Transforming Marketing Chaos into Strategic Gold
This podcast episode elucidates three concealed bottlenecks that may be undermining your content strategy, thereby impeding its efficacy in generating conversions. We commence by emphasizing the paramount importance of incorporating a clear call to action, as the absence of such an element can render your content utterly forgettable, no matter how insightful it may be. Subsequently, we delve into the detrimental effects of overthinking and inconsistency, which often lead to paralysis in content creation and a sporadic posting schedule that fails to engage audiences. Finally, we address the significance of utilizing the appropriate format for your message, ensuring that it resonates with your target demographic in a manner that is both accessible and effective. By rectifying these pervasive issues, we aspire to empower you to enhance your marketing efforts and achieve substantial results.
The Marketing Alchemist presents a profound examination of the intricacies involved in effective marketing strategy, particularly focusing on the content creation process. In this enlightening episode, host Alex Haynes delineates three critical obstacles that often impede marketers: the absence of a clear call to action, the pitfalls of overthinking, and the inconsistencies that arise in content delivery. He posits that many creators fail to realize the essential nature of directing their audience toward specific actions, resulting in a lack of engagement and, ultimately, conversion. Haynes articulates that a well-defined call to action is not merely a suggestion but a requisite for successfully guiding potential customers through the marketing funnel.
Throughout the discussion, Haynes underscores the often-overlooked impact of overthinking on content production. He shares personal experiences and observations from his extensive career, revealing how the anxiety surrounding perfection can inhibit timely content release. By encouraging a shift in mindset from perfection to consistency, he provides listeners with a pragmatic approach to content creation that prioritizes regular engagement with the audience. This strategy not only fosters a more dynamic relationship with followers but also enhances the overall effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
Additionally, the episode delves into the necessity of aligning content formats with the preferences of the target audience. Haynes advocates for the practice of repurposing content across multiple platforms, thereby maximizing audience reach and catering to diverse consumption habits. By leveraging analytics and audience insights, marketers can refine their approach, ensuring that their content not only reaches but resonates with their intended demographic. Ultimately, The Marketing Alchemist serves as a valuable resource for marketers aiming to transcend common pitfalls and develop a cohesive, impactful content strategy.
Takeaways:
- The podcast emphasizes the importance of having a clear call to action in every piece of content, as this significantly influences audience engagement and conversion rates.
- One key insight shared is the detrimental effect of overthinking on content creation, which often leads to inaction; it is essential to prioritize consistency over perfection.
- The episode discusses how inconsistency in posting can harm audience retention and engagement, advocating for a regular posting schedule to maintain visibility.
- A significant takeaway is the necessity of understanding the right format for the message, ensuring that content is tailored to the preferences of the target audience for optimal impact.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- A2
Transcript
Welcome to the Marketing Alchemist.
Speaker A:Marketing Clarity without the chaos.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Alex Haynes, and I'm one of the owners of A2.
Speaker A: been helping businesses since: Speaker A:And I'm your strategist, your guide.
Speaker A:Well, really your alchemist.
Speaker A:We turn, well, you know what, into gold.
Speaker A:Because around here we don't actually believe in throwing spaghetti against the wall.
Speaker A:We believe in turning scattered content info into solid strategy.
Speaker A:And let me tell you, I've seen some messes and we've done some incredible things.
Speaker A:So if you're looking for your marketing to actually work, I hope you join us on this journey.
Speaker A:You see, each week we're going to be doing things like practical systems and real talk and powerful insights to help you go from overwhelmed to in control.
Speaker A:Because a lot of times I talk to people who just don't know where to start.
Speaker A:So if you're ready to dive in, I want to talk about three hidden bottlenecks killing your content strategy.
Speaker A:And I get these three things told to me all the time and I'm hoping that it might illuminate maybe where you're getting stuck.
Speaker A:So if you're posting and it's just not converting and we're talking about getting sales, we're talking about getting likes, we're talking about doing something or social media if it's not working and people aren't showing up, well, you're not alone.
Speaker A:So don't freak out.
Speaker A:It happens a lot.
Speaker A:Because a lot of times what happens is there are three things, like I said, likely sabotaging your content.
Speaker A:And I'm here to help you fix that.
Speaker A:So let's get into this.
