Do you prefer to attract client inquiries and leads, rather than having to sell your services?
If you do, then content marketing is exactly what you and your business need. Content marketing is where you use blogs (like this one) or newsletters, podcasts or webinars etc, as a way to deliver valuable information, which gains the attention of your prospective clients. Then, over a period of time, you get to position yourself as an expert in your field, to thousands of prospective clients.
Content marketing is extremely effective, it costs very little and the results can be amazing, life changing even! Moreover, the results get better and better over time, as your audience and influence increases.
In today’s post, I am going to share one of the secrets behind the world’s most successful content marketing. To begin, I am going to answer the 2 most common content marketing questions, which people ask me. Here they are:
- How much free information should I give away?
- What quality of information is “just too good” for me to blog about or include for free in my newsletter, webinar or podcast?
Here are the short answers to those questions:
- You should give away as much free information as you can.
- You should give away as much value as you can.
Allow me to explain!
Content marketing and me
Back in 1995, my fellow marketing professionals said I was crazy for giving away so much marketing information for free. This was before the Internet went mainstream, so I delivered my free content marketing via; radio shows, magazine articles, public speaking and networking groups. I then established an enormously successful marketing newsletter, before moving on to blogging.
In short: I gave and gave and gave. Then, I gave some more.
The more I gave away, the more I was accused of committing commercial suicide.
The more I gave away, the more high quality business I generated!
Here’s one thing that has not changed, over my 16 years in content marketing: Most people only give snippets of information away for free, or information which they believe is not good enough to charge for. Their belief is that by giving “the good stuff” away for free, it will reduce their income. This is the exact opposite of what actually happens!
Here’s why.
By putting a diluted version of their content out there for free, they showcase themselves as being less effective than they really are. The marketplace positions them in their mind as an average provider, because the free information they give away is average. They are under-marketing themselves and their abilities. For content marketing to work, your free material needs to be good enough to inspire people to subscribe to you, get in touch with you and link to you. It also needs to be compelling enough to motivate people to share your blog, newsletter or whatever, with their social network. People will only do that when the information they receive is valuable enough.
I have never held back information from this blog, in case it’s too valuable to give away for free. You know what though? I do the opposite all the time. I often refuse to publish posts here, because they are just not good enough for you. That’s a fundamental of successful content marketing. Give away as much high quality information as you can, and attract the attention, interest and respect of your marketplace. Show them what you know.
Content marketing and your business
If you like the idea of attracting clients (rather than pursuing them) and want to know more about content marketing, I have some GREAT news for you! I shall be making a very special announcement shortly, regarding an exciting, new content marketing program. This is NOT the typical; ebook, premium blog content and a few webinars – It’s the chance for you and I to work together, 1-to-1, on the development of the perfect content marketing strategy for you and your business.
If you want to know more, keep an extra close eye on the blog over the coming days!
IMPORTANT: If you want to make more sales, boost your profits and grow an amazing business, this will help you!