The general rule is to write authoritative content but not promotional. The idea behind this rule is that people don't like sales pitches. After years of telemarketing calls and door-to-door sales, as a nation we are sick of sales pitches and can detect them a mile away. I don't recommend that you write biased content for your sales pitches all the time, but a well-positioned proposal here and there can do wonders for your sales.
Some consumers will never take action unless you ask them to. With so many companies using content marketing as their primary source of lead generation, there's a lot of content available. It's true that reminding your readers of the source of your outstanding content will lead them to your website and, hopefully, to a sale, but this is also a rule that should be broken. Some content can serve other purposes, such as conveying to readers that you understand their concerns, answering questions, exploring industry trends, and helping readers with timely practical articles.
Think about the social media channel where your content will appear and adapt your writing to that audience. It's important to distinguish between the two and ensure that the content you publish aligns with what your audience wants. There have been silos between sales and marketing for a long time, but the reality is that organizing your business this way doesn't work no matter what you do, especially when it comes to content. Expand your idea of what's relevant and your customers will trust you even more and look to you for compelling content.
Although relatively young, content marketing has already developed a standard set of rules and methods by which it will achieve the best results. I see a lot of people posting content without bothering to check if it works. Curating content is relatively quick and easy to do, and it offers a number of advantages with few disadvantages. It's just what they needed, so they decide to call your sales department to ask you a detailed question about some of the content.
Starting with the basic metrics of page views, time spent on page and bounce rate, make sure that all the links you include in your content marketing article are trackable. Clarifying the final result before launching your first piece of content will help your ideas fit. By following each of these rules, you allow your company to guide your audience through the buying cycle so that you can continuously guide them to the next stage.