Speaker A:One is there's no clear offer or call to action.
Speaker A:And I get this all the time.
Speaker A:Someone will read me a post or they'll show me a video they did.
Speaker A:And within, at the end of it, I'm silent, I'm looking at them and I go, okay, where's your phone number?
Speaker A:And they look at me and there's horror on their face because they just paid someone like four or five thousand dollars to produce this really high end video commercial.
Speaker A:And there's no contact information, there's no call to action on what to do.
Speaker A:And they're like, why didn't this person tell me this?
Speaker A:And I'm like, well, you hired them to make a video, you didn't hire them for marketing strategy.
Speaker A:And this happens all the time.
Speaker A:It happens when we post on social media, it happens when we make video content.
Speaker A:It can even happen in our podcasts.
Speaker A:See, one of the things we are afraid of is we're trained by the world that it's bad to ask for a sale because we all have had bad experiences with a salesperson, right?
Speaker A:No one wants to be sold anything.
Speaker A:No one goes to social media to get sold.
Speaker A:No one shows up at, you know, where they're enjoying life to be sold on something.
Speaker A:But sales happens all the time on social media.
Speaker A:Well, the trick is to do it in such a way that they don't feel salesy.
Speaker A:But not asking and not having a call to action is the key to getting zero traction.
Speaker A:So let's talk about how to do that correctly.
Speaker A:One of the biggest things I've seen people do is something called value dumping.
Speaker A:So a lot of times when people are afraid to ask for a sale or they're afraid for that next step and they just want to bother people, they.
Speaker A:They go into this knowledge dump, this value dump, where they do all this teaching and all this training, kind of like I'm doing right now, where I'm having a conversation with you.
Speaker A:But at the end they leave you with no next step and you walk away with nothing to do.
Speaker A:And that's insane.
Speaker A:Especially when you invested time and energy delivering all this super valuable information.
Speaker A:The information is great, but the problem is there's no direction or next step to what you do because you're afraid to sound salesy.
Speaker A:So you end up being 100% forgettable.
Speaker A:And that is something you should absolutely avoid.
Speaker A:So if you want a quick fix to this, if you're finding that you're looking at your content and you go, oh my goodness, I have no call to action.
Speaker A:And if you don't know what a call to action, it's simple as, hey, give me a like or comment below.
Speaker A:It's telling your audience what to do.
Speaker A:Well, I have a few simple things you could try.
Speaker A:First, every piece of content you create, no matter what it is, needs to have a call to action.
Speaker A:A clear call to action.
Speaker A:And it could be something simple as DM me or comment this thing, just let me know you liked it or share it with a friend or drop a comment or click the link, whatever it is.
Speaker A:Every piece of content you put out, I give you permission to put a call to action there.
Speaker A:I actually require it.
Speaker A:And I work with companies say every piece has to have something, some type of call to action.
Speaker A:Whether it's in your graphics, in the video, or in the copy, there has to be a call to action.
Speaker A:There has to be a Next step.
Speaker A:Otherwise, there's no point in creating this content.
Speaker A:And then once you figure out some things, what I do is I create a list.
Speaker A:I create 10 or 15 pieces of call to action that I find helpful, that's unique to me, unique to things I'm trying to accomplish.
Speaker A:And I rotate them out so I don't say the same thing over and over again.
Speaker A:This way I.
Speaker A:I make sure everything stays fresh.
Speaker A:And yeah, I'm the type of guy that writes it down, puts it in a file and I go back to it and copy and paste into my content that makes sure that I can not duplicate the same thing I did last time.
Speaker A:And I have a strategy and a blueprint for content going out and I don't have to think about it every time.
Speaker A:Make it simple, make it easy.
Speaker A:We don't need to overthink.
Speaker A:This two and this I get more than anything else.
Speaker A:Probably should have been number one, but for the sake of today, it's number two.
Speaker A:Oh, overthinking and inconsistencies.
Speaker A:So let's tackle over overthinking, because I get this all the time.
Speaker A:I can't tell you how many people I've had a con sit, sat down and had a conversation with and they've said the following words.
Speaker A:They've said, alex, I not ready to put it out because it's not good enough yet.
Speaker A:I'm afraid that no one's going to like the content.
Speaker A:It doesn't look good enough, it's not perfect, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Excuse, excuse, excuse me.
