The DEATH of Content Marketing?

by Raydal
53 replies
This is a very intriguing article with a different view of marketing.
Take 5 minutes and read this one. It may change your business!

The Marketing Myth That Is Killing This Generation Of Businesses | Inc.com

-Ray Edwards
#content #death #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author superowid
    Thanks Raydal. Good reading. I agree to what Russ said. So many times we got a blind information in many WSOs that were just created opposite to what he told (I mean: following those faults).
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  • Profile picture of the author time4vps
    Thnaks for the link. Just finished reading it.
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  • Profile picture of the author anwar001
    Good read. Thanks for sharing. This thing came to my mind several times over the past year or so. There is so much content being generated all over the internet, whether in the form of videos, podcasts, blog posts or whatever. It gets mind-boggling after some time. A lot of content is of no real value or use - whether list-type articles (50 best ways of ....) or any other sort of supposedly viral content.

    It is time to move on to something different. When the supply of something increases too much, its value decreases. This is the exact thing happening to content on the internet I guess.
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  • Profile picture of the author FriendlyRob
    I read an article just the other day with a similar message. Rather than spend a great deal of effort creating content, create less content and spent a great deal of effort promoting it.

    On the other hand, he is one of the few people to refute Seth Godin and that's fine. However, it is probable that if someone is the first to say something controversial, unique, or thought-provoking and you can say it convincingly enough, people will notice.

    This is exactly what Godin did.

    I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the article, just a few thoughts.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      The 'faulty assumptions' are right on the money. Targeted content - excellent content - content that sells NOW - makes a lot of sense. Of course, it flies in the face of "buy cheap articles on Fiverr"....
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      • Profile picture of the author John Durham
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        The 'faulty assumptions' are right on the money. Targeted content - excellent content - content that sells NOW - makes a lot of sense"....
        Its better to create a page that has excellent content that sells the product now, than to take months working the relationship and have the people focused on YOU.... because later when you have 10 thousand people who dont want just products, and who want YOU.... You are the main focus and are going to have a big mess of people knocking down your door with hurt feelings because you cant personally spend 3 hours a day focused on them..... ten thousand individuals who want YOU and not happy with just a product that fixes a problem.

        On another note, you can hardly outsource this because you have spent months focusing on their relationship with you, and they dont want to talk to your VA. It's better to be the salesman that sells a product REALLY well, than to sell yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    I have been following the model he critiques for some time now and it use
    to work quite well--produce a lot of content and this will draw people
    to you for the "upsell". But even on FB I notice that engagement is
    dropping faster than you can count to 10. Less and less people are
    commenting on posts and more and more sites are depending on
    social media to promote their stuff. The FB buttons are getting
    bigger and bigger on many websites bidding the readers to
    "share on FB".

    There use to a be a lot of "article spinning" to provide fodder to
    the search engine to get traffic, then Big G cracked down on that
    and then the trumpet sound went out that a lot of quality content
    is what counts--then came the content mills. Now there is an
    overflow of content and the cream must now rise to the top.

    The next stage is not hard to predict, or is it?

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    I'm a firm believer in Derek Halpern's 80/20 rule...spend 20% of your time & energy creating your content and the other 80% promoting it.
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    • Profile picture of the author jogunn
      Originally Posted by tyronne78 View Post

      I'm a firm believer in Derek Halpern's 80/20 rule...spend 20% of your time & energy creating your content and the other 80% promoting it.
      Amen. I don't think there is much use in creating all this 'fluff' content, if you will. Your content should be high-quality targeted directly at your audience, then use the rest of your time to extend that reach and hopefully inspire great engagement and hook them back to your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author sparrow
      Originally Posted by tyronne78 View Post

      I'm a firm believer in Derek Halpern's 80/20 rule...spend 20% of your time & energy creating your content and the other 80% promoting it.
      I agree, I've seen this ratio multiple places so I don't know who exactly claims this rule but definitely marketers are not spending enough time promoting if not getting results
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  • Profile picture of the author shaffadell
    I still believe content is king when it comes to your overall Google placement in the search engines. Regardless of how many backlinks you have, how many social bookmarks you do, as well as other short cut tricks you choose to take, the content you present will keep the reader engaged and thus keep the reader on your page longer. Google rewards sites when people invest time on them and do not simply click away.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Good stuff, Ray.

