Is content marketing a load of crap?

[YoungPadawan]

So this might sound like a stupid question, but is content marketing actually more effective than good old-fashioned direct response advertising?

It seems like content marketing is the craze these days and I see all of these companies pumping out crappy content just to get more people to their websites to build "brand awareness." Is having a person visit your website to look at some content you created actually driving sales, or is it just a bunch of looky-loos that are visiting your website?

I feel like every piece of information that you put out there for potential customers to see should have a call to action - whether it be to persuade them to buy your product, or drive them further into your sales funnel.

I try to look up non-biased statistics on content marketing vs direct response advertising, but all the information I find is by content marketers saying how great content marketing is and trying to peddle their content marketing courses.

What are your thoughts/opinions/experiences on this?

 

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[InformationH]

I like what Ryan deiss and digital marketer do and implement.

Run ads to amazing content. In the content have an awesome lead magnet to get emails. Right after they opt in have a great trip wire.

If they don't opt in for the lead magnet retarget with FB ads. If they opt in work on them with your email sequence.

Provide value every step of the way. Give value first.

 

[Waspy]

Content marketing can be an amazing tool. And 5 years ago was a great way to get cheap/free visitors.

But now people are pumping out shit in the name of content marketing adding zero value. And consumers are getting wise.

If you are going to do it, you have to do it well, which tends to mean significant research and great copy. All of which adds up to a cost which is probably more than just direct marketing.

So, is it good as an advertising model? Probably not anymore.

Is it good as a long term brand building stratergy by investing in solid research and great copy to provide potential customs with real value expecting nothing in return? Absolutely.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

My belief is that "marketing" in general is crap when starting out. If your company does less than a million in revenue, then you don't need marketing but sales and strategy.

Techniques like "content marketing" are effective, but effective primarily at the correct scale. At a lower scale it is a waste of time and comes at the opportunity cost of investing your time into creating a better offer and reaching out to customers by picking up the phone or driving direct ads.

To emphasize this point, let's run through some quick numbers.

Let's say you make $100,000 in revenue and introduce content marketing. This new strategy will boost your sales by 30%! That means that you now have an extra $30,000 per year, or $130,000 total. That $30,000 is not enough to hire a new employee, so you invest your own time doing all of the work and fail to expand into other realms.

On the contrary, if you spent that time on calling customers, figuring out what they want, and doubling your product line, then you could double the $100,000 revenue into $200,000 per year - selling to the same customers. At that point, if you want to introduce content marketing at a 30% multiplier, then that would generate $60,000 in revenue, allowing you to hire an employee for $45,000 - and in effect pocket $15,000 with no significant time cost to yourself.

Of course these numbers aren't concrete, and based on personal experience, but my point is this: With every single "marketing" technique that you consider - ask yourself if it's worth the opportunity cost of expanding products or picking up the phone. At the start, often times it's not. And if it is, then you should consider pivoting your business from whatever product you're offering into a "marketing firm" since multi-million dollar clients would compensate you a lot better than the market for your own product would.

*obvious exceptions for info products and other products where educating the customer is essential

 

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[Andy Black]

In my mind I see it as being split between demand fulfillment and demand generation.

Fulfil the demand that's already out there first (people *actively* looking to buy), then generate demand by educating people so they then want what you're selling.

As per the video in this thread:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-online-buying-lifecycle-video.52809

Apples falling out of the tree are even better than lower hanging fruit.

Put a basket under the tree to catch the apples already falling out of the tree, then go shake the tree.

 

[Coalission]

I've tested both strategies on my own product and an affiliate product in the same niche, with every other variable the same. Same traffic source, same price, etc.

The results were similar in both cases, driving them to a content page, with a CTA to the sales page was break-even or worse, even when I tracked lifetime. Direct to sales page was +50% to +100% ROI or better. Let buyers buy, someone walks onto the lot, don't give them a seminar on cars first.

