14. “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” ~ Andrew Davis

15. “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” ~ Tom Fishburne

The next one by David is something that all brands should remember. You cannot make the content about yourself and focus on what your audience wants to hear and know. Talk to them, and they will come to your site. Good content means creating the most relevant traffic. 

16. “Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” ~ David Beebe 

17. Quality content means content that is packed with clear utility and is brimming with inspiration, and it has relentless empathy for the audience.” ~ Ann Handley

18. Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem.” ~ Laura Fitton

19. “One of the best ways to sabotage your content is to not tie it to your goals. Know why you’re creating content.” ~ Ellen Gomes 

20. “There are three objectives for content marketing: reach, engagement, conversion. Define key metrics for each.” ~ Michael Brenner

These content strategy quotes and content marketing quotes are a perfect reminder to boost your content marketing efforts. If you are cutting back on it – then start content marketing for your business today! As wisely said by Ellen Gomes – make sure you have a goal in mind when you create content – what are you trying to achieve and what you want to convey.  Also, don’t forget the power of distributing the content that you create, as wisely said – it’s not the best content but the best-marketed content that wins.

(B) Quotes to help you improve with Brand Marketing 

In today’s day and age, the importance of building a brand is no secret. Branding your business helps you create a unique identity in the minds of your customers and builds trust. A good brand image cuts down on your selling efforts dramatically. Here are some quotes by brand marketing experts that will tell you the importance of brand marketing and how to do it right.

1. A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well. – Jeff Bezos 

2.“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is—it is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook

This one by Howard, founder of Starbucks, speaks about the importance of brand loyalty. Your brand is what your customer relies on, start depending on, trusting on, and hence a relationship starts growing. Once your customers start trusting you, they start connecting with your brand at a deeper level. The challenge is to get that trust, and ensure that the loyalty stays.

3. “If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.” – Howard Schultz

4. “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” – Seth Godin

5. “Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual reinvention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful.” – Sir Richard Branson

6. “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.” – Elon Musk

7. “Too many companies want their brands to reflect some idealized, perfected image of themselves. As a consequence, their brands acquire no texture, no character, and no public trust.” – Richard Branson

8. “Smart marketers and smart brand managers understand the importance of leveraging frame of reference to build their brands.” — Mark Shapiro

This one by Chet Baker, VP of Motif FoodWorks, is a true gem. 

9. “A lesson learned once again through ‘the school of hard knocks’ … never lose sight of your brand, its value, and its inherent need to be fed and nurtured and placed above all else! Saving your way there is a fool’s errand.” — Chet Baker

10. “Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points.” — Jonah Sachs

11. “Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.” – Jason Hartman

12. “The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity and accountability.” – Simon Mainwaring

13. If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you – David Brier

14. Your personal brand serves as your best protection against business factors you can’t control – Dan Schawbel

This quote by the editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, sums it all up. It does not matter how small or big your organisation is, never forget to invest in brand and help your customers grow.  

15. Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business – Steve Forbes 

These quotes give us a good understanding of what branding is all about. In this generation where there is an overload of choices, people are no longer interested in the products you are selling – they are interested in the stories you have to tell. If you can make people connect with your brand, you will have a loyal customer base for a long time.

Also Read: 40 Awesome Brand Taglines that Will Stick to Your Brain for Good!

(C) Quotes to inspire Content Writing and Storytelling 

Content writing and storytelling are the foundations on which all your other marketing efforts are built. These content writing slogans and storytelling quotes will help you write better content and tell better stories. And if your business has not started telling stories yet, these  quotes will lend you the perfect amount of motivation to start.

Also Read: 10 Content Marketers To Follow For Unique, Innovative Ideas

This one comes from the master content strategist. Joe, the founder of Content Marketing Institute, and the best sellers Content Inc., Killing Marketing and Epic Content Marketing, knows a thing about content. So content creators, brand marketers, read this and remember this for sure. 

