Mansoor Khan, Sadhguru
Lessons in Content Marketing

The conversation about content marketing started to gain momentum from the time brands begin to see a diminishing return on the large (and sometimes huge) media spends and marketing fatigue set in. Sure, we have the programmatic to take care of large spends, and then we have ad blockers to take care of programmatic. So like a chess game, every move by digital marketing teams seem to look good at one time till the users make their next move.

The next ‘Shangri-La’ in digital marketing.

Can it be ‘content marketing’? The most common refrain being, content is king (see, fits into the chess analogy here) but it is difficult to produce.

Unlike media buy (and by now you know that I am not a big fan of mindless and even mindful media buying) content has to come from non-excel based interfaces. I can go on about the characteristics of great content, but I digress.

Lest you think that the names mentioned on the title are click bait which most bad content today revolves around, let me get to two examples of great content producers that I met recently and how they reinforce the fact that it is only content that holds the key to long term product or service success.

Everything else is, well, just everything else.

Last weekend, I had the sheer luck to be in the presence of two exemplary content creators and marketers. Neither related to banking, FMCG or insurance retailer or even a stereotypical product, as a matter of fact.
Mansoor Khan, Film Director, author of The Third Curve and cheese-maker settled on a hilltop in Coonoor, is an exemplary example of a content marketer. He birthed genres of film at a time when they did not exist, with stories written by his father and him, be it a Romeo and Juliet with a twist or a sports-inspired film.
Today, he continues to write and has expounded his storytelling skills into a brilliant speaking career. Multiple sessions with him, peppered with storytelling of the highest quality, turned a simple weekend into a thought-provoking one revolving around the fakeness of growth.

It is content that drives the man. From physics to energetics to being ‘one’. An excellent, take-no-prisoner, lawyer-like approach helps throw all MBA-style jargon such as innovation, creativity and productivity out the window. For more info on his thoughts feel free to visit his website
Nothing can grow exponentially. Use your body as an example. Or plants. Or energy. Or ecology. Then how do you expect profits, GDP and similar such meaningless measurement metrics to grow exponentially? An argument well made by Mansoor and similar thinkers globally, but sadly not one realistically endorsed by governments, corporates and very few industry leaders.If anything, Mansoor Khan is an original. And that holds your attention for a lot longer than anything else.

Takeaways from my impromptu sessions with him? Information is the lowest common denominator... convert it into knowledge and only then does it becoming insightful ‘gyaan (wisdom)’.Once again, clear thinking is what drives such great content.

Someone once said it is better to be with a wise man in prison, than with a fool in paradise. I got to experience some great content with a wise man in paradise. Should you get a chance, do not miss his book, The Third Curve and look out for the new one on Energetics.

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My next ‘encounter’ was with 100k people. (So I like to dramatize, so sue me :) )

For an all-nighter.

Driven by content from one man (and now of course his entire team). To use a cliché… Love him. Hate him. But you can't ignore him. Sadhguru's MahaShivratri at his sprawling Isha Foundation would leave most rock concerts reeling.

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Power-packed with great content, driven by folks who have deep respect for his thought process, and a team sitting on the cutting edge of everything tech was yet again proof how content is the mystic, king, queen and pretty much everything when it comes to building any brand.
So deep discounting, fake offers and steroidal marketing should really take a back seat, and marketers should wake up to what makes customers feel good, or great.
Answer: contextual content.

Contextual to the time we live in. Belief and passion for your content (Sadhguru interacted with the audience throughout the night). Deep, thought-out content. The ones that touch the thinking mind and stimulate the heart. Not mindless media buying. And definitely not content that tries to fool 'buyers'.
Today: Mansoor is not on Facebook and he feels sorry for anyone who is. Sadhguru has harnessed the powers of social media so well and made it his willing slave. #roarforshiva trended all over India for most of the night of 7th March.
These experiences let me to list some universal truths about Content Marketing:

1)Kick-starting anything which has content as its foundation is going to take time. You can't jumpstart it with external stimulation. Don't even try. That's a great way to kill it.

2)Patience is an important virtue with regard to content development. There are many moving parts, such as finding the right tone and thinking through what you are going to write. Ever seen a good book written in 15 days? There you go.

3)No letting go. Content is a constant. Like blood cells. You need to keep producing. Without the fear of failure or disappointment. Without expectations. And one day, it will hit the sweet spot.

4)Listening to feedback without pain. And using common sense to take what instinctively sounds correct (for God’s sake never accept all feedback!!)

5)Lastly, great content can never be created without fun, without you enjoying the process. It shows in whatever you produce.
And hopefully, when you get there, like an artist you will enjoy your creation while having cracked one of the toughest nuts that exists in marketing today. There, I told you, I was not using click bait!
This article was drafted on the 7th March circa 9.30pm In the company of 100k people brought together by awesome content, on an iPhone 6S. Kavita founded Web Spiders (now WS Group) and curates content for Click Asia Summits.

You are the unconscience of dimension.

You are just a little bit drunk.

~ Sadhguru