Where direct selling is directly pitching the product (or service), content marketing is a form of indirect advertisement.
Content (article, Webinars, video, infographic, etc.) is created around the problem the product solves. The content is pitched.
So instead of pitching my software package for IT security, I publish a study on the different types of costs of IT hacks. Instead of pitching for a web-store, I make a good comparison of the costs of a classic store in the street vs a web-store, or a real live story of youngsters and internet-shopping.
Advantages:
- It doesn’t costs money (but time to write and promote it)
- Prospects get to know you, and you are building authority.

- Here some good articles/courses
- HubSpot’s Academy content marketing course
- Neil Patel’s guide to content marketing basics
- Content Blogger’s guide to content marketing
- Learn how to create and promote authority content
- Hubspot’s guide to content creation
- Copy Blogger’s guide to creating epic content
- Promote your content
- Learn how to create SEO content
- Skyscraper technique
- SEO content
- How to create content with the Wiki Strategy
- Content marketing for a local business with Google’s course
- Case studies:
- How Chris Von Wilpert made $100,000 by creating and promoting a single blog post
- How Mint grew to 1.5 million users (a big chunk of the credit goes to content marketing)
- 5 examples of sport content marketing
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