How To Be Successful In Marketing Without Selling A Thing

Published: May 6, 2016

Brian Sutter headshotIf you want to be successful at content marketing, here’s my advice: Ignore everything you’ve been taught about marketing.  Seriously, it’s time to rethink things because the old tactics don’t work in today’s online environment. Frankly, the average consumer is fed up with marketing and doesn’t respond to it anymore.

People are exposed to 3,000 to 20,000 ads and brand messages per day. To protect our brains from overload, we have developed “banner blindness,” a filtering mechanism that allows us to ignore anything that looks like an advertisement.

Unfortunately, few marketers grasp banner blindness, and according to a recent study, 48% of small businesses use social media for marketing by pitching specific products or services — which is exactly what viewers don’t want to see.

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These businesses should be sharing good educational content instead.

In other words, they need to teach people, not sell products.

If you refrain from your sales pitch and offer people useful and engaging information, you’ll create and build an audience that will read and share your content. Even more, they’ll trust your expertise.

If you are in their face with sales jargon, you’ll sabotage your own work. Your viewers will think that the only thing you’re interested in is making money off them, and frankly, they’d be right.

You’re better than that.

So how do you get past their marketing aversion?  I suggest following these three best practices that will build audience trust.  When potential customers need what you have to offer, they just might think of you first.

1. Let People Learn

Teach-versus-sell content marketing isn’t complicated. It’s all about education.

  • Don’t ask people to do anything. Don’t ask them to call. Don’t solicit them for a catalog or a mailing list. Certainly don’t ask them to request a demo. Just let them learn at their own pace.
  • Do put your logo and website on the content. After all, they need to know the source of the content, so they will remember you later.
  • Don’t mention what your company does. Why not? Because the point of your content is to teach. Through this, you will attract and build an audience.
  • Do include a call to action to see more content. When you start posting content regularly, ask readers to sign up for your email newsletter, to view your YouTube channel, download an E-book or follow you on social media. Each of these choices encourages them to dig deeper and receive more knowledge from your company.

2. Tell Them What They Want To Know

You might want to talk about features, but your customers want to hear about benefits and how your product or service helps make their life easier. For example, don’t give them all the tech details about your new printer; talk about how it helps them save money on ink.

Now you’ve got their attention.

The way you get the sale is to show them how to achieve those benefits – without a sales pitch.

3. Be Generous

Bottom line: People like generosity. So when you share content, make it honest and useful. Do it often.

One way to be generous is through your email newsletters.  Simply send more educational emails than promotional emails. A good rule of thumb is four “gives” (educational) to every “take” (promotional).

This method works for social media, as well.  Be sure to share other people’s posts more than your own. No one likes a bragger.  Only 5 to 10 pieces of the content you share should beself-promotional; the rest should be helpful information and resources.

Content marketing definitely means a change in how you do marketing. However, by implementing these best practices, you prove trustworthiness, and your audience will want to give you their attention. 


Brian Sutter is the Director of Marketing at Wasp Barcode, responsible for the development and execution of the company’s marketing strategy. His role encompasses brand management, direct and channel marketing, public relations, advertising and social media.

 

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