How Promotional Should Marketing Content Be?

Marketing Content — Wed., Mar. 22, 2023

It's common wisdom among marketers that most long-form content should be, at most, mildly promotional. When determining how promotional marketing content should be, consider three principles: the channel, the stage of the customer journey to which the asset speaks, and the overall mix of the company's content. Thought leadership guest bylines should be minimally promotional, blog posts can be as promotional as desired, and social media content should be a mix of self-promotion and helpfulness.

When writing marketing content, consider the customer journey. Bottom-of-funnel content should be more promotional, while top-of-funnel content should educate about problems and solutions. Consider the overall mix of content when prioritizing, as different channels may require different levels of promotion and different skillsets.

By writing for specific channels, tailoring content to audiences at certain stages of the customer journey, and considering the place of an asset in your overall mix, you'll be able to determine how promotional a content asset should be. If the focus is on helping readers do their job better, there is a chance of gaining their attention.

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