How to Get More Leads Today

One of the biggest fallacies I see digital marketers falling into is the idea that content = marketing.

In 2024, this could not be further from the truth for two reasons:

• Content marketing on the Internet has existed for more than two decades. The number of articles, videos, and podcasts is already massive. Simply adding more content to this vast pool doesn’t guarantee results.

• The rate at which content is produced will only accelerate due to AI. With AI-generated articles, videos, and social media posts, content alone will soon have even less impact unless it’s actively marketed.

“Content marketing” — the idea that you can publish a piece of content and have instantaneous and endless traffic for the rest of time is not real.

Your content needs to be marketed.

Take the music business. The money isn’t made with the music — it’s made from tours.

• Content: Music

• Monetization mechanism: Tours, shows

• Distribution: TikTok and shortform content

Now let’s take LinkedIn — a platform I’ve been blowing up on lately and which helped this newsletter cross over 1,000 subscribers.

I’m in the LinkedIn growth niche so I see firsthand the advice shared by “LinkedIn growth experts” with under 1k followers.

Most of these people subscribe to the outdated idea of content marketing. They believe that posting alone will bring them traffic, leads, and clients. And they purport this narrative upon their clients and followers in an echo chamber of inadequacy.

Their results speak for themselves. If they knew better, they’d do better.

To succeed on this platform, as I’ve learned and demonstrated, requires distribution.

On LinkedIn, network effects are massive. So distribution comes in the form of engagement. When you engage with other people in your extended network, your content becomes visible to them. That’s how you get traffic.

I noticed traffic was an issue LinkedIn creators — even self-proclaimed experts — struggled with, which is why I built LeadsAutopilot.

I won’t go into detail here telling you about it. You can click the link above and see why 20+ users stay subscribed to us each month.

My goal with this email is to change the narrative, even ever so slightly, around content marketing. Take this advice and learn how to distribute your content, and let your actions speak for themselves.

-Eric Otten