TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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Hey there, and welcome to The
Content Experiment Podcast, a
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podcast for service driven
business owners who are ready
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for some real talk when it comes
to marketing. There's so much
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buzz out there about marketing
and content strategy from people
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who aren't actually doing the
work themselves. And then
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there's us the true small
business owner who is simply
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trying to make an impact in
their own small circle of
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influence.
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I'm Abby Herman, fractional
Marketing Officer, content
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strategist and podcast manager
for business owners who want to
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make their marketing feel easier
and more streamlined, so they
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can get back to serving their
clients and making those sales.
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Here we talk about real
marketing strategies for those
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who are in the weeds and doing
the work, not outsourcing it to
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big teams, you'll hear from real
business owners, just like you
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who are marketing on a budget
looking for easy to implement
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strategies and want some
guidance from people who are
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accessible and real. Thank you
so much for being here.
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I know that you want to make an
impact with your content, you
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want to make sure that people
get something out of it, and
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that they take action on it. And
that's probably why you listen
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to this podcast. But what does
it actually mean to make an
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impact with your content? And
with your marketing? How do you
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get people to interact with your
content, you create content that
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sparks something in them that
teaches something, or that
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compels them to take the next
step with you.
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So this week, on the podcast,
we're going to talk about
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creating impactful content, what
that actually means. Some
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strategies for creating content,
impactful content on a
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shoestring budget, how to figure
out like what content you should
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create in the first place that
resonates with your audience,
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and then building out a content
calendar for that impactful
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content. Now, next week, we're
going to talk about engaging
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your audience with that content.
So this was kind of like the
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precursor to next week's
episode, so make sure that
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you're subscribed so you can
tune in next week as well.
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Alright, so what makes content
impactful? Its ability to
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engage, inform and drive action
without necessarily direct or
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quote, unquote, salesy
promotion. And this is really
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crucial for building trust and
authority in the b2b or business
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to business space. So what makes
content impactful when you focus
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on creating content that
educates, solves problems, or
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addresses specific needs of your
b2b audience, and this again,
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creates and fosters trust and
credibility, impactful content
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positions your business and you
as the CEO, as an industry
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leader, and it helps you to
build long term relationships
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with your audience, which is,
again, essential for the b2b
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audience and essential essential
for their decision making
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process.
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So what does that impactful
content look like? So some of
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the key elements that contribute
to a to your contents impact
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include making sure that it's
relevant to your target
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audience. So the key thing here
is to tailor your content to
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address the unique challenges
and questions of your target
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market? How do you know what
this is you ask them, I
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recommend doing an audience
survey once or twice a year, or
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if in your if your business
shifts in any way, so that you
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can find out what your people
want and need. If you're not
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sure how to do this, I have a
free audience survey challenge
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that you can get access to at
the content experiment.com/ask
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It walks you through the process
step by step. And impactful
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content also has actionable
insights. So it should have some
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like key advice or takeaways
that the audience can implement.
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And this gives your audience
immediate value. It should also
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be really compelling to your
audience. So make sure that
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you're telling a story solving a
problem and in general, just
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being really authentic. So let's
say that you have a shoestring
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budget, and you want to know how
to create some really impactful
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content on that shoestring
budget. I get it. A lot of
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businesses are cutting expenses
right now. So business owners
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are creating their own content
or trying to market their
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business says on a smaller
budget. So here are some
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strategies that might help you
with this.
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So first, focus on what I like
to call Minimum Viable content
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marketing. This is creating the
minimum amount of content that
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you need to create to make sure
that you continue to have
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visibility and then stopping
there, you do not have to be in
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all of the places, it's enough
to create one piece of pillar
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content a week, or every other
week and pillar content I define
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as a podcast, your YouTube
videos, or a blog post. So
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publish one of those every week
or every other week. Post a few
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times a week on one social media
platform wherever your audience
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is hanging out. And make sure
you have a way for people to
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join your email list. And make
sure you're emailing your
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audience at least every other
week, preferably weekly. And
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this is probably enough to stay
visible and present online when
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you are in a mode of really
trying to shoestring your
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marketing. Other ways to develop
content on a small budget
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include leaning on case studies
and testimonials from clients.
