As with any area of content, it’s not just about the information. It’s about the context the content provides, as well as how you can expand it into insights for other critical areas of your business. What does it tell you about competitors, global expansion and market growth? Patent content shines a light on key data that can help you craft a winning strategy for your organization in many areas.

First, Understand the Context

According to a Washington Post article on patents as an indicator of innovation, it’s not enough to merely look at patents per company. If you look at this one data point only, you’re inaccurately weighting your findings toward larger, global companies. Giants like IBM and Samsung top the list. But, if you start to dig a little deeper and apply other metrics like patent citations – how often a patent has been cited by others – you get a better, more contextual picture of where true innovation lies. Think of heavily cited patents as the innovation world’s equivalent of the first Google search results – they’re what people see when they want to innovate.

Understand Competitive Strategy

Robust patent content also allows you to take a peek behind the strategic curtain. If you look beyond the number of patents and into factors like geographic concentration, industries and technologies, you start to build a picture of where your competitors may be expanding. You can get a sense of where their focus lies. Is it in emerging markets? A new product line? A new customer channel? All of these things can become more apparent by assessing patent content in a deeper way.

Learn More About People

If you’re interested in a potential alliance, new hire or partnership, understanding as much as you can about the individual is critical. Patent content also helps in this area as well. You can understand who contributed to or owns a patent, and what their alliances, associations and sponsorships are as a result of it. It helps to give a fuller picture of people you may want your organization to develop a relationship with immediately or over time.

Patent content provides a deep dive into areas critical for your company’s long-term business strategy. From understanding people to identifying growth opportunities for your own organization, don’t overlook the value of patent content and be sure to work with a content solution that connects you to it.

Patent is just one example of applying content to your business strategy, check out Nexis® for more solutions and resources on content.