Selling content inside your company shouldn’t feel like a pitch meeting.

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But for most marketers, it does.

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In this episode of Chocolate Pill, we unpack the real challenge behind content strategy—it’s not the writing, it’s the selling. Selling the vision. Selling the value. Selling the budget. And doing it inside an org that still thinks “blog” when you say “content.”

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So how do you build a content engine that works across the business instead of dying in the marketing corner?

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Spoiler: It starts with leadership. And product marketing. And a lot of reminders that content is a long game (not a weekend test-and-learn project your CEO picked up from LinkedIn.)

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In this episode:

Erin, Chris, and Sandi break down what it really takes to build a content operation that’s respected, resourced, and ROI-driven.

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Expect hot takes on:

• Why "act like a media company" is a common founder fantasy (but rarely funded)
  
• The “shiny object syndrome” that kills content engines
  
• What leaders get wrong about top, middle, and bottom-funnel content
  
• How to use metrics that matter (including the 7-11-4 rule)
  
• Why product marketing is your secret weapon (and your biggest risk)
  
• How content teams can knit the org together (instead of being buried in request hell)
  

Favorite moments:

Erin reminds us that content isn’t just a silo in marketing; it’s the thread that connects product, sales, events, and the brand. If content knows what’s happening, everyone wins.

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Sandi relives the moment a CEO proclaimed “We should act like a media company!”… then asked engineering to shoot a video on their phones. (Yes, really.)

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Chris brings the mic drop: If you’re not investing in content leadership, and not aligning it with your product story, you’re just creating noise. And probably getting ghosted in the funnel.

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So what?

Here’s the not-so-sweet truth:

• Most CEOs say they want content.
  
• Few are willing to lead, fund, and prioritize it.
  
• And fewer still understand how much time, access, and integration it actually takes.
  

Content isn’t a one-off blog post. It’s an engine. And if you’re building one without a leadership team that gets it, you’ll spend more time justifying your existence than creating anything useful.

But there’s hope.The teams that win at content? They partner with product marketing, get buy-in from leadership, and tie content strategy to actual business impact—not just clicks.

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TL;DR

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If your CEO wants to act like a media company, ask if they’re ready for a media company budget.
Then build your content engine with a clear story, cross-functional buy-in, and leadership that sees content as a revenue driver, not a creative cost center.

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