Content creation is getting more and more popular as the days go on but how exactly is that done? How do I make it so I don’t sound too much like a salesman. Understanding the difference between Thought Leadership and Sales Content is your answer. So what do those terms exactly mean?

Thought Leadership

What exactly is Thought Leadership? According to an article published in Entrepreneur, “thought leadership is a type of content marketing where you tap into the talent, experience, and passion inside your business, or from your community, to answer the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience on a particular topic”.

There are a few questions you may want to ask yourself first such as are you educating with your writing or work? You do not necessarily need to be an expert but with some experience in a particular field can be enough to share knowledgeable insights. For example, if you have experience with social media, sharing case studies with your audience can help gain credibility for your brand.

Are you pulling with your content rather than pushing? The objective with your content must be to pull readers in and potential customers. This comes with being credible as a company as more people are likely to view your content if you are a big name company such as TechCrunch or Hubspot. It will take lots of time and patience pull new people to your content but in the long run will be worth it. We all have to start somewhere.Are you instilling best practices into your marketplace? This can range anywhere from building your community or creating compelling content. Following a guide of when to post your content can help set you apart from coming off as a sales push company. Share content from others by retweeting and commenting on post that are related to your industry. If all you do is share your own content, then people will begin to tune you out.

Sales Content

It is exactly what the term is “sales content.” Content that is created in order to make a sale of an product or service. As your marketplace creates content, be sure to keep your messaging consistent. Nothing is worse than having conflicting content.

As you pull people in with thought leadership, sales content is the opposite. Being more outbound minded, you are simply pushing your content in front of customers. Making the initiative to push your products may or may not be your style preference. If you have a product you are strongly confident can sell itself, then thought leadership may be the route for you.

What other way will people learn about your products if there are no product details? Simply creating content around videos, infographics, or any other form can help with your sales process. I often come across social media posts that describe the main features in a product with a compelling image in order to catch my attention. There is so much noise in world today that it is often tough to come across the right audience. Which suits your marketplace style better? Let us know your journey of becoming a thought leader by tweeting us @NearMeCo!