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When does an article become a sales pitch?

John Deere and Jell-O have something in common: They both helped develop the concept of content marketing.

https://todaymade.com/blog/history-of-content-marketing/

The dark dirty secret of content marketing is that there are two end goals:

1) Genuinely help those you’re writing for

2) Sell

This is a great topic Jeff. It’s one that I’m fairly interested in as a 1) Vendor 2) Writer (fledgling) 3) Salesperson (fledgling).

Yes, the fact that I'm trying to sell is worth noting and not one I’m afraid to admit.

It’s easy to end up on the wrong side of the fine line. It’s not easy to write quality, non-salesy content. I’ll admit that sounds obvious but it is surprising how often path one is taken and path two is written off as junk.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect litmus test for how salesy my content is. I suspect no one has the perfect test. The question “Does this feel salesy to you?” will get answered differently by different people, especially when looking both inside and outside of your organization.

In the end, it’s safe to say that always erring on the side of caution is a pretty good plan.
 
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Great conversation. I feel the same holds true for some of the educational webinars offered. I was on one a few months go learning Google Analytics. The webinar gave you just enough info to wet the appetite but did not complete the entire lesson. The presenter when asked how to complete building the advanced segments mentioned "just call us and for $1500 we'll handle it for you. Bold. Very bold.

Some also use the assumptive close. I've had 3 followup emails and voice-mail from a vendor from a webinar 2 weeks ago. "By signing onto the webinar you expressed an interest in our product" No I didn't!!
 
Great conversation. I feel the same holds true for some of the educational webinars offered. I was on one a few months go learning Google Analytics. The webinar gave you just enough info to wet the appetite but did not complete the entire lesson. The presenter when asked how to complete building the advanced segments mentioned "just call us and for $1500 we'll handle it for you. Bold. Very bold.Some also use the assumptive close. I've had 3 followup emails and voice-mail from a vendor from a webinar 2 weeks ago. "By signing onto the webinar you expressed an interest in our product" No I didn't!!

Bill,

Education is not free and in the case of "free webinars" you are giving some right for these guys to take a shot at getting your business. That will come in the form of contacting you afterwards, etc.

No different that for example the VW "sign and drive event" or many others. The dealer wants you to test the car so maybe you will like it and they can sell you one. The dealer--hopefully!--will contact you after you test drive the car.The world moves like that; test this, try that, and lets see if we can come to terms to do business together.

If you want to get education with no "after sales" consequences you can reach out to many educational institutions around your home town, pay for the classes, and learn from that.

This doesn't mean that I'm against providing information to my clients, but I try to be realistic about what we do.
 
Yago, that's a fair statement. Maybe I got a little off topic from the spirit of the thread. There are some consultants in our biz who have done a great job of instructing dealers via webinar without being too pitchy. I just thought that the one I was in where the lesson was half taught and then quoted $1500 to get the rest done was a little brazen. I felt like it was a "Just get 'em in" type of setup the way the webinar was advertised.
 
I have products/vendors I love and I will speak on their behalf, but asking for a dealer to do so is just as blurry of a line.

IMHO: If someone is presenting an idea for bettering business but it requires you service's proprietary data to execute with no work around - The "We do X - Call now" - definitely a sales pitch.

Generating ideas and new perspectives while demonstrating your tool as one of many to help - a little better.

Showing dealers how they can do something to help business on their own and talking about different tools, with no more than one or two of which they are affiliated, as a boost to productivity - actually helpful.

Biggest rule of thumb-if you are writing a post with an expectation of return- it's too pitchy to be on DealerRefresh.
 
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Awesome thread with many great comments!

Sometimes I think many of us are too "thin-skinned" when it comes to a writer or speaker "pitching" their product. IMHO, I feel that if the contributor works hard to share useful information with us, and they have a product/solution that they are passionate about and they believe can help us, then they have earned the right to "pitch" us.

Alright now, don't get all uptight on me now. I believe there is a "best practice" way to do that. In a written piece on a forum like DealerRefresh, I believe the proper place to "pitch" is in the Author Description box at the end of each article. This provides an area for the author to share what solution/product they offer, and often a link for more information.

In a presentation at a conference, workshop, etc, I think it is fine for the speaker to have the last few minutes of the presentation to share if they have a product/solution that might benefit the audience.

On the other hand, a presentation that is nothing more than a pitch from front to back, or just a glorified "bait and switch" tactic to give you a little info only in order to tease you to buy more, well - I think you get the point.

Bottom line: It takes work and effort for folks to put together great content - and in return I am fine with them earning the right to my time.