I think retargeting only previous visitors who didn't buy with content as a soft-sell approach is a better strategy, but it all comes down to testing. I imagine if you're in a business where you're selling your expertise, it may be a different story, as the content will create authority.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Here's a quote that I thought was interesting that I got from Dan Kennedy in his book No BS Direct Marketing.

"Elsewhere in this book, I acknowledge the influence, power and value of a brand. Yet I am fervently opposed to brand-building advertising or marketing. I believe you build brand free as a byproduct of direct response."

 

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[Mac]

Here's a quote that I thought was interesting that I got from Dan Kennedy in his book No BS Direct Marketing.

What Dan's talking about is like how Coca Cola and other companies just throw up Google ads for "branding" sake. You're not driving an immediate action.

FB is starting to favor content over opt-in pages. They'll give you cheaper CPM's and clicks to content. Especially because the bounce rate will be lower. But I agree with everyone in the sense that you shouldn't just write content without having a CTA somewhere.

There should be an exit-pop or a link to a sales page somewhere. You're basically writing the blog post like a hidden sales letter... or an advertorial.

But you never know until you test. Both methods work for different companies.

 

[ZF Lee]

Some of the best Fastlane education I have received came from CONTENT MARKETING BLOGS by reputable companies like Basecamp and salesforce. They had case studies, real-life stories and everything.

Content marketing should be designed to present the founder's/company's ideas and inspirations on how they think their product or service is going to change the world. It should contain information that further enhances the meaning of their brand.

This is what goes on in my mind when I see good content marketing:
What is your product about? Eh...you're not talking about it...what's this article? Top ground-breaking market research (something like that?)? Hey....this article's very good. It's good. It taught me a few new things. This guy's experienced! He knows his shit! Let's check out his track record....impressive range of products! Testimonials......hmmm....
TAKE MY MONEY

The best content marketing usually comes from a business with an outstanding track record with the experience to speak for it. Therefore, whenever I'm scouting on potential competitors or just going on an education tour, I just peek on their blogs and see whether they give me anything new. Their content marketing might be able to represent the actual value of their products.

But yes...the Internet is beginning to be full of bandwagons hoppers, with every Tom, Dick and Harry trying to hop on to get the gold. No better than thieves. Greedy people don't understand that content marketing is just as good as a spanner in the toolbox...mistaking it for the Holy Grail of profiting.

 

[Andy Black]

"The internet is just one big lead generation machine."

(Obviously it's more than that, but it's worth wondering how every interaction online could be leading someone closer to buying something.)



While you're learning about areas in the Champagne Region in France, you're a potential lead for a B&B located there.

While you're on a forum debating whether Tai Lopez is legit or not, you're generating leads for Tai, or the forum.

While you're helping people understand wine better via wine tasting videos, you're generating leads for your family wine business.



Content. Stuff people read, listen to, watch, or just plain look at. It's everywhere. It often entertains or educates. It's often part of some lead generation process, whether deliberate or not. Content has been around for a good while - entertaining, educating, and encouraging people to buy something.


Marketing. Finding out what people want, how to sell it to them, whether you can make a profit, and then doing it.



Content Marketing?

IMO, marketers have come up with the new label of what people have been doing since people have been around, so they can sell it to us again.

"If you can't be first in your industry, create a new industry and be first in that."

Rest assured, some buzz word out there that's being pushed by some marketer will eventually be the new hot thing on the block. It will take over from content marketing and we'll be educated on why we NEED that new strategy to be in business.

Old timers will shake their heads and wonder who the product is.



All we NEED to be in business are customers.

Everything else are just ways HOW to get (and retain) customers, and some are as old as the hills even when they're given a new label.



Don't get distracted by labels.

Don't get distracted by HOW.

Get your WHAT and WHY right and everything else falls into place.

 

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[jsk29]

...

Content Marketing?

IMO, marketers have come up with the new label of what people have been doing since people have been around, so they can sell it to us again.

...

