Content Marketing Without the Hard Sell: Tips for Genuine Engagement
Diving into content marketing without the hard sell is totally doable, no matter what the “24/7 grind bros and podcasters” say.
It starts with making the choice to focus on creating valuable and engaging content to build trust and interest without aggressively pushing products or services.
That’s a whole lot of words to say, it’s not about you! Celebrate accordingly. It’s not about you!!!
You’re not here to impress a single human being. You’re here to help them.
If you can’t do that, step aside because the competitor who figures it out is about to earn all your clients.
I've discovered that this approach ultimately attracts more followers and incentivizes loyalty because your followers actually want to be there. It’s crazy what happens when you’re not holding other human beings hostage with slimy sales tactics or questionable psychology…
Think about the brands you follow—the ones that share useful, entertaining, or inspiring content while subtly weaving in their brand messages. Those are the brands that feel like a friend or a mentor (and not a vacuum salesman).
You can do it, too!
Building a Content Strategy That Doesn’t Suck
Crafting a content strategy is about knowing who you're talking to, what you want to achieve, and where you'll share your content.
(You’ll hear other marketers refer to the golden triad of right message, right place, right time. It’s all the same.)
Understanding Your Audience
A lot of business owners make the mistake of writing for themselves instead of their ideal customers, but the customers aren’t privy to all the wonderful knowledge and experience you have floating around your noggin. They might not even have the same vocabulary!
It’s your job to bridge those gaps with your content.
You’ll start by building a detailed persona that includes demographics, interests, and pain points. For example, if your target is young professionals, focus on their work habits, challenges, and what they look for online.
What keeps them up at night when they should be snoozing away? What makes them wake up in a cold sweat when they do inevitably conk out? If they could hit a miracle button and change their life in an instant, what would be different? (Therapists refer to this latter question as the miracle question in their sessions, btw)
You can use tools like surveys, social media insights, and website analytics or go elbows deep on Google to start gathering data. I’m talking past the third or even fourth page of the search results (gasp).
The better you understand your audience, the more relevant and engaging your content will be.
Setting Clear Objectives
Clear goals make your strategy effective. Throwback to middle school SMART goals and homeroom, amiright?
Decide what you want to achieve with your content. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive more traffic to your site, or boost sales?
Set measurable goals using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like website visits, social shares, and conversion rates. For example, aim to increase your newsletter sign-ups by 20% over the next six months. These objectives guide your content creation and help you track progress.
Warning: Goals are pretty gr8, but try not to get caught up in vanity metrics. Having one thousand new website visits in a day sounds gr8 in theory, but if they’re all from a country that you don’t even service, how useful are they really?
Choosing the Right Platforms
Different platforms serve different purposes. If your audience hangs out on Instagram, that’s where you need to be.
For B2B content, LinkedIn might be more effective (even if it’s one of the cringiest platforms out there, #sorrynotsorry).
Think about the type of content each platform supports. Blogs and articles are gr8 for your website, while shorter, more visual content works well on social media.
This isn’t about what you want or what’s easier for you. It’s about what the leads/prospects want and need.
10 Out-of-the-Box Ideas for Building Your Brand & Content Marketing Without the Hard Sell
Show Your Quirks:
Embrace and share the quirky, unique aspects of your brand across your social media accounts, blog, and website. Whether it’s a peculiar office tradition or an inside joke among your team, these little details make your brand relatable and memorable. These quirks don’t have to have ANYTHING to do with your business, btw.
Host Virtual Coffee Chats:
Start hosting low-stakes one-on-one virtual coffee dates with your audience. These informal chats are perfect for spilling industry secrets, answering burning questions, and just having a real conversation without a sales pitch. Joining the Elite Referral Network in Lincoln taught me networking doesn’t have to be a chore (and I am one of the biggest introverts you will ever meet).
Run a Social Media Takeover:
Hand over your social media accounts to a trusted expert, a happy customer, or a cool influencer for a day. Let them share their insights, behind-the-scenes peeks, and relatable stories. People are getting SICK of scripted content. They want REAL reels (see what I did there).
Launch a Digital Magazine:
Curate a monthly e-magazine packed with articles, exclusive interviews, and features from industry pros. Offer it for free to keep your audience coming back for more. (Real talk? You might lose money upfront doing this, but it’s an INVESTMENT in the trust you have with your audience. And that’s worth a million bucks).
Showcase Failures and Lessons Learned:
Don’t just highlight the successes. Share stories about your failures and what you learned from them. It shows humility and resilience! (Ask me how many thousands of dollars of free work I did as a newbie freelancer because I didn’t know better)
Host Virtual Networking Events:
If one-on-ones are too much of an emotional investment, you can organize online gatherings where industry folks can connect, brainstorm, and collaborate in a low-stakes environment. There doesn’t even need to be a dress code. Or maybe the dress code is pajamas…you’re in charge. (Quick shoutout to my ERN fam!)
Create a DIY Series:
Produce a series of DIY videos or blog posts that teach your audience how to tackle something related to your field. If you can give your audience a “quick win” in their own lives, they’ll love you for it, and the validation will fuel all the happy chemicals in your brain.
Offer Personalized Content:
I loved the magazine quizzes as much as the next teen in the early 2000s, and they’re a valid business move today. You get to learn more about your audience, and they don’t feel bored to death by the constant barrage of ads everywhere else.
Start a Virtual Book Club:
BookTok has millions of active followers that have directly shot no names to bestselling fame overnight. And within BookTok, there are dozens of niches if romantasy isn’t your thing. Our brains are kind of like computers. If we want different outputs, we need different inputs, and books can do that.
Use Data to Tell a Story:
Transform your data into a compelling narrative. Instead of just presenting numbers, weave them into stories and infographics that show trends, impacts, and future possibilities. (Tyler can help you with that!)
How Effective is Blogging & Content Marketing?
Blog Power: 9 out of 10 marketers swear by blogs to hit their content goals (SEMrush, 2023).
Lead Machine: Companies with active blogs snag 67% more leads per month than those without (DemandMetric).
Traffic Tracker: Web traffic is one of the top two metrics for measuring content marketing success (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2024).
Growing Investment: Half of marketers are planning to boost their spending on content marketing in 2024 (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2024).
Longer Reads: The average blog post now clocks in at 1,427 words — that’s over 70% longer than a decade ago (Orbit Media, 2023).
Epic Posts: Only 3% of brands regularly publish blog posts longer than 2,000 words (Orbit Media, 2023).
(Source: HubSpot Marketing Statistics)