      Some of the the things the Author mentions fly in the face of the incessant mantra thrown around here.. i.e. build relationships with mound and mounds of quality content.

      He makes an important point saying sometimes people want fast solutions to problems and would rather just skip the Relationship part of the equation.

      I think this is true in many situations although building long term Relationships in other situations can still be beneficial





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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Raydal,

      Great article and thanks for the heads up. One point I'd like to make:

      Ruffino didn't say content was dead or shouldn't be a part of your marketing. What he is suggesting is "content first marketing" should be replaced with problem-solving first.

      Rather than focusing on lots of content to engage your prospects, the author is suggesting a problem solving first approach which is what a lot of us have been suggesting with our emphasis on beginning with finding demand in the marketplace, i.e. identifying problems, needs, wants, and desires before you "pick a niche" to attack.

      Prospects would rather have their pain eliminated now with your paid solution than spend months reading about all the various aspects of their problem or desire (i.e., topics of your content marketing).

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author writeaway
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post


        Rather than focusing on lots of content to engage your prospects, the author is suggesting a problem solving first approach which is what a lot of us have been suggesting with our emphasis on beginning with finding demand in the marketplace, i.e. identifying problems, needs, wants, and desires before you "pick a niche" to attack.
        After researching the ideas presented by that article, I'm relieved to find out that there's SOFTWARE that can automate the RESEARCH needed for a 'problem first' approach.

        It's amazing to see (through certain signals) that consumers are actually BEGGING for their problem to be solved but marketers end up just blindly promoting what THEY THINK will work...
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex The Lion
    Good read, thanks for the share!
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

    This is a very intriguing article with a different view of marketing.
    Take 5 minutes and read this one. It may change your business!

    The Marketing Myth That Is Killing This Generation Of Businesses | Inc.com

    -Ray Edwards
    Good read.

    I often give similar advice to newcomers who just starting off. Clearly, the longterm approach of blogging, building a list without monetizing is risky.

    Even when someone enters the affiliate marketing arena, they need to keep their focus on the problem or need of their audience.

    Hence, I often suggest starting with the solution, and working in reverse to the starting gate.

    Doing so, (IMHO) maps out the path, and enables you to build a sales funnel that flows smooth from start - finish.

    Plus, it removes a distraction of self, and keeps your focus on being/becoming a solutions provider.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    It's interesting how he mentions that people don't buy from you because
    they like you but because you have something that solves their problem.
    So build a relationship then sell to them doesn't always work. Sometimes
    they can take all your free stuff and then buy from another vendor.

    -Ray Edwards
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    • Profile picture of the author SiteNameSales
      Excellent article. Thanks for posting it. I have to say, though, that from an SEO perspective I'd much rather devote my time to building a site one post at a time, many posts over much time and much better rankings in the search engines at the end of the day.

      The real question for me is when do we get to the end of the day. I've been building a site now for a couple of months and the results are nothing to write home about as yet. On the other hand, I have had sites that have blossomed over time with a daily drip, drip of useful articles.

      I'm restating what I have read, observed and subscribed to over time following some excellent SEO commentators. They basically aver that the sites with the most content will rise to the top of the search engines over time. It dosn't have to be the greatest content, nor the most original. Indeed, even a few hundred words per post can be effective over the long term.

      The next stage - and the bottom line - is whether your content is useful to the visitors and are you promoting first-rate products. If that's not the case then all the promotion in the world will just be an expensive and time-consuming education. And, if you're in this for the long haul, it's probably an education worth having.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

      It's interesting how he mentions that people don't buy from you because
      they like you but because you have something that solves their problem.
      So build a relationship then sell to them doesn't always work. Sometimes
      they can take all your free stuff and then buy from another vendor.

