For quite some time we’ve been wondering how we can make it clear for (content) marketers that an investment in structurally rich and semantically categorized content pays off. Yesterday I read a blog with this catching quote which must sound good to most marketers:

Content is an investment in customer experience with measurable return.

Catching but it needs explanation. Luckily I bumped into an (must read) interview with Ann Rockley (CEO of The Rockley Group) by Heather Meza (Chief Content Alchemist for CMI) today. Ann Rockley clearly explains what intelligent content is and why content marketers should care about it. For example:

“To make your content intelligent (and make it possible for systems to process it automatically) you need to remove formatting (look and feel) from source files and add structure: predetermined organizational patterns supported by metadata tags. Without structured content, it is almost impossible to automate content assembly and delivery processes. Content in one format cannot be automatically converted to another. Structure, ironically, makes content flexible and modular. Benefits include reuse, speed, predictability, and reduced costs.”

Thanks Ann & Heather! We’ll probably use this interview over and over again to explain what intelligent content is, why marketers should learn more about it and how they can use FontoXML to make their content intelligent in a intuitive way.