The other day, a client voiced some concern about his blog:
“Sometimes it seems like I’m giving away all my best stuff,” he said.
My response? Good. Give it away!
Of course, the right balance depends on the unique nature of your business, but when you’re designing your content-marketing strategy and deciding what type of information you will share, keep a few things in mind:
Everyone else is doing it. And this time, you should too.
Today, information is cheap and everywhere. So if you’re not “giving away” your insights, someone else is giving away theirs on the same subject. And because they are, they’re gathering interest and audience.
Nobody wants to listen to you promote yourself.
But they do want to listen to you talk about stuff that’s relevant to them—stuff that’s helpful or illuminating. So if you spend 80% of your efforts giving away good info, and then, from time to time, you mention a new product or service, you’ve got a much better shot at getting folks to listen.
On the other hand, if all you do is self-promote, everyone is going to tune you out. Everyone.
But with relevant content, you are promoting yourself—in a good way.
By showing your audience how much expertise you have, you actually are promoting yourself. You’re showing that you’re a mastermind, but doing so in a much more helpful and less annoying way. Win-win.
Sure, at times it feels a little strange to share all your best goodies without immediately getting something in return—stranger and stranger the further from net native we are.
But the more you give it away, the more you’ll get comfortable with the concept and begin to really internalize the many reasons it makes loads of good sense.
Libby is bang on! Here’s a great example of when to “think opposite.” Most businesses & people think, “How much money can I make.” Instead, I suggest thinking, “How much VALUE can I provide.”
Actually, I think God said it first with, “Cast your bread…”