Lessons learned from scaling a blog - The Intercom Blog

Summary

Drawing from nearly four years of running the Intercom blog, John Collins shares eight lessons on scaling content marketing. It provides a slow but compound return: Tomasz Tunguz’s data shows articles tied to principles remain relevant for years, offering lasting value beyond page views. Opinionated, high-quality articles like ‘Why Cards Are The Future Of The Web’ and ‘Growth Hacking Is Bullshit’ outperform generic content, and writing must be practiced as a muscle with company-wide contribution. Not every article needs to sell, but all content is marketing aimed at growing audience loyalty. Scaling requires an editor backed by a clear content strategy that defines topics, depth, and quality bar; not every company should become a publisher.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Content marketing offers a slow but compound return; articles tied to principles stay relevant for months or years, delivering value beyond page views.

2. 2

   High-quality, opinionated articles outperform generic content; examples like ‘Why Cards Are The Future Of The Web’ and ‘Growth Hacking Is Bullshit’ drove wide sharing.

3. 3

   Scaling a blog requires an editor with a clear strategy covering topics, depth, and quality; not every company with a utility product should become a publisher.

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