Schlitz Beer Ad by Claude Hopkins

Hathaway Shirt ad by David Ogilvy

 

[Thiago Machado]

The results were similar in both cases, driving them to a content page, with a CTA to the sales page was break-even or worse, even when I tracked lifetime. Direct to sales page was +50% to +100% ROI or better. Let buyers buy, someone walks onto the lot, don't give them a seminar on cars first.
.

@Coalission

I was thinking of generating web design leads within my city through online ads.

When you mean direct, you mean straight to the point like this?

*Note- This isn't mine. Just an example I found.

I see a lot of talk about content marketing on the web as well.
But I have to agree with @AgainstAllOdds. It doesn't make sense for a small guy like me to spend time making content when I need to be out making sales.

I'd love to know your feedback!

 

[applesack]

Content period is important.

@InformationH and @andy-black hit it above, and I completely agree with them.

In order to sell, you have to communicate. That communication is content, so, perfect it, break it into bite sized chunks and publish it ALL as your content.

You have to know why you sell and why your customer buys... Read Simon Sinek's Start with Why
You have to be able to communicate the underlying thing... the big idea (Read Ogilvey on Advertising Ogilvey's 22 laws as mentioned by @ksc23 above)
Finally, you need to be passionate. Maybe you cannot be passionate about making cheap shoes, but you can be passionate about making cheap shoes, overpricing them, and giving a pair to a poor person every time you sell a pair. Figure that out.

Once you have figured those things out, start creating content and publishing it regularly through your website.

Finally, crosslink all your content. Every bit of it. If you take time to create 300 words about "applewood smoking the perfect trout," you must crosslink that article to the one about "trout fishing locations," "how to smoke meat," and the one about "cooking trout over an open fire on a fishing trip." Each of the others must crosslink to other relevant content. Google owns your site, remember, so you must make your content web-like. Inbound links, outbound links... not as important as the gurus say it is. But! Crosslinking smartly within your content is more important than writing the content in the first place.

 

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[Coalission]

@Coalission

I was thinking of generating web design leads within my city through online ads.

When you mean direct, you mean straight to the point like this?

*Note- This isn't mine. Just an example I found.

I see a lot of talk about content marketing on the web as well.
But I have to agree with @AgainstAllOdds. It doesn't make sense for a small guy like me to spend time making content when I need to be out making sales.

I'd love to know your feedback!

No I mean the page they go to after clicking your ad is a page meant to sell them, not an article that you hope they like and will be enamored with your content enough that they'll sign up to your newsletter or click around your site and eventually order your services.

Honestly, for local web design your best bet is probably cold emailing or cold calling businesses in your city. Your potential clientele is literally out in the open, so write individual emails to them, personalized and not bulk, and just tell them what you can do for them, and why it's a no-brainer to hire you. If they have a shitty website and/or they could be doing so much better with the traffic they get, then it IS a no-brainer.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Give value first.

+1.

Is content marketing a load of crap?

All I can say is this: TMF 's success over time (through the years and not based on a stupid launch scheme) is partially owed to "content marketing".

If I had to quantify it, I'd say it comes down to 3 factors:

1) The product being good enough from a Fastlane (need) perspective. (That can only compel #3)
2) Content marketing (this forum drives TRAFFIC through content, new eyeballs here are introduced to the TMF concept)
3) Social proof (recommendations from people all across the web, including here) drives #1, which drives #3.

The entire thing short circuits if #1 is missing.

 

[Thiago Machado]

No I mean the page they go to after clicking your ad is a page meant to sell them, not an article that you hope they like and will be enamored with your content enough that they'll sign up to your newsletter or click around your site and eventually order your services.

Ah... got it. Thanks!

Honestly, for local web design your best bet is probably cold emailing or cold calling businesses in your city. Your potential clientele is literally out in the open, so write individual emails to them, personalized and not bulk, and just tell them what you can do for them, and why it's a no-brainer to hire you. If they have a shitty website and/or they could be doing so much better with the traffic they get, then it IS a no-brainer.

