How to Build Your List by Giving

Content marketing is a hot industry buzzword right now, and everyone seems to have a theory about what works. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for theory, so in this episode I’m going to show what we do in our own content marketing…because it works.

The key to successful content marketing is value, because we’re in a current environment where you've got to give value upfront. In fact, our topic in this episode is a term I’ve coined called Value First Content Marketing. Stay tuned, this is going to rock your world.

Click here to download or listen to this episode now.

Spiritual Foundations

In this episode of spiritual foundations, I want to get back to basics. One of the things I’ve learned as a copywriter is that the precise meaning of words is vitally important. Let me share a recent example of this…

My wise wife was having a conversation with a person with whom she's acquainted, and they got into the discussion about what it means to be under grace. My wife was explaining, “Well you know our sins are covered, so we don't have to worry about sin anymore. That problem is dealt with.”

This person rather inappropriately took affront to that and begin to argue. She countered, “Well, what about James [2:26], it says faith without works is dead. If you don't have works, then you're not saved.” My wife responded with, “Well, I didn't come prepared to have this debate, but I guess I would start with looking up the precise meaning of the word ‘death’ or ‘dead’ in that verse to see what it really means.” I was so proud of her.

I looked it up, and it means “inactive.” It reads, “Faith with no works that flow from the faith, is inactive,”…which is a whole different thing.

Just remember that Jesus is perfect theology. Knowing that, be very careful about what you’re willing to blindly accept as true.

Tip of the Week

Our tip of the week is a resource that we're giving you for free. Normally, we talk about other people's products or services or books, but this week we’re giving you a week's worth of what we use to do our own content marketing. You can then use this as a model to structure your own…I’m just asking that you don't take this content and pretend it's yours.

This will be a good way for you to look at the source material we use to create stuff and turn it into different pieces of content for your business. You can download this free resource at rayedwards.com/315. Now go forth and prosper!

Feature Presentation: “How to Build Your List by Giving Away Your Best Content for Free”

There's a lot of talk about content marketing, and there are a lot of content marketing experts and gurus that'll teach you content marketing, but what they do in most cases is neither content, nor is it marketing…it’s a thinly disguised sales pitch.

Any business that markets online can and should grow their e-mail list by using the Seven Pillars of Value First Content Marketing.

The Seven Pillars

There are three forces that have converged to bring us to this point.
To attract attention, you’ve got to fight the content wars.
Content marketing works for everyone, and everyone should be doing it.
Give valuable content as often as possible.
You must be present on every significant channel.
You must have an investment mindset.
Practice the Strategy of Preeminence.

Here are some snippets from our conversation:

Nobody was born with a list – Why you should ignore theory and model your list-building after a strategy that actually works ([19:55])
Words matter – Why it’s important for you and your bottom line to know what content marketing is, and more importantly, what it is not ([22:25])
The proof is in the pudding – Meet David Robertson, who traveled 3,000 miles to give 30,000 reasons why this stuff really works ([23:30])
The perfect storm of content marketing – Discover the three forces that have brought us to the point where we have to think differently about how we market, and how to use those forces to your advantage ([25:01])
Open war is upon you – Why the key to victory in the content wars is to offer your unique value ([27:35])
All means all – Why every business should use Value Based Content Marketing to stay ahead of the game, win market share, and to make more money ([32:24])
How soon is now – Why you need to accept the uncomfortable truth that the more value first content you release, the faster you grow ([33:14])
Your presence is required – Why your blog, live video, podcast, and print needs to be present on every significant channel ([36:42])
Avoid the unsubscribe link – Why you must be willing to sacrifice short-term gain for long-term profit and value ([40:30])
Inside the mind of Jay Abraham – Why you don't want to be simply the superior marketer…you want to be the superior provider ([42:17])

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