Not long ago we described the new opportunities for businesses to lead their sales with Inbound Marketing. In Content Led Selling in My Front Office we explained our own thinking, as it’s developed over the last several months.
As is quite often the case we’d understood but not properly described the reason it works.
Just a couple of days ago we came across Why Content is No Longer King. As usual the guys at Copyblogger do a fantastic job of explaining things.
Larry Brooks sums it up with:
Context as strategy
Effective context doesn’t happen by accident. We need to consciously create it.
Context comes from the writer’s clarity about her goals, juxtaposed against the expectations and tolerances of the audience.
In the context of content marketing, first we deliver valuable content, free and clear. As a gift. As a solution. As narrative bricks and mortar. And in doing so we earn the reader’s trust.
Once we’re trusted, we are now able to expand on our own agenda. We get to talk more about the intended outcome of the piece. That outcome might be a sale, a subscription, or even conversion to a new idea.
In a blog, we set out to deliver value. In an ad, we pitch solutions and overcome objections. In fiction, we infuse scenes with anticipation and emotion.
And in each case, when we understand the context we’re working in, we achieve our goal.
And so, too, does the reader. Because their context isn’t what you’re selling, but what they’re seeking to take away from what you’ve written.
Long live the new king.
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