Yeah, pretty much what I do at the moment. But since I'm on my own, I figured this may be a way to generate leads while I build the websites. Figured it's an alternative to the method described above. If it works, it could remove a lot of the time I spend prospecting. Time that I could be spending building the sites and closing sales. (And maybe get the "low hanging fruit / fruits on the ground?")

Based on your experience, do you think that's viable?
I'm think I'm gonna set up a test to see how it works out.

 

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[Coalission]

Ah... got it. Thanks!



Yeah, pretty much what I do at the moment. But since I'm on my own, I figured this may be a way to generate leads while I build the websites. Figured it's an alternative to the method described above. If it works, it could remove a lot of the time I spend prospecting ( and maybe get the "low hanging fruit / fruits on the ground?")

Based on your experience, do you think that's viable?
I'm think I'm gonna set up a test.

I would do some competitive research on other web design companies in competitive markets and see what's working for them. Google something like "new york web design" and look at who's paying for ads. Go to Spyfu or Semrush or one of those places that'll let you do it for free, and search for those websites, if they've been paying for advertising for a while, they're likely making a return on their ad spend, so follow their strategy. Do they do content marketing, do they use video, do they collect opt-ins, etc.

 

[Thiago Machado]

I would do some competitive research on other web design companies in competitive markets and see what's working for them. Google something like "new york web design" and look at who's paying for ads. Go to Spyfu or Semrush or one of those places that'll let you do it for free, and search for those websites, if they've been paying for advertising for a while, they're likely making a return on their ad spend, so follow their strategy. Do they do content marketing, do they use video, do they collect opt-ins, etc.

Reverse engineer the process. Nice!

Thanks, man

 

[Waspy]

2) Content marketing (this forum drives TRAFFIC through content, new eyeballs here are introduced to the TMF concept)

So. Here is the sorry of how I got here. Some bits are missing due to lack of memory.

November 2016: Just got a new, well(ish) paying job while business was on hold (business didn't make CENTS). I was Googling best ways to grow my money to be rich when I die (Urgh, Slowlane) and found this thread - Slowlane - Every 25 Year Old Needs to See This Chart... (Uh, no...)

I read the comments tearing this chart to pieces and thought to myself "Two months ago, I would have been join in, what has happened?"

So I snapped myself out of that horrific slowlane mentality and bought TMF .

After finishing the book, I join the forum.

After being on the forum for a month, I bought an INSIDERS subscription.

So MJ has had at least $70 out of me so far, and all because he posted one simple chart and let the forum rip it to bits.

 

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[Andy Black]

Here's my story of how I found the forum and then the book:

In May 2014 I log into Google Analytics for my blog (I only do this about twice a year).

I find some visitors coming from some forum I've never heard of. I trace the link back. It's someone from a different forum I'm in at the time, who's found an article on my blog and linked to it in his progress thread on TFLF.

I look at some of the threads and like the "give first" emphasis that is in *everything*. I like the manners and refreshing lack of spam.

I sign up. I keep hearing people say "read the book". Huh? I work out what the book is, immediately purchase it on the Kindle, then the printed version. I lend the printed version out a few times and keep having to rebuy it (a handful of times at this stage). I also buy it on audible and tell everyone I know to get it on audible.

I joined the inside of the forum pretty much immediately.

MJ has built quite a machine, with many breadcrumbs out there that lead back to his assets.

He's created champions who share his creations for him.

Two and a half years later and I've posted over 4,000 times. Some of those posts likely caused other people to signup (although likely nowhere near as many signups as Tai Lopez has contributed).

All because the book is quality, and the forum is quality.

CENTS anyone?

 

[YoungPadawan]

Yeah, I absolutely 100% agree that value is the absolute fundamental thing that should be focused on.

This thread has been eye opening for me. I didn't really think content marketing was all that effective, but now I see that it can definitely have its place as an effective marketing strategy, when used correctly.

 

[applesack]

Honestly, for local web design your best bet is probably cold emailing or cold calling businesses in your city. Your potential clientele is literally out in the open, so...