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Your clients are a great
resource for fresh content,
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ideas and social media posts.
You can leverage AI tools like
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chatGPT to help cut back on the
amount of time you're spending,
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creating content. I had ChatGPT
create the outline for this very
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podcast episode and then I put
my own spin on it, you can
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listen to episode 257 of the
podcast for more on how to do
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this. And I also have a guide
for chatGPT prompts that you can
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access at
thecontentexperiment.com/shop.
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Other ways to shoestring your
budget your marketing budget
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expert interviews, you can
conduct interviews with industry
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experts within your network to
provide valuable insights to
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your audience at a low or no
cost. And if you have a podcast
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I hope you do this often. I hope
you have guests on your podcast
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to share. And by the way, for
those of you who are tired of
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hearing me talk by myself on the
podcast, guest episodes are
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starting back up soon. So stay
tuned. You can also repurpose
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your content, maximize the value
of the content that you create
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by repurposing existing
materials into multiple formats
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like blog posts, podcasts and
infographics that will help you
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to extend the reach and
engagement without additional
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costs or at a minimum cost. So I
have a client who we repurpose
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YouTube videos on a regular
basis using repurpose.io. I have
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another client who has a
podcast. And we also we meaning
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her Podcast Producer, films it
and we put it on their YouTube
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channel. And then we create
clips using get munch.com. Both
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of those are paid services, but
they are low cost paid services.
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And they're it's really easy to
repurpose content that way. You
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can also take one piece of
content that you originally
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intended to be a single piece of
content like a blog post or a
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podcast episode and repurpose
that into an infographic or
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multiple infographics, you can
create a series of social media
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posts with that one piece of
content. Or you can even take it
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and break it up into chunks for
a webinar or shorts on YouTube.
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So lots of different ways to do
that.
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And then you can also update old
content, refresh and republish
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the content that you already
have out there with updated
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information, new data, maybe
recent trends, and that helps
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you to increase its lifespan.
I'm doing this over at the
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content experiment lab at my
shop where you can get low cost
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marketing and content tools that
you can use in your own
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business. I'm taking old
masterclasses and old tools that
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I created years and years
ago, I
am revamping them and re sharing
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them and publishing them selling
them on The Content Experiment
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Lab shop. So that is again at
thecontentexperiment.com/shop.
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And I'm adding new products over
there on a regular basis. All
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right.
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So we've talked about creating
the content on a shoestring
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budget. Let's talk about like
understanding your audience. and
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making sure that you're creating
what your audience actually
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needs and wants. The whole point
in creating content is to help
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your audience understand how you
can support them in their
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challenges. It is meant to help
support them and answer their
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questions, educate them, and
showcase how you are the
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solution for them. No longer is
content like podcast episodes,
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blogs and YouTube videos are the
go to for audience growth,
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though. Instead, these pieces of
content are how we nurture your
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audience members who have
already found us through things
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like podcast guesting speaking
on summits and stages being a
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part of bundle giveaways among
other things. So you have to
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know what the challenges of your
audiences is in order to deliver
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the content that they need and
want. So hopefully, you're doing
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the attraction pieces in your
marketing by showing up in in
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front of other people's
audiences. Now you need to
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understand what your new
audience members actually need
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and want from you.
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So I've already talked about my
free Ask Your Audience
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challenge, which again, is that
thecontentexperiment.com/ask.
