You’ve worked a long time on your business. You’ve probably put hundreds or even thousands of hours into generating unique ideas or solving problems for your clients. So why would you put your content online for your competitors to just scoop up and use as their own?
It’s not that you’re against the idea of creating content for your prospects online. Afterall, good content speeds up the sales process, cuts down on customer service time and boosts your reputation. BUT is it worth the risk?
These three questions below are accountable for way too many lost hours of sleep. Which one keeps you awake?
- What if my competitors steal my ideas for clients?
- What if competitors copy my content online and use it as their own?
- What if I give my competition an inside look at my company and they use it to get ahead?
Each of these are valid concerns. And you need to address the one’s that bother you the most before you start creating content so you don’t waste energy on them. I said “before” on purpose. Why? Because not one of those reasons are good enough to keep from attracting prospects online. I’ll explain why with four major reasons below.
- You may have great information. Information your clients gladly pay for. But if you’re worried that you’ll be the first person to share such information online for free, just try searching for it. The fact is your competitors can already find the same kind of information you have in several other places online. That’s actually not a bad thing because people want to hear from YOU and how you explain the ideas; not just the ideas. It’s your job not to just deliver information to your clients but put your brand into every piece of information you give to them. That’s what makes them want your content instead of your competitors. Even if the principle is the same on a piece of content, they can resonate with different audiences. You don’t need to give away all of your secrets, in fact I highly suggest that you don’t, instead focus on the WHY’S and WHAT’S of your business instead of the HOW.
- If you don’t share it, the content is useless. Stop squandering it. That’s like a salesperson not wanting to share all the benefits of their product with someone at a meeting because someone else might overhear it. Take a look at all the content your company already has. Look through case studies, trend reports, brochures, books and any other collateral that you could salvage content from and repurpose it online. It doesn’t do any good if it can’t reach its intended audience.
- If constantly find yourself looking over your shoulder at who might be copying you, you’ll never create great consistent content. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The alternative is to protect everything and not put any of your content online. The result is ending up with a vague brochure website that adds no value to prospects.
- If you discover that you’re getting copied or ripped off you’ll know your doing something right. Your clients and prospects aren’t stupid, If you want to be a thought leader in your industry act like it online and offline and your prospects will know you’re the real deal. Spend your time creating value for your customers instead of wasting time on your competition.
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