When creating a content strategy, one decision marketers make is whether to build a model around proprietary content or aggregated content. Each model has advantages and disadvantages. The model built on aggregated content is typically less expensive but also easily imitated.

Owning proprietary content, on the other hand, is like investing in real estate. There can be peaks and troughs in its short-term value, but it generally always increases over time.

Another downside to aggregated content is that is undervalues content development overall. There’s a general attitude among business owners that content is inexpensive to create or that it should be. To the extent that it does cost something, why pay to create it when it can be aggregated inexpensively from other sources?

I’ll tell you why—. Anyone can set up Google alerts, find stories on particular topics and link to them through their website or blog. The barriers to entry for competitors are low. Any organization with enough cash can replicate the technology and scale necessary to reach many eyeballs with aggregated content. What starts to distinguish companies is original content, whether that’s adding value to aggregated content or creating new content completely.

Content can be easy and inexpensive to create. Good content, on the other hand, is much more difficult and costs more. The dividends are also greater.