Monthly Archives: October 2016

Is content marketing worth it or not? Is it the way of the future, or will it be the death of all of us? How will your feelings about content marketing influence your real-world work and decisions

I’m a big believer in content marketing, not just as a consumer (I like to “try before I buy”), but also as a potential consultant of services.  I worked as a Learning and Development Consultant at my company about 5 years ago.  The Sales Training curriculum that we, as an organization, were subscribing to at that time was “Integrity Selling”.  This curriculum was embedded into all of the functional training that existed at that time for our Sales Professionals.  It promoted the concept that unless you really believe in the product you are selling, it will be very challenging to sell the product.   Our Sales Professionals needed to genuinely and confidently convey the value that we could offer to our prospective customers.  It gave credit to customers that they would be able to “see through” a sales pitch that wasn’t based on the integrity and beliefs of the person that was selling to them.

I bring this up, because I think that it applies to content marketing as well.  I can understand the hesitancy of consultants to offer up their time and resources for free with the hopes that it will result in paying customers.  However, I truly believe that if a consultant is confident in their services and believes in what they are saying, it will show in the results that potential clients receive.  As a consumer, I have become a “paying customer” for some services that offered a free trial.  The experience that I had with them was so positive, that I felt strongly about giving them my business.

I plan on following the same approach in my current job, as well as future career opportunities.

Considering the differentiators discussed in the chapter, what tactics have you used to differentiate yourself as a graduate student in this program? Have you used some of the methods mentioned in the text? And if so, which ones? Have you used others? Discuss the success you’ve had to date differentiating yourself.

As a graduate student, I have differentiated myself based on “Special Knowledge”.  One of the best parts of this Masters program is that I’ve been working in the HR field for 15 years, so almost every lesson includes components that I can relate to based on my experience.  This isn’t to say that I already know all of this information…quite the opposite.  I’ve found that I can usually apply these concepts to experiences that I’ve had professionally throughout the past 15 years.  It’s been a really great experience for me to do this, because it allows me to reflect on how I’ve responded to certain things at work and challenge myself on how I might respond differently in the future now that these concepts have come more into focus.  “…When you know better…you do better…”  – Maya Angelou.

Consider any new ideas that reading the text has given you for future implementation. Are there things you can use to differentiate yourself even more now? Is it important to even worry about differentiation as a graduate student?

I really liked reading about “Differentiation Based on Your People”.  When I had my interview this past week with Steven Morgan he was mentioning that a big differentiator of his firm was his team.  He mentioned that all of the consultants that work for him are specialized in Organizational Psychology and are accredited.  This is something that his firm promotes to potential clients, so that they can trust that they are dealing with experts in the field.  I thought this was interesting because when you have your own firm, it’s not just YOU that you have to be concerned with…it’s the whole team.

I believe that there is value in differentiating yourself as a grad student, because I believe that everyone who is in your network – friend, family, colleague, peer student, etc. is a potential client in the future.