Building a Compelling 'Character' and Personal Brand
“Let me make it simple. When the character becomes stronger than the audience, you lose your audience. The character has to have as many problems as the people in the audience, then they can relate. Like here’s a guy. He’s tough, he’s world champion. But he’s scared. He’s still nervous. And I don’t care who you are, when you sit in front of a crowd, you get nervous. It’s that connection.”
“It’s very important to use the ten or fifteen identifiable things that we have in common: pride, ego, jealousy, false pride, fear, insecurity… That kind of thing is what makes the character absolutely relate to the audience. When I don’t do that, it’s a disaster. And I have done that before.”
This was from an interview with Sylvester Stallone, as part of the Zurich Film Festival, back in the early 2000’s. You know not many people realise, Stallone is one of just a few people who have directed, acted, and written a lot of major films.
Anyway, when you look at what he said, well, there’s some incredible insight for marketing, sales and business in general.
And in particular, for this topic of creating a ‘relatable’ and compelling character or personal brand. Because a lot of businesses ‘lose’ their audience because of how they show up in marketing.
So this is something that can drive engagement and sales almost above all else.
Your Character Driven Business
Years back, I watched a screenwriting docco, it was talking about the two different types of story. Plot driven, vs character driven story. Basically, a plot driven story is where something is happening, and characters come in to attend to it.
The other week there was a car accident not far from my house. I could hear the crash from the desk. I went out there. And nobody was injured. One old guy hobbled out from his house and seemed a little bit out of it, lurching around. But none of the characters that were involved had any further motive. There was nothing to be done. Eventually the cops came, they towed the car away, et cetera. But the police came as part of their job. It was a plot driven story.
I tried for the life of me to turn it into a compelling email. But I couldn’t. There were no compelling characters.
And so it is with the most engaging stories. A key character drives the plot forward, inside the world where the whole story exists. We identify with the character, because they are not only relatable, but they’re also compelling. We’re intrigued, and we want to follow along with what happens not just in the story at large, but to them specifically.
In the world of business, we used to have a lot more plot driven businesses. Concrete companies, big airlines, big chains of restaurants. Largely ‘faceless’, and really just there to fill a market need and generate profit.
Richard Branson, was probably one of the more well known guys to shake this up. He built ‘big biz, but put his character into the centre.
In small business, especially with the internet, we all have a character driven businesses.
People identify with the characters (often ‘first’), resonate, build trust, then are open to buying what they have, when the need arrives. If you have a service business, the only way you can continue to engage customers for a long time, is through the customers feeling as though they have a relationship with you.
Just yesterday actually I went to buy a new dive knife. I drove twenty minutes out of my way to a local store. Paid 50% more than what I could pay online, waited in line, then drove home. I could have bought the thing and had it delivered. But the point was I have a relationship with the store owner.
I want him to win, so I support him. The stronger he can help that relationship to become, the better for him.
Most successful service driven businesses in the modern economy are character driven businesses.
Yes the service solves a particular problem, but we also know enough about the character to have a relationship with them, respect them, and want to associate with them as a person.
Some people call this personal brand…
To me, the difference - and why we call this ‘character building’ - is we’re always looking at how the character is driving the story forward. How are you driving your biz-ness story forward? So it’s the story that the character is both telling, and creating as they move forward in business, rather than just the reputation, or ‘brand’ of the service provider.
A lot of people think about ‘personal brand’ as how they dress in a facebook video, what colours they wear or put on their instagram feeds, and what glasses they have on. But that doesn’t tell us about their profitable promise - or what their mission is in the world. And this is how the character, or brand, is truly defined.
Sure your ‘looks’ impact your character. But most importantly, your character is defined by how they do what they do.
Anyway, let’s look deeper at what makes a character compelling
OK I’ll be up front here. In Creator Club, we have something called the ‘character compass’. This is a four point character profile system, that I’m not going to go into right now. One, because it takes a lot more depth - and usually one-to-one coaching (and another set of eyes) to really get it right. And two, because this article would blow out, and I sense the word count is going to be high enough as it is.