1. “Stop writing about everything. So many brands create content and try to cover everything, instead of focusing on the core niche that they can position themselves as an expert around. No one cares about your special recipe… Find your niche, and then go even more niche.” – Joe Pulizzi 

2. “Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising.” – Milton Hershey

3. “Think of it more as publishing instead of marketing. Be authentic as a publisher and create content that helps you connect to everyone else… because they’re already connected.” – Mitch Joel 

So true and something that we always follow at Justwords. Do not try to be everywhere. Find the platform that suits your brand the best and be great there.   

4. “Don’t try to do it all. It’s better to be awesome on one or two channels than to overextend on six.” – Cameron Chapman 

In an age where we publish content like crazy, sometimes just to push up the rankings, or because the marketing team wants it, this quote should be remembered.  5. “Every piece of your content should be excellent, enough that customers are compelled to share it.” – Joe Pulizzi 

6. “The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say, ‘This was written specially for you’.” – Jamie Turner

7. “The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.”– Robert Cormier 

8. “Stop selling. Start helping.” – ZigZiglar

9. “Writing isn’t about using big words to impress. It’s about using simple words in an impressive way.” – Sierra Bailey

This is something I always tell myself. Do not write content for the sake of SEO content writing and including keywords. It does not serve any purpose, not to Google, not definitely to your audience.  

10. “Why waste a sentence saying nothing?” – Seth Godin

11. “Make the prospect a more informed buyer with content.” – Robert Simon

12. “To be momentous, create content with purpose.” – Russell Sparkman

13. “Content should ask people to do something and reward them for it.” – Lee Odden

Well, Gary sure knows a thing about content marketing. Want to know more about what context in content means, here is a good article.

14. “If content is King, context is God.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

15. “Nothing sticks in your head better than a story. Stories can express the most complicated ideas in the most digestible ways.” — Sam Balter

16. “If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.” — Jay Baer

This is one of my favourite quotes of Steve Jobs. This one is from 1994, when he was still the CEO of Pixar. One of the best business storytellers that the world has seen, Steve chose to be one. This quote, in fact, came before Pixar’s first animated movie came out and became a household name. Without telling a big story, Apple would never have made it from a semi-cool brand to one of the best loved brands across the world. 

Also Read: How Should Brands Communicate Now: 4 Companies That Are Getting It Right

17. “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” — Steve Jobs

18. “You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.” — Beth Comstock

19. “At its very core, marketing is storytelling. The best advertising campaigns take us on an emotional journey — appealing to our wants, needs, and desires — while at the same time telling us about a product or service.” — Melinda Partin

20. And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling … good storytelling … is a vital component of a marketing campaign.” — Gary Halbert

21. “The brands that win are the brands that tell a great story. When it comes to transmedia storytelling, the brands that win are the brands that tell many great stories and are able to connect them all together.” — Mitch Joel

These content marketing slogans and content writing and storytelling quotes very nicely convey the importance of good storytelling and content writing for a business. As they say – brands that win are the brands that have great stories to tell. When it comes to writing, always ensure that people don’t have to scroll through the dictionary to understand what you are trying to say. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and keep it relevant. 

(D) Quotes on Content Strategy 

Good strategy and planning is a prerequisite for the good execution of any marketing campaign. These content strategy slogans will not only help you understand the importance of strategy forming but also guide you in creating a rock-solid strategy for your business. 

This one by David gets right to the point. Without a proper strategy, your content marketing is bound to fail. His quote sums up exactly how content marketing should be built. 

1. “A content strategy flips the tables on traditional, linear marketing by defining the process and then securing the right resources for producing a consistent stream of content mapped to buyer needs across all phases of the buying cycle.” – David Beebe

2. “In my experience, the content strategist is a rare breed who’s often willing and able to embrace whatever role is necessary to deliver on the promise of useful, usable content.” -Kristina Halvorson

Cyrus, who today runs his own SEO company, has worked in Moz and knows a thing about creating content around what matters the most – your buyer’s pain points. Find out what your buyer wants to know, and answer those first. Find out the questions that will help him convert from a browser to a buyer. How are you solving his pain point? Answer that and you will get the buyer.

