Content marketing can be incredibly effective at strengthening your brand, but it is not a promotional tool. Simply blasting out promotional messaging will not drive sales, rather it will alienate your customers and waste your valuable time, effort and resources. To fully realize your content marketing’s potential, remove sales from the equation and instead deliver value. Making a promise of value that aligns with your brand’s strengths will help you earn the right to sell to your customers and will make the audience for these messages both larger and more receptive than they ever would have been through promotion alone.

1. EARNING THE RIGHT TO
PROMOTE USING
CONTENT MARKETING
Based on an article that originally appeared on my site.

2. IF YOUR CONTENT MARKETING IS PURELY PROMOTIONAL
YOU’RE DOING
IT WRONG!!

3. EARN THE RIGHT
YOU’VE GOT TO
TO PROMOTE
–GUY KAWASAKI

4. FOLLOW THE “NPR RULE”
PRODUCE QUALITY CONTENT CONSISTENTLY
TO EARN THE RIGHT TO PROMOTE RARELY

5. “Selling to people who actually
want to hear from you is more
effective than interrupting
strangers who don’t.
–Seth Godin

6. HOW DO I GET PEOPLE
TO ACTUALLY WANT TO
HEAR ME PROMOTE?
“

7. MASTER THE ART OF THE
INDIRECT APPEAL

8. indirect appeal
(noun)
| (ˌindəˈrekt əˈpēl) |
An appeal to an audience need
tangential to your product/service
offering that doesn’t ask anything of
them and only provides value.
1

9. BROAD AUDIENCE GAINED
BY INDIRECT APPEAL.
AUDIENCE OPEN TO HEAR
DIRECT APPEAL
UNREALIZED POTENTIAL
AUDIENCE
NEW CUSTOMERS!
INDIRECT APPEAL FUNNEL

10. EXAMPLES OF BRANDS
EARNING THE RIGHT TO PROMOTE

11. Two separate yet
complimentary
content efforts with
indirect appeals to
different markets they
wanted to reach.
Both online magazine
that helped potential
partners become
better at their jobs.
•
•

12. •
• Created high-quality
editorialized
magazine with well-
written fashion-
forward content.
Benefit of not only
appealing to fashion-
conscious potential
customers, but also
made their offerings
more aspirational and
curated.

13. •
• GoPro gave their
audience permission
to upload their own
content, then made
their professional
content mirror that
style.
Giving their
community permission
to contribute, earned
GoPro permission to
promote.

14. WHAT DO ALL OF THESE EXAMPLES
HAVE IN COMMON?

15. NONE OF THEM FEEL LIKE
ADVERTISEMENTS

16. TV COMMERCIAL:
•Technically “Content”
•Technically “Marketing”
•Definitely not
“Content Marketing”

17. PROMOTIONALPROMOTIONAL
GOOD CONTENT MARKETING IS HARDLY EVER

18. PATIENCE
GENEROUS
GOOD CONTENT MARKETING IS
AND SEEING RESULTS REQUIRES
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY…

19. “ “Good things come
to those who wait.
–Violet Fane

20. AND…

21. “ “Give and ye
shall receive.
–Luke 6:38

22. Follow Subscribe Connect
THANKS FOR READING!
KEEP IN TOUCH!