BUT we will cover a couple of the main points, or kind of ‘dance around’ this…
1 - The Character Must Show that They Are ‘Effective’
The other day I interviewed Janet Forbes - one of the co-founders of World Anvil, a worldbuilding platform with a hefty 2.5 Million users.
“Compelling characters are competent. They should have agency within the setting. They should be able to do something. They shouldn't just stand there dithering and sweating, right? We want to see characters doing things and being good at them. Not everything, not all the time. We want to see them do one thing that's really good.”
If you’ve been following my stuff for a while, you’ll have seen me talk about the key ‘intersection’ for character building.
That at any content, we want to a) demonstrate mastery, and b) show our character.
And this mastery part is something Janet is speaking to here. If you can do something very well as a service provider, that tends to be powerful…
I have a bad ‘spending’ habit in winter.
I’ve learned that winter is basically my achilles heel. In that, if I’m not careful, I’ll stop training, and just sit around and work, and that’s no good, so I spend money on new training programs. Because when I pay, I pay attention.
Anyway, I bought a sprint program from a guy that I’ve followed for a long time. And the number one reason I buy from this guy, is he is at mastery level, and he demonstrates it, daily.
I mean really. He’s 38 years old, 95kg, 179cm and as strong and as fast as I’ve ever seen for an ‘everyday’ guy. 150kg snatch. 300kg deadlift. Slam dunks a basketball hoop. It’s nuts. So anyway, I buy from him because he’s very good.
In my world, we teach service businesses how to grow a business they’re proud of. So, I demonstrate how I’ve done that. Three times. In my writing, I’m actually demonstrating it. By producing books, articles, emails… and having fun with it at the same time, it’s demonstration of the system that I recommend: Clarify your character, create your profitable promise, and build out your world with content.
Anyway, all that is demonstration.
So the first and most important question, is how can you demonstrate competency in your area of specialty. (If you haven’t narrowed that down, then it’s hard to demonstrate).
2 - The Character Shows that They Are ‘Active’
In a character driven story, the character needs to be driving the story. Sounds simple, but so easy to miss. Change attracts attention, so we’re looking for characters that are changing, or creating change. If you’re strength coach, how are you getting stronger as well? Or what seminars are you running? Or what book are you writing? How are you moving the story forward? What decisions are you making?
We work with a small business lawyer. That’s a field where you might think it’s pretty boring, right? Terms and conditions? Yeah. Not too exciting. So, how does she show ‘active?’ Organising events. Networking. Showing things that are happening. She’s running an event this week.
Janet also shared her thoughts on this:
“They make decisions. Even if it's a bad decision, they still make a decision and do something because watching a character that is indecisive is like watching paint dry.”
Yep.
And this is a key one for coaches, consultants… If you’re like me, you’re mostly working with clients. A lot of my work is at a table, or behind a screen. Or in a client’s place of business. It’s not particularly ‘active.’ So I ‘create’ active around this. I’m writing book two. I run live events. I go see clients, film parts of it and turn it into content.
I’m putting effort in to ‘show’ the active.
This ain’t that hard. Because if you’ve got a business and you’re trying to grow it, then you want to be ‘doing’ things anyway. We call this ‘time lining’. What is on your timeline? What are you doing in the future that you can showcase? A workshop? An offer launch? We typically do this with a client in a 90 day plan.
But the basic takeaway is if you want a more compelling and ‘exciting’ character, set up some events on your timeline that you are driving, and then show how they unfold! Remember, it doesn’t matter if it’s a perfect decision or a perfect event. It can be total chaos. It can be a ‘bad’ decision. That’s no problem. Whatever. It still is more compelling than doing nothing.
3 - The Character Must Be ‘Relatable’
“A ‘world’ really, is its people. Like when we are reading a a story, what we're connecting with is the people. When we are playing a game, what we're connecting with is the people. They're the conduit for all the emotions. And the emotions is really what we're talking about here. It's not just creating compelling characters, but creating characters we can connect to.”
One of the big problems with social media, is it’s taught us to bring out this shiny, polished exterior.
