George Kao explains why he doesn't make content to attract paying clients. Instead, he creates from genuine interest and personal growth, prioritizing authentic connection with his audience over traditional marketing tactics.
One of my clients asked me a question that I think some of you can relate to. So she was saying how she was taught to create content as part of a launch. Meaning like you write articles or you make videos so that people might buy your thing coming up, right? So for example, if you're launching an online course, you know that, okay, I'm going to launch an online course in four weeks from now, so I better start writing articles about that topic or making videos about it so that people will trust me about the topic and they'll buy my course, you know, four weeks from now, something like that. So she asked me what I thought about this and I said, no, I don't do this at all. I mean, if you notice, the things that I sell are not connected to my recent content. I mean, they might be connected just because it's part of my interests, but they're not a planned strategy to like, build up your desire and educate you about why you need something before I sell the thing. When I'm ready to sell you something, I sell it to you. I basically say, hey, here's my next course. Here's why you might want to take it. If you're interested, go for it, you know. But my content itself is not tied to an upcoming product. So, so, so basically my client said, well, is this is what I've been taught, you know, content being tied to a product, content being tied to a launch, is that simply good strategy or is that manipulation? And my opinion is that so much of marketing strategy, so called, is manipulation and it's not needed. So here's the thing. I care a lot about two things when I create content, and I hope you'll care about this for yourself too. When I create content, I care about two things I care about. My, my conscience and my heart. Am I coming to this with pure intent to, to express myself, to explore my thoughts and to possibly help you? I can't guarantee that I'll help you. Right, but it's. There's a side benefit of potentially helping you, right? So is it pure intent? That's what the one. First thing I care about. The second thing I care about is how is this, how is this affecting my relationship with you? So let me say that again. When I create content I care about, how is it affecting my inner life, I. My conscience and my heart? And secondly, how is it affecting my relationship to my audience? So if I'm creating content as a, as a sneaky way to build up your desire to buy my next thing. One, it's not Good for my inner life because I can feel it. I can feel that, ooh, I'm just, I'm manipulating people without them knowing it. Right. And number two, it's not good for the relationship with you because once I sell the thing, you're like, oh, I guess for the past month he's been really creating content as a buildup to, to, to me buying his thing or whatever. Okay, so now you might say, you might say, well, George, so you should never create content tied to your product. No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if you do, you should be transparent that it's about an upcoming launch. So if I were to use that kind of content strategy, I would tell you, hey, I'm going to be launching this program coming up. It's going to be, you know, hopefully by that point I can tell you how much it costs, what the program's about. And in, in, in preparation for that program, I'm going to be teaching some introductory free content for some of you who are interested in maybe joining the program. But for those of you who aren't interested, don't feel obligated. I hope you won't feel obligated to join the program, but that you'll benefit from the content anyway. You know, I'll just be teaching you some things that I think are important. You can do that. I don't think it's ideal because it's still, it's still like, it's still tied to the launch. You can do that, but it's more transparent if you do this, if you let them know that it's part of a launch, that this content is part of a launch, that's fine. Introductory webinar, Introductory content. That's fine. But truly, I hope you will create content as an act of generosity towards others and most importantly, as an act of exploration of your thoughts and a practice of self expression. Because every time you create content, you become slightly a better communicator. At least you practice the muscle of creating. Okay, so really, content, when you create it, the person that benefits the most is you. Really, the person benefits the most is the creator. Like right now, if I'm making the content, the person that benefits the most is me. I mean, some of you might benefit, but some of you might not, right? I don't know. And I surrender to that. I surrender to whether or not people actually benefit. And I definitely surrender to whether you ever spend a dollar with me. I hope you'll benefit anyway. Right? So that's really how we create content. That strengthens us over time. It strengthens our consciousness, it strengthens our skills, and strengthens our relationship to our audience. And so whatever we end up selling, they'll trust us enough to consider it. And if they actually want what we're selling, they'll buy it. So that's all. I hope this is helpful. And I'm George Kao, authentic business Coach. For those of you who don't know me, I love talking about how do we build business truly from the heart. Not just as a way of saying it's from the heart, but truly from the heart. Because it strengthens our psyche, it strengthens our relationship with others. So I wish you a wonderful day forward. I wish you content creation from the heart. All right. Be well.