      -Ray Edwards
      Totally agree. People outside the MMO Niche know this to be true.

      If someone wants to learn Russian they don't want to beat around the bush and wait to get your informative emails. They want the 'end all be all' comprehensive Course that teaches them fluent Russian right NOW. So give it
      to them or shall I say sell it to them


      - Robert Andrew
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    • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
      Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

      It's interesting how he mentions that people don't buy from you because
      they like you but because you have something that solves their problem.
      So build a relationship then sell to them doesn't always work. Sometimes
      they can take all your free stuff and then buy from another vendor.
      And if 10 affiliates sell the same thing, which affiliate will have more chances of closing a sale? That's right, the one the people like most.

      Not everything is black and white. If you have an unique product that solves a very specific problem, then perhaps the relationship part is not needed. But if you sell the same thing as the majority of people, then how much they like you can make the difference between loss and profit.

      My impression is that this person is projecting his findings onto the world. He believes that his way is the right way, which is perhaps true for his situation. But this doesn't mean everything he's saying there is true for every type of online business.
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      • Profile picture of the author Raydal
        Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

        And if 10 affiliates sell the same thing, which affiliate will have more chances of closing a sale? That's right, the one the people like most.
        I have found that potential clients who TALK the most about liking your
        work and want to discuss a lot of stuff before they hire you often turn out
        to be tire kickers. Most serious business people seldom want to just
        "chat". They know what they want and they know it's a business relationship.
        They don't have to "like: you and you don't have to "like" them. That's
        just my experience though.

        -Ray Edwards
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        • Profile picture of the author Tomas Lodén
          Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

          I have found that potential clients who TALK the most about liking your
          work and want to discuss a lot of stuff before they hire you often turn out
          to be tire kickers. Most serious business people seldom want to just
          "chat". They know what they want and they know it's a business relationship.
          They don't have to "like: you and you don't have to "like" them. That's
          just my experience though.

          -Ray Edwards
          Agreed!.

          "like" is good if your looking for a fanbase, personally i prefer buyers..... most of the "likers" are just there to chat and pick up some freebies now and then... I killed my FB page last year and will never look back, just didn´t work out for me..
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      • Profile picture of the author writeaway
        Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post


        My impression is that this person is projecting his findings onto the world. He believes that his way is the right way, which is perhaps true for his situation. But this doesn't mean everything he's saying there is true for every type of online business.
        If he didn't position himself this way and he is too focused on the NUANCES, would people listen to him?

        Would they even notice?

        We live in a world where there are over 2 MILLION (!) pieces of new content generated daily.

        There is a HUGE amount of competition for MINDSHARE and ATTENTION out there.

        The guy who wrote that article didn't really say anything new.

        What mattered was he POSITIONED it as NEW and HIT 'FEAR' and 'GREED' triggers enough to make an IMPACT

        That's why I love the article

        Plus it engenders attention grabbing headlines like the one for this thread.

        If the company behind that article ever paired up with a forum broadcasting service who knows how many TARGETED views they can generate....
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

        My impression is that this person is projecting his findings onto the world. He believes that his way is the right way, which is perhaps true for his situation. But this doesn't mean everything he's saying there is true for every type of online business.
        You are absolutely right. But the message appears to resonate well with this writer's targeted reading audience, which really is all that ultimately matters in the content marketing model. Clearly, Russ Ruffino is promoting his services using classical article marketing techniques. The "truth" is not what drives convertible traffic.

        The information provided in this article is not particularly new nor useful, but the combination of context, presentation, delivery, medium, viral affinity, and resources were brilliantly synergized. The upshot here is to just ignore the content message, but study this content marketing example (ie article syndication) well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Red and processed meats now cause cancer...

    Turns out drinking eight glasses of water per day is unnecessary...

    Content is King...content isn't King...content is dead...

    It all hurts my brain.

    Test to find out exactly what works for your particular marketing, no matter what anyone else says. And, most importantly - Roll with the changes.
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    • Profile picture of the author Raydal
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      Content is King...content isn't King...content is dead...