And this goes back to what Stallone talked about at the start… The polished character is too ‘strong.’
When he says strong, it ain’t just ‘strong’, but he also means the character is too ‘perfect.’ No flaws. So what do we do here? We want to show that we’re effective. But it also ain’t about being perfect… Some people go into the whole ‘faux vulnerability’ road.
The latest one I’ve seen is these videos of guys that they put on social media, where they’ve broken up with their girlfriend, and they’re having a proper cry. And they put some music behind it. And it goes viral. Look, I’m not saying you can’t cry as a guy or anything… But why stop, turn on your phone, film that, and then post it? The only reason you’d do that is if you’re trying to get social media traction from it. Overblown vulnerability. I don’t think that’s ‘it.’
Instead, what about if you just looked at yourself practically, and saw some of the weaknesses that you have, or nuances, and brought them out?
I’m obscenely impatient. I’m next to useless in a large crowd, and I’m about a year behind any current ‘trends.’ Thankfully I’ve learned to channel my addictive personality to coffee and writing (before it caused any serious harm), but I have that to deal with as well. I’ve got all kinds of problems, and dysfunctions, and while I don’t put them front and centre, I make a point to bring them out where I can.
The point is, the world doesn’t need another hero. The world wants someone they can relate to.
No matter what your opinion is on these people, Elon, Oprah, Robert Kennedy Jr., Connor McGregor… They’re all at the ‘top’ of their game, but they bring out their flaws. And it means people can connect with them. They don’t try to be virtuous. They just show up as themselves.
Anyway, this could be one of the most powerful ones. It’s kind of the same as cutting out the whole ‘coach speak’ thing. Or just writing your copy like yourself.
“But the most critical thing is you need to make yourself connectable, is you need to relatable. People have to understand you are a human and, and you are a human like them in some way. You must be relatable. And I think the danger of of a lot of us is we create these, like Teflon exteriors. We try to be perfect. We try to create the non-stick version of ourselves. But it's okay to say, “oh, you know, just give me a second to get my coffee. You don't wanna speak to me before I've had my coffee.””
Spot on Janet.
4 - The Character Must Show They Are ‘Growing’
When we think about the three parts of a story, we’ve got 1) a character, 2) who goes on a journey and faces obstacles, and 3) who then undergoes a transformation. What’s the transformation? That’s growth. That’s the change.
So as a service provider, or a human, the question is how can you show growth?
How can you show progression, or change? What does this look like for you?
“Characters that are good characters react to what's going on around them, and they grow. They are interactive with the world. And I think the, the big parallel here is that you are interactive with your people and you show progress in who you are. So, you know, if somebody knows you for a long time, they should get to know you better and they should see you, you blossom as a person.”
So you want to show some sort of growth. It’s so easy to get locked into doing things the way we’ve always done them. But you know what? That can be dead wood? Almost as soon as you’ve started to do something, you’ve got to think of how you can change it, you know?
And, this growth thing is as much the internal transformation of the character as it is the external changes in behaviour. Because it’s all related right? So to have a service provider come out and say “I’ve changed, I’ve adjusted my ways. I used to think that, now I think this…” That’s powerful. It inspires us as an audience. And it gives us the idea that we can change as well.
When I was younger, there was a show on TV called the Biggest Loser. They’ve stopped running it. For a few reasons. One is I don’t think it would be socially acceptable anymore. But also I think because there were a bunch of health issues with it. Like the trainers were pushing these people so hard to lose weight.
That I think one of them got sick, or something happened. It was too stressful.
Anyway, people love those kinds of shows, because they’re filled with obstacles, and trials and tribulations, which is how we grow. So we see them change physically, but also we see the mental shift as well.
And we identify with that. We all want some kind of change. Showing your growth is important.
Conclusion
OK, that’s enough for this article. As I said earlier, the word count can really get up with this stuff. But there’s enough here for you to implement in your work, and start to build a more relatable character, much faster.
And while you may or may not be a fan of Sly Stallone and his movies, the guy speaks the truth on character.
Bring this into your content and delivery, and you’ll really have a personality that’s cookin’.
People will be able to engage and buy like never before.
