Sell Without The Sleaze

Find the right content mix, build a trusted personal brand, and attract ideal fit clients.

Selling on social media is a balancing act.

You can think of your personal brand as your “social bank account”. When you share value content, you are making a deposit in your account.

Value typically comes in two forms:

Authority Content

Educating your audience on a topic in which you have built expertise.

This builds your authority in your audience’s mind.

Personal Content

Sharing your stories and experiences, and sharing the insights and lessons from those experiences. This builds trust and relatability.

As you share value content over time, you build more and more social currency - more authority and and trust.

On the other hand, think of a sales post as a withdrawal.

You’re using up some of the savings you’ve built up through all that high value content.

If all you do is make withdrawals, pretty soon your account is going to be empty.

Your authority and trust dwindles away, and you are now known as someone who is constantly trying to drum up business.

On the other hand, if all you do is share valuable content, and never sell, you’ll still make sales….but far fewer than if you actually invite people to buy once in a while.

So what’s the right balance?

How much value, and how much selling? And how can you sell in a way that feels aligned with your values?

Here’s how different creators approach it:

This is the content mix of the “bro marketer” on LinkedIn.

These people are basically selling constantly.

Often, even their value content is a thinly veiled nudge to buy from them. People certainly build successful businesses doing this, but it comes at the cost of personal brand building.

All that selling takes a toll on authorty, trust and credibility.

You take small wins now at the cost of much larger wins later.

What if you simply never sell, and instead build authority and trust with every post?

This works for people who don’t need social media. Their business is already well established and generating income through other means (referrals, SEO, paid ads, email marketing).

This type of creator will get more personal brand opportunities - speaking engagements, podcast invites, and yes, some high ticket consulting.

However, while this person will certainly attract clients on LinkedIn, they will attract far fewer revenue generating opportunities than someone who sells a little more often.

For most people, this is a bit extreme.

This is my own approach.

For myself, and for most founders, I would recommend selling 10-20% of the time, and giving value the rest of the time.

This allows me to create content that is aligned with my values, and still generate a consistent income

Most of the time I’m focused on building social capital.

I’m building the foundations for what I hope will be a long career as a founder/creator.

Once in a while, I share my offer, along with case studies, testimonials and other proof that I get results. This generates leads.

This approach means I am known for producing high quality content, and not for pitching my services.

It means I am able to access all the benefits of a true personal brand - podcast invites, speaking engagements, and being featured on major media platforms - without sacrificing income in the short term.

Speaking at The Do Lectures - Wales 2025

What’s the right mix for you?

How much of your content is pure value, and how much is selling your services?

How has it changed over time?

I’m interested to hear how other people are thinking about this, and what you’ve found works for you.

P.S. Quick reminder:

In August(!), I’m launching the The Mindshare Method.

Click here to join the waitlist.

All waitlist members will be invited to attend a one hour LinkedIn masterclass where I'll be sharing everything we'll cover in The Mindshare Method.