      It all hurts my brain.
      I don't know if you read the article but there was a time when content
      was king but with so much content flooding the internet then it takes more
      effort to get yours to stand out from the crowd. When I was a boy we had
      one TV channel and it ran from 6 AM to 11 PM. Today we have a million
      channels all specialized in niche areas. Who'd a thought that we would
      ever need a channel just dedicated to the news for 24/7? But we have
      more than one. So it's not a matter of things being good one day and
      bad the next, but as you rightly said, you have to roll with the changes.
      But before you can roll you have to know what the changes are.

      -Ray Edwards
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      • Profile picture of the author irawr
        Banned
        As much as I want to disagree with that article it's true to a certain extent. It's definitely not dead or dying, but there's so many people focused on content now that a massive opportunity has been created for people who just have a product or try to solve a problem.

        It's the same thing in the adverting game, would you rather be a publisher or an advertiser? Right now, there's a billion sites to buy ads on, so is it a better use of your time to find the right ones to market your product on, or become site #1,000,000,001?
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    The reviews of his site are very interesting to say the least. Gotta admire his article writing skills regardless.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve L
    Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

    This is a very intriguing article with a different view of marketing.
    Take 5 minutes and read this one. It may change your business!

    The Marketing Myth That Is Killing This Generation Of Businesses | Inc.com

    -Ray Edwards
    Good read. This describes my current strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    I agree with this way of marketing, if this is the type of problem below.

    Problem - You walk outside get stung by a bee. Would you rather read ten 1000. pages of content or find a cure for the sting. What if the person has an allergy to bees. You want results now ! Not wade thru useless content to be sold a bill of goods a few months away.

    Other issues the content way may payoff more returns. No matter what you should always be selling.
    Thanks for the share Ray.
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    • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
      I agree...people are looking for "push button" solutions to their problems.
      Originally Posted by DWolfe View Post

      I agree with this way of marketing, if this is the type of problem below.

      Problem - You walk outside get stung by a bee. Would you rather read ten 1000. pages of content or find a cure for the sting. What if the person has an allergy to bees. You want results now ! Not wade thru useless content to be sold a bill of goods a few months away.

      Other issues the content way may payoff more returns. No matter what you should always be selling.
      Thanks for the share Ray.
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      • Profile picture of the author writeaway
        Originally Posted by tyronne78 View Post

        I agree...people are looking for "push button" solutions to their problems.
        Good point. Thanks for raising the whole 'push button' issue.

        Sadly, that's why a lot of MMO package sell.

        They cater to the 'push button' 'done for you' mindset

        Success is NEVER 'done for you'

        You have to do it yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    If you're a consultant, it's better to focus on webinar marketing and direct PPC as Russ Ruffino suggests.

    However, webinar marketing isn't for everyone, there is still room for content marketers... It's all about your business model.

    Russ is a smart dude though and a great marketer, no doubt about that.

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  • Profile picture of the author FromCook2King
    Their is a very wise course in self development/business I took 5 years ago from a guy named Tom Wood. It was called the 30 day mastery challenget. One thing that I see repeat it's self in life, business and anything else you can think of was what Tom Wood said.

    Never forget the fundamentals. They are the building blocks to every strategy. No strategy can ever be developed without the fundamentals in mind and when they are they don't work like they should. This article is a great outline on what people forgot to do. When you forget or get lost, go back to the fundamentals.

    Just likke in SEO, nothing has ever really changed. The fundamentals are the same. Proving your authenticity.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrislewis217
    Interesting read, I agree with the author about waiting too long to sell your prospects something. I never really understood writing tons of content for over a course of a year or more and then finally sell your audience something. I do believe that building an audience is good for understanding your prospects pains, their problems, and what they're going through so it could help shape your product though.

    Also just the fact that there are advertisers out there that do thousands of dollars through the use of paid advertising proves the author's point. I don't think content marketing is dead, but I do think it could be misused sometimes. There are alot of content producers that don't take the time to write great stuff. My philosophy is content marketing is good to attract prospects and also collect leads and sales in that order.