How to use short online articles to build authority and reach
In 2016, the internet was already rammed with articles. The ‘blog phase’ popped ten years prior, and everyone was deep into the ‘Optimise SEO’ stage. It was crowded. And still, it was an article that tipped me into buying my first business coaching program. With a tidy sum of $20k for a one year program at that.
The article was titled “Top Three Mistakes Gym Owners Make”. I already trusted the guy a bit. Then I read the article and booked a call pronto.
At that time, I’d personally been writing for a while, but that experience was a key turning point to start writing for my business.
I started with blog articles for our gym and since then it’s only accelerated. I’ve had written posts go viral on social media, sold hundreds of thousands of dollars with the written word, and have personally grown a lot from pounding the keyboard.
Anyway, now the game has changed, again.
Since the ‘great online shift’ in 2020, there’s AI copywriting bots, ChatGPT, and content seemingly everywhere.
If I open up social media, I’m blasted with the best prompts for AI, or how to get AI to write an entire book.
[Which is ironic, because I’m deep in the throes of writing ‘book two’ now, and the AI thing does sound tempting some days, even though it ain’t for me.]
And we’re largely dealing with this noise the only way we know how - avoiding the whole mess. Or, holding back because we’re told that in short order our ideas or work won’t be worth diddly because of AI.
Anyway, I love a ‘zag’, and this is exactly what I see available to service businesses right now.
While the ‘chaff’ will be neck deep with the AI noise, the high value ‘wheat’ is still rare.
Because when we look deeper, while advances in technology ‘should’ have made producing articles and online content easier, it ain’t always the case.
Personally, I don’t know anyone who has suddenly become a prolific (and effective) creator because of faster computers, AI, or anything else that’s come along.
That paradox isn’t new.
Isaac Asimov, for example, produced around 5000 print-ready words every day (much more, but they were edited down). And this was from attacking the typewriter.
More:
William Blake was a poet another hundred years plus prior. He rabidly produced content - hundreds of poems, books, art and more, through ‘relief etching’. I don’t know what that is, but it doesn’t sound fast.
And today people struggle to tap out a tweet or instagram post.
The point is, technology isn’t necessarily making people any faster or more prolific.
Because the bottleneck ain’t the typing, it’s the thinking.
Which, unless you’re completely tuned out, isn’t getting replaced any time soon. This means there’s a great opportunity, still, to ‘zag’ using online writing to stand out, build an audience, and create raving fans as a service provider.
Here are a four ways to use online articles to do exactly that.
(And one way not to use it)
Reason why not #1 ‘Do it for the SEO’
SEO is how your website ranks when we search your category. So if you’re a lawyer, and I search ‘lawyer in Sydney’, where do you come up? Truth is, if it ain’t in the top one or two, then one could argue that you’re nowhere.
My friend was telling me about the dating scene with Tinder. He said basically the top five or ten percent of the guys get almost all the girls. And the rest of the guys get nothing. I don’t know if that’s true. That sounds close to SEO to me..
So SEO ‘optimisation’ is choosing to fight tooth and nail to stay at the top.
Part of the theory is, you can produce wordy, ‘seo-friendly’ blog posts on your website, and this will help your case. So I *should* fill this post with the words ‘business coaching’ and ‘service business coaching’ as much as possible.
And all that organic content can help me move up when you search for “business coaching.”
I see that as a bonus. But not the ‘game’ itself.’
The game the Creators are playing in the modern economy, which is built on trust, is to become known specifically. So rather than search ‘business coaching’, I’m relying that you got here because you searched for my name, Creator Club, or, you are already on the email list or social media following.
So the blog thing may still help general SEO. I heard through the grapevine that it does. But to what extent, I’m not sure.
Either way, to me it’s better to use the articles in the three ways as follows.
Reason Why #1 - Populate your site to build a position of ‘helpfulness’
The law of reciprocity says that if you’re hungry, and I give you an apple, at some time in the future you’ll feel like returning the favour. Maybe if you’re generous you give me an orange because I like them more.
The problem is the way a lot of tactical marketers rely on ‘reciprocity’ is broken.