Speaker A:Really what it comes down to is I'm afraid of putting out the content because it's not absolutely perfect and someone's going to make fun of it.
Speaker A:That's what I get told without them actually saying those exact words.
Speaker A:And I can sympathize because as someone who makes content on a regular basis, I am terrified that the content is not good enough.
Speaker A:Always.
Speaker A:That never goes away.
Speaker A:So realistically, you just need to get over it.
Speaker A:I hate to be blunt like that, but that's the, that's the truth.
Speaker A:Perfect stops things from getting done.
Speaker A:Don't aim for perfect, aim for getting done.
Speaker A:Aim for good enough.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:What happens is over time, things will get better and better and you'll find ways of making that content look better and start looking sharper and stand out even more.
Speaker A:But start with consistency.
Speaker A:Start with just getting it out there.
Speaker A:Sometimes the biggest hurdle is just putting it out.
Speaker A:This is why some people can put out content that has zero production value and getting millions of views and likes where the people that spend so much time of trying to craft this perfectly polished piece of content and maybe gets 100 views.
Speaker A:The reality is people want real information, especially in on places like TikTok and YouTube and Instagram.
Speaker A:They're looking for real.
Speaker A:And the culture is starting to reject some of this more polished type of content.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So instead of going for perfect, go for get it done.
Speaker A:This is gonna really help you avoid stopping yourself from actually producing that content.
Speaker A:And if you think you're the only person struggling with this, I would say about 70 to 80% of my clientele have this as their number one problem.
Speaker A:It's a big problem because everyone is afraid of being judged.
Speaker A:And what I tell people is that there are other people waiting on the other side of you doing that thing.
Speaker A:And it's going to help so many people.
Speaker A:That piece of knowledge you have, that product you offer is going to be the thing that fixes someone else's life.
Speaker A:It really is.
Speaker A:So just get it out there and help people forget about everything else and just get it done.
Speaker A:Second thing with this is inconsistency.
Speaker A:What happens when you go for perfect is that you spend such a long time trying to get a piece of product out, a post or video, whatever it is, and you post randomly.
Speaker A:What I tell clients is you should be posting on a regularly scheduled program three, four, five times a week.
Speaker A:You know, three is the minimum in my mind.
Speaker A:Should absolutely be more than that.
Speaker A:But start with three.
Speaker A:If you can't start with anything, three is a good number.
Speaker A:Three times a week, every three, every other day, post.
Speaker A:What happens is your client gets used to that.
Speaker A:The people that you're trying to get to, your audience, and they'll come back for more information.
Speaker A:They go, oh, today's Monday.
Speaker A:I know they're going to post, but X, Y and Z, and I want to see that fun clip or that video you made or that post or whatever it is.
Speaker A:You will train your audience to come back and they're expecting to get more information.
Speaker A:But if you don't post consistency, what happens is a couple of things.
Speaker A:Well, the algorithm is going to punish you and that's a big thing.
Speaker A:We want to make sure that algorithm is really happy.
Speaker A:Two, that your actual audience is not expecting it.
Speaker A:So they start ignoring you.
Speaker A:They won't get those notifications because they're not seeing your stuff pop up on their timeline.
Speaker A:They're not not seeing you post regularly.
Speaker A:So they will forget about you and they'll move on to someone who's going to give them that content.
Speaker A:It's better to give them that content, have them coming back to you day in and day out, than just give them that one perfect piece of information.
Speaker A:Consistency matters.
Speaker A:So one of the things I tell people to do is have instead of a goal of perfect, have a minimum standard.
Speaker A:And when I talk about minimum standards, I am talking bare bones.
Speaker A:The least we have to do to get it out, things like, hey, all our posts should have our logo.
Speaker A:Everything should be spelled correctly and run through a spell check.
Speaker A:That's what I mean by minimum standard.
Speaker A:Good enough to get it out.
Speaker A:This is going to make your content much faster and get out sooner and scheduled and it's not going to keep you from getting things done.
Speaker A:And I suggest things using tips like batch creating content with canva, using templates that are already done for you.
Speaker A:You just got to drop in your graphics super easy.
Speaker A:Your photos can go into templates, they still look really good.
Speaker A:And of course leveraging AI.
