A bit of media exposure last week left my company’s marketing communications team to resolve a philosophical debate regarding content management.

To post or not to post?

The local metro here in Phoenix, Arizona, was working on a feature about Challenge ABC, for which my company offers Solution XYZ. We matched the reporter with a subject matter expect, and our company was featured in the final 63 words of the 958-word article. (Go team!)

The question then arose: Should we post the article as an additional resource on the webpage for Solution XYZ? The page already offers datasheets, case studies and an archived webinar, so finding enough content to post is not an issue.

I figure there are two ways a third-party article adds value to your website.

1. Audience Education

Will the audience better understand the challenge? In this case, probably not. Because it was written for a daily metro’s broad audience, the article was a tad general for our highly-informed B2B audience. A white paper or technical brief is a better candidate for the real estate.

2. Brand Enhancement

Will the audience have a more favorable impression of the company? Again, probably not. Our value proposition was properly represented and our executive’s sound bite added value to the article. But our place at the bottom of a 1,000-word article didn’t provide great brand exposure.

If the answer to either question was yes, we would have posted. Instead, we punted.

The article was a perfect catalyst for a post on the corporate blog and conversation on social networks. And from those social media forums we could drive to the Solution XYZ page. But we decided the article didn’t add value as a standalone link.

What’s Your Take? Would you have posted a link to the article? Is there a question we failed to ask ourselves? Let me know in the comments below!