Why Content Strategy Matters for Every Growing Business

10 Reasons Every Growing Business Needs a Content Strategy with Lessons from Successful Brands

Think about some of the biggest and best brands in the world: Nike, The Beatles, Disney, Apple. One thing they all have in common are amazing origin stories. But what’s often less talked about – perhaps because strategy is less glamorous than creativity – is that each brand also grew thanks to well-thought-out, consistent content strategies.

Nike grew out of its founders selling running shoes from a car trunk before going on to redefine athletic culture. In the 1960s, four young musicians – John, Paul, George and Ringo from Liverpool – started playing music in small clubs in Hamburg. Their raw energy turned into a global revolution in music and youth culture. In 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne built their first computer in a California garage. Apple’s story became synonymous with design simplicity and creativity. Walt and Roy Disney started a small animation studio in 1923, creating hand-drawn characters that would become a storytelling empire for generations.

Now think of some fast-growing modern businesses: OpenAI, Wise, and Canva.

OpenAI began as a nonprofit in 2015, with a mission to advance AI for the benefit of all. Its early commitment to transparency and education helped shape an entirely new industry and built credibility in a complex, rapidly evolving field. Wise was born out of frustration at opaque banking fees. Two Estonians found a better way to transfer money across borders, and turned that insight into a global fintech movement built on fairness and transparency. Canva started when a design student in Australia realised how difficult it was for non-designers to create visual content. Her solution – now valued at $42 billion – became a platform used by hundreds of millions worldwide.

In this article, we’ll consider each of these businesses to explain how every great brand needs an effective content strategy. We’ll demonstrate that great brands may start with a cool story, but without a targeted content strategy, they may not succeed. Conversely, growth-focused companies may not find success if they only focus on the outcomes of their advertising strategies. 

Great brands don’t just advertise. They educate, inspire, and lead conversations. They use content to redefine culture, technology, and ideas, and to show not only what they do but why it matters. A successful content strategy therefore must connect storytelling and human connection with marketing and business outcomes for long-term, sustainable growth.

Here are ten reasons every great business needs a great content strategy:

• 1. Connect Content to Business Goals
• 2. Discover Your Sellable Brand Story
• 3. Better Position Your Product or Service and Differentiate from Competitors
• 4. Create Compelling Content in a Streamlined and Resource-Efficient Manner
• 5. Find the Best Channels to Distribute Your Content and Increase Visibility
• 6. Use Performance Monitoring to Refine and Improve Your Content
• 7. Get Feedback and Clarity on Who Actually Needs Your Product
• 8. Raise the Credibility of Your Brand
• 9. Support Market Expansion
• 10. Turn Growth Into Sustainable Momentum
• Final Thought

1. Connect Content to Business Goals

Every piece of content should serve a measurable purpose: awareness, credibility, conversion, or retention. A defined content strategy helps tie those purposes back to the company’s growth objectives, whether that’s market expansion, fundraising, or launching a new product.

Content shifts from being “marketing output” to being a growth driver when it has a defined purpose tied to business outcomes. This can also attract more than customers. Investors, partners, and talent who believe in the brand’s story and can see the path to growth will be drawn in.

2. Discover Your Sellable Brand Story

Every business has stories. Some have captivating founder origin stories; others can showcase product innovations; many change the lives of their customers; and some have steadfast missions to change the world. Whatever the story being told for a business, the important thing is making sure it is ‘sellable’. That doesn’t just mean the audience believes in your product, they also want to buy it.

Discovery is the first step in identifying the sellable brand story. For a content strategist, it starts with listening, reading, and researching your business. It’s making a ‘content audit’ of your brand, product, and market to uncover what makes your offer unique, where competitors overlap, and what customers actually care about.

Nike built its entire brand on an emotionally resonant story: empowerment through sport. Disney rooted its growth in one timeless idea: the magic of storytelling.

3. Better Position Your Product or Service and Differentiate from Competitors

In crowded markets, your story is your edge. Wise entered a saturated fintech space but stood out by telling a story about fairness and transparency rather than traditional banking or finance. Apple didn’t just sell computers; it sold creativity and individuality. 

