Most content marketing is intelligent and strategic and professional. But it's also a bit... limp. Middle-of-the-road. Safe.

That's what Velocity's recent SlideShare, "The Other C Word," is all about.

I've embedded it here—to save you googling—and then added some great examples of confident content marketing below.

When Ann Handley of MarketingProfs (annhandley.com) read "The Other C Word," she immediately added another vital ingredient that's shared by all great content marketing: Empathy.

Ann definitely has a point. Confidence without empathy is arrogance. And nobody likes arrogance.

But confidence with empathy is magic. As a reader, I'll go anywhere a confident, empathetic writer wants to take me. (But I won't get out of bed for a mealy-mouthed or self-centered writer).

Using the multiplication sign completes the equation: Confidence x Empathy = Great Content

If either value is zero, the results will be zero too. If both values are high, the results will skyrocket.

Here's the "Other C Word" deck (comments are greatly appreciated).

And here's some great confident, empathetic content marketing that I hope supports my point:

'Follow the Frog' by the Rainforest Alliance

I can't tell you how much I love this film. Not just because it's so funny—but because it's based on a brilliant insight into how we all feel when confronted with a huge, global problem that we can't hope to solve ourselves.

It took massive confidence to even try this piece—and it's executed with major dosages of both confidence and empathy. Homerun.

Paths of Flight

GE Aviation had the confidence to do a piece with no narration or script. Just time-shifted take-offs and landings that share the sheer wonder that must make their engineers love their jobs.

The Scarecrow by Chipotle

Ann turned me on to this in her recent post on the LinkedIn blog. It's a wonderful piece about how the system that controls our food chain has lost its way. There's no real selling. Just a heartfelt story, beautifully told.

The Google Chrome Speed Tests

When Google launched Chrome, it wanted to drive home one single, simple idea: This sucker is fast. The down and dirty, mad scientist demos are a hoot—and only a really confident company could pull these off.

The bottom line?

Confidence is magnetic.
Confidence with empathy is irresistible.
And it's a hell of a lot more fun than namby-pamby.

Fellow content creators: let's aim high.
We can only get fired.

Doug is presenting at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum this week. He's speaking on "Content Marketing in the Age of Crap." Join him online.