Speaker A:AI is huge for content creation.
Speaker A:It will simplify your workload, it will help you get stuff done faster and it even looks good.
Speaker A:This will make your life a lot easier.
Speaker A:Embrace AI now.
Speaker A:Last thing number three, the wrong format for the right message and this is less of a problem.
Speaker A:But it can be a problem.
Speaker A:You're saying the right thing, but maybe it's the wrong way.
Speaker A:Understanding your ideal client, where they like to hang out and what they like is key to making sure you deliver in the right format.
Speaker A:And there's an easy fix for this and we'll get to that last.
Speaker A:But really what happens is your messaging needs the right look and it could be something like this, a video or a podcast that's sharing information.
Speaker A:Or it might be writing where it's a written out piece of content or a post on Facebook or Instagram or a short like TikTok or YouTube shorts.
Speaker A:Or it could be a carousel image where you're swiping and there's information and graphics, or even SEO heavy where it's going to be on a blog or LinkedIn.
Speaker A:All of these different formats will be delivered to people in their unique way and they're going to receive it.
Speaker A:And you have to understand what your client wants and expects.
Speaker A:Well, one of the ways to tackle this, and this is the easiest thing to do and then look at analytics, is to actually create one piece of content and then repurpose that to all the different formats.
Speaker A:So you can do something like I do.
Speaker A:We create a podcast video and then we take that podcast video, break it down into shorts, turn some of those posts and those shorts into written posts for social media as long as screen grabs and graphics and then we turn that into shorts for YouTube and like I said, TikTok shorts as well.
Speaker A:From a long piece of content like this I can take the main points and turn this into a written blog, but put that on LinkedIn.
Speaker A:I can do a deeper version, write a whole article, maybe double the length, put it on my website and that's going to be SEO friendly with clickable links to even the offer we have at the end of this video.
Speaker A:All that are different ways to present this information.
Speaker A:What that's going to do is you can then look at how everything works.
Speaker A:Your audience is going to tell you which of those things you like they like the most.
Speaker A:If they're only going to your TikTok, guess what?
Speaker A:You need to make more of a more TikTok videos.
Speaker A:If they're only reading your blogs or only looking at written content, then you need to double down and do more written content.
Speaker A:It's less about what you want to do and more about what your client wants you to do or your end person is going to buy from you.
Speaker A:This way when you put to all the different formats, you can start looking at those analytics and see what does best.
Speaker A:A quick tip on how to use analytics Remember, at the end of the day, it's not just about eyeballs.
Speaker A:If you're a business and you're looking to convert, you need to understand what your win is.
Speaker A:If your win is getting someone into a DM or to a messaging service or a lead and turning them into a sale, well that is the goal you need to track.
Speaker A:You don't care as much about impressions as you do about ROI or getting that sale.
Speaker A:So make sure that when you're looking at how people are interacting with your content, you need to track what your actual goal is.
Speaker A:Maybe you do want market share.
Speaker A:Well that's going to be focusing on views and how many people are seeing it and how new people are seeing it, right?
Speaker A:If you're looking at sales, it's more going to be how many people are DMing you, how many people are going to your lead capture pages and how many of those you're actually converting into sales.
Speaker A:There are different ways to look at the analytics and you'll have different results for the content you're looking for depending on what your strategy is for your marketing.
Speaker A:Obviously this could lead into having a deeper conversation about what your content should be doing for you.
Speaker A:These three tips are going to help you quickly start getting more traction and better results.
Speaker A:So of course every piece of content has a call to action and I'm going to give you my call to action, something you can copy for yourself.
Speaker A:So my call to action is simple.
Speaker A:In the show notes, in the video somewhere there's a link to a free content strategy fix sheet, absolutely free.
Speaker A:You can grab it and it'll have these notes and these show notes that you can use to help your business.
Speaker A:Or if you want to go even deeper, you know that you need some help.
Speaker A:We have online coaching classes and one to one booking that you can do if you want to sit down with someone like me or one of my team members to really dig into what you need help with and strategize in getting your marketing to that next level.
Speaker A:Well, I hope this podcast was helpful.
Speaker A:I hope we were able to turn this little problem into a little bit of gold and that help you into your next step.
Speaker A:This has been the marketing alchemist, helping you turn chaos into strategy.
