Content Marketing vs Advertising. Which one works?

You want people to know why your products and services will bring value to them, but how do you get the word out.

Do you spend a ton of money in advertising? Do you have a ton of money to spend in advertising? If not, there are solutions to achieving your marketing goals that do not follow the traditional advertising route. (and can be MUCH more effective)

Sell More Online by Giving More Away

That sounds a little counter intuitive, right? How do you sell more by giving more?

This kind post expands a bit on one I wrote recently entitled, The Bikini Business Model.

Why Should they Trust You?

Trust. Still the online biggie when it comes to making a sale online.

• Why should people trust you?
• How do they know you have a genuine interest in how you can help them?
• How do they know that you know what you’re doing?

If they don’t know you, then…

• there’s no reason they should trust you.
• they wouldn’t have any way of knowing if you’re genuinely concerned.
• there would be no way for them to really understand your level of expertise in what you do.

How to Change This —> Content Marketing

By using your blog and the social networks you can produce content that…

• helps customers connect with you and get to know you.
• lets them see that you do have a genuine interest in how you can help (rather than just how you can make money).
• shows your customers that you are an authority in your field.

What Are Some Ways to Use Your Blog and Social Media to Do This?

Educate Your Customers
People want valuable information when making purchasing decisions – Not just advertising. Educate your customers so they no more about what you do and why what you provides can actually help them.

Give Away Valuable Information
Give your customers information they can use that could really help them and possibly save them money. The more helpful you are to them, the more they’ll know they can rely on you when it comes to the products or services that you sell.

Valuable Content Achieves What Advertising is Supposed to Achieve.
(paraphrasing Brian Clarke, of Copyblogger Media)

Continue to use content marketing to put out valuable information that your customers can really use to help them in your area of expertise, AND valuable information they can use during their purchase decision process.

• By doing this you’ll achieve much more than just advertising to your customers, telling them about how great you are and how great your products and services are.
• By doing this you’ll let people know how genuine you are, and why they can trust you.

No amount of advertising will accomplish that.