How do you create valuable IT sales content for your personal brand?

If you sell products, the brand of the product matters. Spend time talking with prospects to understand how they see the product and the problem space. If you sell IT services, *you* are the product. A common mistake is to say "I can serve everyone." If they don't trust you enough to buy the product, you can't serve them. Case studies are crucial here. Buyers will be skeptical of things you say about yourself, but they will pay attention to stories of others like them who you served before.

Content should always follow a customer first approach. For IT sales, understanding customer pain points, how your product impacts their business, their success stories, all of these contribute to your content strategy. These can then filtered down to content buckets based on which one can create content for their personal branding.

You don't have time to be everywhere - don't feel like you need to use every channel. Instead, consider the channels you know well and the channels where you feel comfortable. If you have a face for radio, maybe don't use YouTube? If you hate the sound of your voice but can write all day, look for places where you can write! The best case study here is Alan Weiss. Although his experience is pre-internet, he built his services business around writing a regular column about his industry. Getting the column required the editor to accept him, but today, you can be your own editor. Start with one channel and focus there for 6-12 months. Most of these don't win overnight. Ask your customers where they consume content. Go there.

Sure, be valuable! Provide insights! But what does that mean, actually? If you've been in sales for more than a minute you probably have a lot of experiences to share. Find a journalist who can interview you for 2 hours and uncover some of the stories.

Don't optimize for social media and search engines; instead, optimize for your existing network to want to share your insights. Identify one person you can help, write something that helps them, and then share it with ten people you know who are similar to them. Use your own language. Catchy language can get more interest initially, but people will respond to the consistency of your voice more than the shiny packaging of catchy language.

Don't "humanize your brand" - be a human! No one engages anymore with the typical "what do you think" statements on posts. But Linkedin and X/Twitter now optimize for replies rather than likes and retweets, so you do want to write posts that will lead to replies. Don't be afraid to pick a fight with someone in your category. See more: Venkatesh Rao "The Internet of Beefs"