Also Read: What is the Buyer Journey Today and How to Incorporate Content into it?

3. “Focus on providing better answers for your audience: know that Google wants to have ‘answers’ for its audience, not just a lot of information.” – Cyrus Shepard

4. “Here’s everything you need to know about creating killer content in 3 simple words: Clear. Concise. Compelling.” – Demian Farnworth

5. “Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it” – Joe Chernov

6. “People don’t find content by mistake, or by accident. Every content plan needs a complementary promotion plan that combines paid, owned, and earned media.” -Matthew Gratt

7. “The key ingredient to better content is separating the single from the stream.” -David Hahn

8. “There is no content strategy without measurement strategy. Before embarking on a content initiative, irrespective of medium or platform, it’s important to know what you want to achieve.” -Rebecca Lieb

9. “Curation is a natural and necessary extension of content creation. That is, as great as your content may be, your audience wants to learn from other experts and differing perspectives.” – Pawan Deshpande

10. “We need to create a business strategy for our content. That means saying no to many channels and content types, and focus on where we can build an asset, an audience, over time.” – Joe Pulizzi

11. “Just as your content needs to target customers at every step of their journey with you, it also needs to appeal to their rational and emotional sides. Every customer needs to have their interest piqued, engagement provoked and confidence built.”  -Mark Wilson

12. “Behind every piece of bad content is an executive who asked for it.” – Michael Brenner

13. “I think marketers are very message-focused. They know what they want people to hear. They have to work backwards from there to figure out how to make that happen. What they should do is to find the thing that’s unique or interesting that captures people’s attention. Figure out what that thing is; don’t worry about the message right now. Just find the interesting part, and then figure out how to link that to the message.” – Andy Weir

14. “When we create something, we think, ‘Will our customers thank us for this?’ I think it’s important for all of us to be thinking about whatever marketing we’re creating; is it really useful to our customers? Will they thank us for it? I think if you think of things through that lens, it just clarifies what you’re doing in such a simple, elegant way.” – Ann Handley

15. “When taking a content-first approach, our job as marketers is not to create more content … it’s to create the minimum amount of content with the maximum amount of results.” – Robert Rose

This one is to be really remembered….never feed salad to a lion who is hungry for a real meal. Think of your customers hungry for real information and you not giving it to them. 

16. “Actually talk to your customers. Use the language that they use. Talk about the things they talk about. Never feed salad to a lion.” – Jay Acunzo

17. “The easiest way to turn off your community members is to broadcast the same message across multiple channels. Instead, determine the kind of content that interests the members of your community in a way that is useful to them.” – Joe Pulizzi

18. “Pushing out content you want to publish is a lot different than executing a successful content marketing program that connects with customers by delivering meaningful experiences that are contextually relevant.” – Ardath Albee

19. “Too many marketers cobble together marketing tactics because of shiny object syndrome, chasing competitors, or simply acting on intuition. If data about your buyers reveals their preference to use search for top of funnel discovery and then forums to flush out solution ideas, then it makes sense to use SEO and social media to be where your customers are. If they like white papers, create them. If they prefer events, then host them.” – Lee Odden

20. “Tools are great, but content marketing success is about the wizard, not the wand.” – Jay Baer

These quotes about content strategy tell us the importance of planning before executing anything. Without understanding your audience and defining the goal you are trying to achieve with your content – your content will be lost and meaningless. Before executing your marketing efforts, make sure you have a strategy in place – research about your audience, understand what they like, what they want, and where they are, and create and distribute content based on that.

Conclusion

In today’s world, “marketing” and “marketers” are not always liked or trusted. Small brands are even wary of how marketers will promote their businesses. However, the point I am making here is that marketing, as clearly proven by these powerful quotes, is not about deceiving anyone. Marketing is an art form that has to be mastered in the right way. Hope you can use these quotes above to build the best form of content and strategy as well as rethink your marketing efforts to get the best results. 

What is your favourite content marketing quote? Write to us and we will include it in this list.