    For instance, after writing a piece of content, I would go out and promote the crap out of it, then afterwards, the content's job is to attract the "right" people back to my site, which some would become leads and sales.
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    • Profile picture of the author writeaway
      Originally Posted by chrislewis217 View Post


      For instance, after writing a piece of content, I would go out and promote the crap out of it, then afterwards, the content's job is to attract the "right" people back to my site, which some would become leads and sales.
      Brian Dean (of Backlinko) documents how he does this. The great thing about Brian is that he spells out what he does and BACKS UP his claims with stats and other EVIDENCE. His blog is a massive CASE STUDY of how proper CONTENT MARKETING works.

      Great content is crucial but a SOLID PROMOTION STRATEGY is equally necessary.
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    • Profile picture of the author Raydal
      Originally Posted by chrislewis217 View Post

      Interesting read, I agree with the author about waiting too long to sell your prospects something. I never really understood writing tons of content for over a course of a year or more and then finally sell your audience something.
      I'll give you one example how that worked with me. When Clayton Makepeace
      (copywriter) first started his newsletter a lot of copywriters subscribed. He shares
      a lot of valuable information in his newsletter and you just looked forward to
      the next email. Then he finally advertised an ebook so I immediately ordered
      knowing his stuff was solid. I mean, if he gave away such information his
      paid product must be gold.

      When I downloaded the ebook guess what the content was? It was a collection
      of the same emails he sent out. I already had the entire book, just in email form.
      No. I didn't ask for a refund, because I had received so much value from
      those emails.

      So that method can work, except it's getting less effective, according to the
      author.

      -Ray Edwards
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      • Profile picture of the author GodOfCPA
        This article is pretty confused. For one thing, it is a 'guest post' using clickbait language in the title ("The Marketing Myth That Is Killing This Generation of Businesses" Please) and is obviously written to drum up business. I'm pretty sure that's content marketing at its purest.

        But more importantly, he fails to understand the difference between brand building and direct sales. Content marketing is about building a brand, setting a tone, etc. People want a "tribe" because it strengthens their brand / social capital, not because they think their entertaining content is going to generate sales directly. People develop content precisely because it positions their business and differentiates them on a FEELING level (trust, prestige, counter-culture, etc.)

        "People won't buy unless you've invested a great deal of time in the relationship" is not a "faulty assumption". He is just dishonestly simplifying what "relationship" means for the purpose of his flawed article. People won't buy from a company they don't feel comfortable buying from. And to make them feel comfortable takes a lot of work/time - content is part of that. There's a reason Coke spends billions on content, it builds a relationship with the buyer and then they will buy.

        "Instead of spending months (or years) trying to convert browsers into buyers, you should be laser-focused on buyers and give them what they want now." That's stupid. Unless you have something they want that can't be replicated, you need to differentiate yourself through brand building. Otherwise you're not running a business, you're an opportunist with a limited life-span trying to exploit people's "painful problems" for a quick buck.

        Essentially, he wrote a massively simplistic and misleading piece of content to market his own business by claiming that content marketing doesn't work. It's just silly.
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        • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
          Gem of a post, here, and I agree. He's touting his 2,000% gains while using content marketing to drive leads. Ironic.

          Originally Posted by GodOfCPA View Post

          This article is pretty confused. For one thing, it is a 'guest post' using clickbait language in the title ("The Marketing Myth That Is Killing This Generation of Businesses" Please) and is obviously written to drum up business. I'm pretty sure that's content marketing at its purest.

          But more importantly, he fails to understand the difference between brand building and direct sales. Content marketing is about building a brand, setting a tone, etc. People want a "tribe" because it strengthens their brand / social capital, not because they think their entertaining content is going to generate sales directly. People develop content precisely because it positions their business and differentiates them on a FEELING level (trust, prestige, counter-culture, etc.)

          "People won't buy unless you've invested a great deal of time in the relationship" is not a "faulty assumption". He is just dishonestly simplifying what "relationship" means for the purpose of his flawed article. People won't buy from a company they don't feel comfortable buying from. And to make them feel comfortable takes a lot of work/time - content is part of that. There's a reason Coke spends billions on content, it builds a relationship with the buyer and then they will buy.