At this point, a content strategist will work with you to frame and position your story to gain an audience and increase market traction. This means defining key messages, tone of voice, and proof points – shaped by your sellable brand story. It can be a painstaking process but it’s worth it for the coherence and consistency of communications it brings for your brand. 

A messaging framework that strategically positions your brand story will be the backbone of how your brand is understood and remembered. After all, your story is what makes you stand out when products look similar.

4. Create Compelling Content in a Streamlined and Resource-Efficient Manner

A clear brand story and a well-structured messaging strategy provides the whole organisation with talking points for the brand. This will save time and resources for team members and also ensure a united front of consistent stories and messages across all brand touchpoints. 

With this structure, content creators also have freedom to bring brand stories and messages to life in core content: from website copy to thought leadership pieces and product narratives.

Disney ensures every employee, from animators to park staff, understands and embodies the brand’s purpose – creating happiness. Wise built a culture of transparency internally, ensuring every message aligns with its mission. When your internal team shares your story consistently, your brand becomes stronger externally.

5. Find the Best Channels to Distribute Your Content and Increase Visibility

Creating great content is only half the job; getting it seen by the right people is the other. A content strategy identifies where your audience actually spends time and prioritises those channels. The right channels aren’t always the loudest: they’re the ones that align with your audience’s habits.

The Beatles mastered distribution before “content strategy” was even a term. They toured at a punishing rate across the world, targeted radio and films, and more recently streaming platforms. Canva uses user-generated designs as organic distribution. This way they borrow from talented creators to inspire anyone using their platform in the form of micro-ads. 

OpenAI’s detailed blog posts and explainers dominate AI-related searches. Useful, discoverable content helps your audience find you when they need you most.

6. Use Performance Monitoring to Refine and Improve Your Content

No strategy is static. For growth to occur, performance should be monitored, content tested, and messages refined all the time. A content strategy should thus define KPIs, e.g. engagement, reach, conversions, backlinks, brand mentions, so you can track and improve over time.

Wise uses transparent metrics (like customer savings and speed) in its content to demonstrate real results. OpenAI regularly publishes model updates and benchmarks, turning progress into a narrative of credibility. Data-backed content is a crucial part of brand growth.

7. Get Feedback and Clarity on Who Actually Needs Your Product

As companies grow, they might outgrow their original audience or pivot to a new one. Content channel indicators (e.g. social media demographics or website views by market) can foreshadow this and adapt your understanding of who (or where) your real customer is and what they need. 

A good content strategist can therefore help you understand your brand, your audience, and the story that connects the two. When your content helps or inspires people, conversion becomes a natural next step. And this is the name of the game, even if sometimes it might come from unexpected places!

8. Raise the Credibility of Your Brand

Especially in regulated or technical sectors, content strategy ensures accuracy, compliance, and clarity. It builds authority and trust over time. When your audience gets what you do and why it matters and believes in the integrity of your brand – this is a sign of a content strategy that is working well.

OpenAI leads with education and transparency, publishing research and communicating responsibly. Wise earned user trust by exposing hidden banking fees and showing the real exchange rate. Honest, educational content builds credibility faster than advertising ever could.

Sounds & Stories Founder Hannah Brown is an experience content strategist with a background in law. She is comfortable working with businesses in regulated or emerging industries – and easily translates legal or technical language into understandable sellable stories. Read what to expect when working with Hannah. And get in touch to collaborate:

9. Support Market Expansion

Expanding into new markets requires localisation. A strategy helps adapt your story to new audiences without losing your essence.

The Beatles evolved their music and message with each era, staying culturally relevant. Apple continually adapts its storytelling to new devices and social shifts while maintaining its brand DNA.

Strong content strategies evolve, but never lose sight of the brand’s heart.

10. Turn Growth Into Sustainable Momentum

Content is a compounding asset, but only if it’s managed strategically. A documented content strategy helps scale what works: a sellable brand story, a well-structured messaging framework,  and compelling content distributed on the most relevant channels. This combined with performance tracking and resource management will make your content processes straightforward, consistent, and efficient.

Your brand will be able to communicate with clarity, even as target customers, markets, and channels evolve.

Final Thought

The best businesses prove that storytelling and strategy go hand in hand. Without one, you have creativity without direction. Without the other, you have structure without a soul. Together, they create brands that last.