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But there are some other things
that you can do to better
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understand your audience also
things that you should do on an
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ongoing basis. So this is not
just something you do once or
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twice a year, this is something
that you do multiple times a
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week. So first, pay close
attention on social media to see
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what people are talking about. I
have been spending 30 minutes a
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day, almost every day of the
week chunk checking in on
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LinkedIn, and certain Facebook
groups to see what people are
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posting and sharing and what
they're commenting on other
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people's posts and shares. I
also make sure that I'm looking
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at comments that people have
made on my content and the
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content of people who are also
in the marketing world. So I'm
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really trying to get a pulse on
where people are right now. You
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also want to listen to what your
clients are saying, both on
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social media, in their emails in
to you on calls, write down
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their challenges, even if
they're outside of your level of
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expertise, or even your field
altogether, knowing what's
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important to them, will help you
speak more closely to potential
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customers just like them. And
honestly, through conversations
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with clients, I have modified
and just and adjusted my own
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services, and my own contracts,
to make sure that I'm serving my
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clients even better and in a way
that feels good for me. You can
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also create polls on social
media to encourage people to
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comment and share their
thoughts. This also helps to
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foster more community which is
very powerful right now. The one
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warning I will say about using
polls on social media is to just
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realize that some of the people
who comment and respond may not
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be your ideal customers. So just
keep that in mind. Take
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everything that is said in those
polls with a grain of salt.
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And of course analytics review
in a couple of weeks. We're
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going to talk more about this,
but make sure that you're
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regularly reviewing website and
social media analytics so that
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you understand what content
performs best and why that way,
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you can create data driven
content strategy adjustments.
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If you want to uplevel your
content and get more organic
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traffic, you can also leverage
some SEO, SEO tools to help so
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you might need to hire an SEO
professional to get you started,
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or your friendly neighborhood
fractional marketing officer
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like me, that's a good place to
start to, but know what keywords
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you're ranking for, what you
like to rank for where your
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competitors are ranking, and
then optimize your website
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content and your social media
posts to support those goals.
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Now we're going to talk quickly
about building a content
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calendar. Because if you want to
create impactful content, you
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should have a content plan of
some sort. It's really important
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to have that put together so
that you know what direction
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you're going in your content,
you know where you're focusing,
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you know what your ultimate
goals are. So I teach you how to
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create a content calendar in
your 90 day content plan. This
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is a private audio feed that you
can get access to in the content
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experiment lab shop. And again,
I'm not going to mention again
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that there's a link in the show
notes for that. And this whole
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thing starts creating your
content plan starts with knowing
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what your zones of genius are
those topics that you can talk
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about. forever and ever and ever
without getting tired of it, or
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maybe you get tired of it, but
you don't actually run out of
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things to say, then with results
from your audience survey, you
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can plan out your content for 90
days at a time. These content
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themes are the zones of genius
that you create can help you
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plan out an entire month of
content based around a few key
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ideas. And consistency is one of
the most important things to
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keep in mind. I recommend
finding a cadence that works for
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you and your time or your
financial budget that you can
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stick with over a long period of
time, one month, six months.
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That's not enough to determine
whether your content and your
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marketing is working.
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You can publish your pillar
content, so your podcasts or
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blogs, or your YouTube videos at
least every other week, which
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I've mentioned before, and do it
weekly if you can, and make sure
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that you're emailing your list
regularly. Again, I recommend
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weekly, you want to stay in
front of these people who want
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to learn and get into more
information with you. There are
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tons of tools available to help
you with your content creation,
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I use a mix of airtable and
clickup. Depending on where each
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piece is in the process. Google
Docs is my own go to for writing
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up things like my show notes, my
emails and my social media
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posts. And if you already have
your 90 day content plan, if
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you've already purchased that,
send me an email at Abby at the
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content experiment.com. And let
me know I'll double check that
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you have it. And I will send you
the template that I use for my
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00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:58,120
own content. And if you buy it
now it will have a link to the
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template inside. I'm adding that
in there.
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If you found value in what you
learned here today, I would be
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00:17:04,060 --> 00:17:07,690
so honored if you would leave a
rating and review and don't be
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00:17:07,690 --> 00:17:10,690
shy about sharing the episode
with someone who might need it.
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The more you share this podcast
with others the more we can get
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it into the earbuds of more
business owners just like you
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who are looking for easy to
implement strategies and want
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some guidance from people who
are accessible and real. That's
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what you'll find here. Thanks so
much for being here. Until next
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time, take care.