One of the core principles of content marketing is that it must offer useful information, rather than being a sales pitch. But even though it cannot sell directly, your content must persuade. It must persuade the user to take specific action.
That action does not just have to be transactional, such as clicking on “Add to shopping cart.” It could be anything that continues the user’s relationship with your organization — such as signing up for a blog or newsletter, downloading a white paper, or following you on Twitter.