“If they download your lead magnet and you give extra value in a five-email nurture sequence, then they’ll buy”
Maybe. Not usually though.
We are looking much deeper now. And in some cases we even ‘sense and reject’ the attempts at so-called reciprocity.
But still, when I land on the MIT online learning website, and see hundreds of free courses that I can do, it creates a position in the mind. It’s memorable. I’ll go back.
When someone lands on your site and sees that you’ve done some work, and are not just trying to convert every poor soul who clicks on your URL into a sale, it creates a strong position.
I see this with my own articles all the time.
When my articles go out with an email, there are a few click-throughs. But over time, it builds. People notice the value even in the email, and they come back to the article later.
This is the goal, the ‘coming back’ part. We want to position your business in the minds of your customers, so you become the person they want to go back to, in order to go deeper and learn more.
And while we don’t track this, we find that there’s a certain ‘quality’ to the conversation we have with potential clients on the back of reading an article or from podcasts, rather than from social media.
What if people get to your site and just think you’re using AI to populate the blog?
There was an article the other day about how Christopher Nolan said he wouldn’t use CGI in one of his movies:
“I find CGI rarely is able to grab you. It tends to feel safe. Even if it’s impressive and beautify, it’s difficult to make you feel danger.”
And so it is with AI blogs. The discerning customers that you seek to serve are probably going to know the difference. And this gets into all of our character work, and personality marketing which we talk about everywhere.
Populating your site with helpful content shows that you can help, and often creates a ‘sticker’ website.
Not a shabby position at all.
Reason Why #2 - Blast to email, then take them deeper
The average email I send out is around 400 words. Sometimes longer, often shorter. The email is a one-to-one setting, the person opens it up while they’re on the couch, or at the desk. They read through it, get the insight and that’s it…
It’s a closed loop.
But when you write a longer article, focused on a specific idea, you link to it in an email, and give people a chance to go deeper.
Now they can click on the link, and dive into your world.
The trick is to make sure the front end email has enough juice in it. You want to ‘sell the consumption’ of the article, so there’s a clear reason why they would want to click through.
This gives you fodder for your email (summary, or intro to the article), but has a much longer lifecycle, because the article sits on your site for a while.
Reason Why #3 - Use as fodder to approach publications (the modern day CV).
Let’s say you’re a nutritionist, and you want to expand your audience.
One way would be to leverage ‘other people’s audience.’ One woman we work with is a movement coach online, she does this a lot through her podcast. It’s given her access to hundreds of thousands of listeners.
But you can use articles to do this too.
I’ve even had people message me even after doing an instagram post, asking if they can share the writing to their weekly email. Instantly putting more eyeballs on my stuff, which is a good thing.
Let’s say you want to go bigger. You could write to magazines, publishers, or websites to see if they’ll feature your work. But when you do that, they’re going to ask you for samples, or get you to point back to your site or other work that you’ve done.
This is where your articles come in…
If you have three, six, ten helpful articles on your site that you actually put some work into, it will help your case.
They can make a decision then and there if your style of work would suit their platform. And at the very least you’re going to make a real impression with them, rather than just reaching out for a favour out of the blue like most of the cold DM’s that try to flog you things.
If you’ve got that itch to write, and you’ve got a certain level of mastery in your niche, articles can be a great opportunity to connect with more people, and expand your online network.
Your articles don’t have to be long, and even still they can help you stand out dramatically.
Not only that but you can cross-publish to medium, LinkedIn, and any other platform to ‘fatten up’ your whole business world online.
Building your world out to a much deeper level than is possible just on the short form chatter.
Something to think about.
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How to Make Your Business ‘World’ More Addictive
A lot of restaurants serve multiple courses. But only some take you on a journey.
Back when we lived in Sydney, we were on a shoe-string budget. I had just opened a retail store, and I had spent everything I had. Still, for special occasions, there was a restaurant we would go to by the beach, called Pilu.
They had a set degustation menu, with six different courses.