@Coalission is exactly right. If you email them, follow up with a call or stop in. They will like to see you. Also use builtwith.com and / or wappalyzer.com (and their killer firefox plugin as well) to analyze the tech the businesses are already using / familiar with... and maybe use a site like similarweb.com to see what revenue they are pushing through their current site... this way you can more carefully target your ideal client.

 

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[applesack]

About Value...

Building value in your content is paramount. But! If your content never gets read, it is valueless!

Why won't it get read?

Because your SEO footprint is light. Now, I know that many here have given up on SEO, and... it is tricky... but SEO is more important than ever, in my opinion.

How can I get my content read? How can I fix my SEO?

Every piece of content (product page, article, video on YT, tweet, FB promoted status, email.... every piece) must in and out link relevantly as much as technically possible. In and Out link to your own content. If you can get good inbound links from customers, good, but don't spend a lot of time on it. Instead spend a lot of time on in/out linking all of your own content. If you in/out link like a freaking religion, your search footprint will be VERY cohesive, which means that any SEO signal gain will be shared strongly across your entire footprint.

About Fastlane Forum (or any forum)

Forums in general have fairly good crosslinking between all the content pieces (read: threads), so they generally have a more cohesive search footprint than other types of sites. e-commerce sites are notoriously bad at crosslinking, and blogs are generally iffy at best. You want to see crosslinking done well? Study wikipedia. They don't even know what they are doing for their own SEO... its just natural for their own format, but the SE's absolutely eat it up.

So, saying that the valuable content here is what made the difference is complicated... if all the content that is on this site was not in forum format, the likelihood of any of us having come across the content in the first place is much (like 1000:1) less likely. Once you found the content, would you convert? Yes. But... if you never found it, you would never convert.

 

[Thiago Machado]

@Coalission is exactly right. If you email them, follow up with a call or stop in. They will like to see you. Also use builtwith.com and / or wappalyzer.com (and their killer firefox plugin as well) to analyze the tech the businesses are already using / familiar with... and maybe use a site like similarweb.com to see what revenue they are pushing through their current site... this way you can more carefully target your ideal client.

Thanks @applesack!

I never knew about those last two links.
Will definitely use this approach and report back.

 

[G-Man]

1) The product being good enough from a Fastlane (need) perspective. (That can only compel #3)

The quality of product is on a different level. I found my way to TMF through a blog that I used to read regularly. The guy definitely has a fastlane business, and it's not that the content is bad, but it's more or less motivational in nature and highly repetitive.

The content on TMF /TFLF is second to none as far as what I've encountered, and I gotta say, even though I know that this forum serves as a marketing platform for MJ, I'm still willing to pay for it because of the quality of the content. That's not SEO or any kind of marketing sleight of hand, that's a high value add, very sticky brand.

 

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[The-J]

If your company does less than a million in revenue, then you don't need marketing but sales and strategy.

Sell. More. Shit.

Rep+

 

[Austin Ogre]

I see all of these companies pumping out crappy content just to get more people to their websites to build "brand awareness."

Crappy content is absolutely content marketing, but what is says is we're crap (and we think you're an idiot so we're wasting your time by giving you crap). Hellofa brand.... Effective content, valuable content can be an effective marketing tool, but it's often only peripherally focused on selling which can be a bit frustrating if you are a metrics fanatic. Instead it is a way to establish credibility and expertise which pays long term dividends.

Here's some information that's valuable for free about *thing*:

• Not marketing fluff; something really valuable.
• We are providing this because we're experts in *thing* and we know many people want to know more about *thing*.
• We hope you found this information useful and are as passionate about *thing* as we are.
• We'll continue to share more about *thing* for free, so please keep visiting.

This is a credibility proof point. Provide a link on the side of the page to find out more or to sign up. Don't make it part of the content.The content should stand alone. It is not an ad. An ad is an ad. The call to action in the content marketing can be: Do *thing* or do these 5 things we pointed out that are essential to *thing*.

The surrounding site around the content can include a reminder: If you want to do *thing* we're your resource, let's do *thing* together.