          "Instead of spending months (or years) trying to convert browsers into buyers, you should be laser-focused on buyers and give them what they want now." That's stupid. Unless you have something they want that can't be replicated, you need to differentiate yourself through brand building. Otherwise you're not running a business, you're an opportunist with a limited life-span trying to exploit people's "painful problems" for a quick buck.

          Essentially, he wrote a massively simplistic and misleading piece of content to market his own business by claiming that content marketing doesn't work. It's just silly.
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

        I'll give you one example how that worked with me. When Clayton Makepeace
        (copywriter) first started his newsletter a lot of copywriters subscribed. He shares
        a lot of valuable information in his newsletter and you just looked forward to
        the next email. Then he finally advertised an ebook so I immediately ordered
        knowing his stuff was solid. I mean, if he gave away such information his
        paid product must be gold.

        When I downloaded the ebook guess what the content was? It was a collection
        of the same emails he sent out. I already had the entire book, just in email form.
        No. I didn't ask for a refund, because I had received so much value from
        those emails.

        So that method can work, except it's getting less effective, according to the
        author.

        -Ray Edwards
        Yeah Ray, I think that is an important point...in that people will pay for convenience. And rightfully so.
        ( I do that myself sometimes. And it does provide Value in that I am organizing all this stuff in a one place convenient to read manner)

        I like Clayton and have studied some of what he has said. Good stuff


        - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author kkll78
    This was a great read. Thank you for posting it. But content is not dead. You just have to post great content geared toward your audience. Many people just copy and paste crap and think it is going to work out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    This just came to me mind. When LinkedIn just opened their article
    publishing platform, I started posting my articles there. I've done over 70
    and have received no business from those articles. Only response is
    another blog who wanted to republish the articles. I finally lost motivation
    and do not pursue this as I did before.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author sogeshirts
    Thanks for posting that article. Finding a starving market and solving one big problem is definitely better than posting lots of non important content.
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  • Profile picture of the author trip3980
    I liked what he said here:

    "You can build all the tribe members you want, but if you aren't actively selling to them, you don't have a business. You have a following."

    This is why I tell so many people to stop using social media sites like facebook or twitter because it only focuses on brand awareness and does not influence direct sales.

    One thing that he doesn't point out is the importance of maintaining an existing customer base IE email marketing. The content doesn't have to be great here but the point is to keep the customer thinking about the product or service. A general store might pay about 10 dollars to get 1 customer in the store but it takes about 1 dollar to maintain that customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author LesterRussell
    Thanks for the good read! It definitely is some food for thought on the future trends of content marketing. This insight will definitely be valuable to newbies entering into the market as it shares some excellent points on getting immediate returns on your efforts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nate Simms
    This might be the first ever "death of ... " thread in the history of "death of ... " threads that actually has any merit.

    Very good read.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I think the political affairs of the world is killing this generation of business.

    I'm not sure i would care enough to write an article about it though - even on Inc.com - if i was making $200,000/month. I wonder how much more money he made with that 1 piece of content.
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    • Profile picture of the author trip3980
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      I think the political affairs of the world is killing this generation of business.

      I'm not sure i would care enough to write an article about it though - even on Inc.com - if i was making $200,000/month. I wonder how much more money he made with that 1 piece of content.
      writing an article as an expert is a way of marketing. Even billionaires still publish expert opinion. Warren Buffett is a good example.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        LOL! This piece is an example of the vibrant state of content marketing at its finest. Well done, Russ!
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  • Profile picture of the author tonycorletto
    Thank for sharing the link. I would say that for me, it's 50-50. I'll give 50% for the effort of creating a good content and another 50% for the promotion. Although I believe that content is still the king, if it is not giving you the earnings you are expecting from it, it's nothing.
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  • Thanks for the share. Indeed, a great read.

    #1 - Yes, the 'build it and they will come' mentally to content creation is self-sabotaging
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