Content marketing is one of the areas that transcends marketing silos and links into so many other areas such as your website, digital, SEO, social, email etc.

Content marketing also contrasts with what a lot of marketing seems to be about in that brands just talk about and promote themselves all the time.

However, with content marketing, the basic premise is to provide some valuable information or entertainment (content) that stops short of a direct sales pitch or call to action, but which seeks to positively influence the customer in some way.  

Content marketing can be seen as marketing through teaching. In other words, teach your audience things and solve their problems, by demonstrating your expertise, and they will come to trust you (and we all know we buy off people we trust).

If you want to build sustainable and strong marketing, that keeps generating business, and builds an engaged audience who trusts you, put your budget into content marketing.