The whole idea of content marketing is predicated on one core belief. We’re all screwed if it’s a bogus belief.
“The model proposed in blogging seems to be that you show what you know, people sign up, and then you sell them what you know.”
This is Steve Fossey writing in the Fizzle forums recently.
“I almost NEVER pay for anything on the web when I have been attracted by free content. Why would my audience?”
Steve’s question is a good one, a question most of us ask at some point in the journey of building a blog or podcast with the hopes of eventually earning revenue from a product of some kind.
So on the show today we dissect this issue. You may have an idea of what the results are, but how we get there will surprise you.
Corbett’s ideas and experience here are especially insightful.
Subscribe if you haven’t — and please, enjoy the show.
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““People don’t buy what you know; they buy a result for themselves.””
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Show Notes
How to Decide Which Content to Sell and What to Give Away for Free – Copyblogger
The Passionate Podcaster's High Quality Microphone Shootout
How Stress Makes You Sick – The Atlantic
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Elon Musk: The World's Raddest Man – Wait But Why
PrepDish.com — Shop once, prep once, enjoy healthy, stress-free meals all week!
Learn how to set goals that actually stick!
The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business
Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
These conversations have been fascinating, so we compiled a list of the 10 mistakes we hear most often into a nifty lil' guide. Get the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Starting an Online Business here »
LearnToProgram.tv has used a content based strategy since the beginning. It’s kind of ridiculous to pose this as a binary questions. We give a way A LOT of content. The content we give away in our magazine, on Youtube, Roku, et , feeds our marketing funnel. The content we sell is different in presentation, depth, and comprehensiveness.
We’ve built a multi million dollar company with content marketing.
Steve Fossey and others need to learn not to apply their behaviors and preferences to their audience as a whole.
agreed
Regarding the easter egg thing that Chase said… a few weeks ago I started slowly but methodically working my way through the entire Fizzle Show podcastography from Episode 1 on (I’m up to #21 now). It’s been fun to hear the evolution of the show, to listen for the inception of your various inside jokes, and to figure out when/how “find care, take care, serve hard, and dig in” (which I *love*) became the standard outro. But mostly, I am determined to find these easter eggs you keep hinting at. Nothing found yet (besides TCUzzz) but I am enjoying the hunt. :-)
Oh, and whoever said that Fizzle’s three pillars were honesty, overdelivery, and goofyness? I completely agree, and it’s the combination that makes the magic happen. It’s so clear to me, and I was surprised by the fact that it was surprising (to some degree) for you to hear, which tells me that I might be surprised if I asked someone else the same question about me and my business…
Dude, made my day, Luke. Thanks for telling us! Cheers.
Chase, I feel like you just started Halliday’s Easter Egg Hunt ;)
One of your best shows, your greatest value is recorrecting thinking that seems to make sense but when it hits the reality of (as Barratt said) buying psychology, falls apart. We all have these faulty thought systems and it’s so empowering to hear exactly what we need to delivered in a non-egotistical way.
I must disagree with the idea that people will buy if you give everything away free. The thing that swings it for me when buying an info product is often the “this alone will make the product worth your investment” and it’s something I don’t know yet. I follow a few info marketers pretty much religiously (yourselves included) and would remember previous info. I am very curiosity driven. Also I believe we live in a freebie entitlement culture where you have to keep some concepts back for people willing to invest
Thanks, Harriet!
My first
time tuning in. Well, that was a crazy show. Not sure I caught all of the
jokes. But I surely got most of the good business advice: “People don’t buy
what you know; they buy a result for themselves”. Loved that one!
Your audience may also purchase for the following reasons: convenience &
packaging, the actual outcome, to commit & to take action, or to support
the author.
Welcome, @dannyrosler:disqus!