The Formula to Rapid Growth for Your Business—An Interview with Michael Stelzner

RainToday.com's Podcast: Marketing & Selling Professional Services

Many companies are struggling to get their messages heard and to grow, and that's because they're using outdated marketing techniques. Instead of promoting their services, they need to build a following. And you do that through content marketing says, Michael Stelzner, author of the new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition.

"What I've discovered is that what people want the most—what your prospects and your customers want the most—is they want insight, valuable information, and access to great people. And they want those things before they ever want to be sold anything," says Stelzner.

The key is to provide content about issues your prospects are dealing with—not content about your services—to work with people outside your world to develop content, and to strip out the marketing messages, he says.

"If you can figure out a way to keep them coming back, which is where content comes in, you can build a huge following. And that's the key to growth," Stelzner says. "If you can have a loyal following of people that meet your demographic that are constantly feeding at your trough, then you'll have a great opportunity to sell."

Listen as Stelzner discusses his formula for rapid growth, as well as:

• The need for businesses to become publishers
• The type of content professional services firms should publish
• Why marketing messages must be "caged"
• The benefits of working with people outside of your "world"