"Oh, it's an ad..." Beating Advertising Bias

Value selling through content can be undermined by one simple thing... but it's something I see time and time again. Advertising.

You can't tell people they need a service to solve their problem, then pitch your service that does the same thing... at least not straight away.

One post. One article. One podcast isn't going to get an immediate return for the majority of your audience.

Too much advertising will actually have the complete opposite effect.

Unfollows.

Nobody likes being sold to

Think about the last time you had a pitch. You're on LinkedIn so click the message tab and you'll find a few.

How does it make you feel?

disturbed, annoyed, excited... No, it made you feel nothing.

A waste of time.

But, at least it was a "quick" waste of time.

Now, imagine reading a whole article that highlights solution, expands on it and could potentially be the best investment you ever made. Then, in the end, there is nothing but corporate waffle about buying a license, subscription, whatever...

You start to question the validity of the article.

Of course, an article about the best technology written by Microsoft is going to recommend their latest equipment.

Does that make the article wrong? Maybe not.

Does that make me question everything in the article? Definitely.

This isn't always a bad approach IF the audience knows you, understands your message, and is now on your side and willing to do business.

But, that's a big IF.

Beating the Bias

Let's recap a little. I'm telling you not to post about your services, but you need your audience to understand what you do. So we've got a dilemma, right? Not really.

All you have to do is leave the sales pitch at the door when it comes to content.

Add steps, not sales pitches

Your content should be doing the work for you when it comes to getting an audience on board and understanding what you provide.

Get your audience interested in learning more, download more content, or sign up for future content.

You'll get recognition for the value you provided, your audience will learn more about your services and you won't turn people away with a sales pitch.

You can learn all about this in our new course...

Just kidding, to anyone who skimmed down the end, read the whole thing, you'll get the joke.