Ben Stroup

Forbes raises a great question in Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity Will Last Forever.

“We live in a world where ‘the end justifies the means’ has become an acceptable school of thought for far too many.”

“It may seem like people can gain power quickly and easily if they are willing to cut corners and act without the constraints of morality. Dishonesty may provide instant gratification in the moment but it will never last.”

Content marketing requires that you:

• Genuinely care about the subject matter
• Commit to the conversation for the long-term
• See the world through the eyes of your target audience
• are Unwavering in your desire to add value to others

Those are big commitments—easy to say but hard to follow through on consistently. That’s why 95 percent of blogs are abandoned and most content marketing attempts end up feeling one-sided.

You can’t execute a content marketing strategy and not reveal your true intentions. You will confirm you are either invested in the conversation or interested in making a sale. One will earn you champions but the other will guarantee you are lost in the noise.

Forbes is right: Integrity is everything. Content marketing believes ongoing relationships are much more valuable than simply completing transactions. One leads to abundance. The other results in scarcity and limited opportunity.

What are your intentions when it comes to content marketing in your organization? Is your goal an ongoing relationship or a one-time transaction?

Ben Stroup is a content activist in a post-paragraph world. He is chief broker of opportunity at Ben Stroup Enterprises. Connect with Ben via email, Twitter, and Google+. Subscribe via email to learn how to use content to move people to action.