You got to know your wait staff as they brought out each plate, and talked about the food. Which region the pork came from. Where the cheese was sourced. Why they chose a certain wine. Then there were the stories about how the restaurant started.
Anyway, we used to stuff ourselves until we could barley stand up, partly because we were so tight on cash and partly because it was so good. We would talk about the experience for days.
Sometimes, we’re in a rush. We want a $1 coffee from the gas station because it’s fast.
But most of the time, we want to be part of something meaningful, that we can talk about, and remember.
And, the difference between the two, is often the depth of the story and detail of the world around the product or service.
Most businesses lack ‘depth’ or detail in their worlds.
Their clients are only loosely engaged. They end up competing on price. Or, with a case of ‘comparative superiority’, where they declare why the customer should come to them, not somewhere else.
But that’s a frustrating cycle to be in. And in the modern economy, where customers are demanding deeper worlds, and more trust, it’s rarely successful.
When we work to create deeper stories, we end up with more addictive worlds that people can engage in.
This changes people’s relationship with the business. It creates more referrals, longer lifetime value of the client, and a more satisfying business for both the creator and the clients.
Last month I was checking out MIT’s online courses
These have been going for about twenty years. They’re free. You can study computer science, geometry, mathematics. Anything. I was going to take a geometry class.
I sat on the decision for about four days.
Not because of the investment (it was free), but because I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to be a part of.
I knew if I took the course, and didn’t feel that it resonated with me, I would bail on it.
In the end, I decided to can it.
MIT is one of the great learning institutes in the world. As an engineer, part of me nerds out on that stuff. But it ain’t that different from Pilu, where a ‘takeaway’ degustation just wouldn’t be the same. It’s not just the information, or the food that has value. But all of the detail of the world that we learn from the staff, and from being ‘in the building.’
In a business, it can take time to create this ‘addictive’ depth
Some never develop it. Maybe they don’t want to - they would rather just be a run-of-the mill biz. But usually it’s because they have no idea that they can, or they focus only on the transaction. They don’t realise there’s a strategy to create more detail and engagement. So they’re constantly fighting with promotions, retention tactics, or trying to stand out in the noise by being louder.
When we first opened our second business, which was a gym, we had no detail at all.
The world was far from addictive.
But over the years, we started to accumulate stories.
Our programming got better.
We got a dog.
We did different merchandise runs.
We ran a lot of events that built a history.
I started to write blogs and create content.
Slowly we created a more compelling and detailed world.
But what we learned, was that ‘time’ isn’t necessarily required for this. You can create an addictive business world that people love to come back to, through a strategic process.
Here Are Three Ways You Can Add More Depth to Your Business World to Create Addiction and Meaning For Your Clients:
Step One: ‘Backstory Everything’
When I was young we went to Disneyland. I remember going around on all the rides, but the thing that I remember most was the depth of the world. You could go on the Matterhorn ride, then when you went to get a drink or a hot dog, you could buy something to do with Matterhorn. Then you could learn all about the history of the ride, or the backstory.
There is a timeless lineage for everything in the park. From Mickey Mouse, to the physical park itself. Each feature has a story.
Disneyland is an addictive world for people for a lot of reasons, but one of them is the level of depth created through backstory.
The movie Dune based on Frank Herbert’s book is another example.
Alongside the film there’s a ‘behind the scenes’ book, all about the worldbuilding that they did. The book made a way for true fans to learn more about the backstory, or lineage, of each part of the movie. They talked about how the props were built, who designed the costumes, how they put it all together.
Another example I talk about is Quentin Tarantino, who wrote pages of dialogue and story of his characters, before he would write the whole script with them.
He was ‘manufacturing’ back story (even though it never was shown), because he knew that if it existed somewhere, it would give more depth to the characters.
One of the most helpful things we can do early on with established business owners is build out a more detailed and real backstory.
Not because a soppy story will help them ‘get clients,’ but because a richer, deeper world with lineage is more immersive.
In my own work, I talk about parts of my marriage, the lair that I write from, or whatever is going on in my own life because it creates depth and context.
What happens if you go through your business and uncover, or even ‘manufacture’ back story with everything that you do?
Where did your logo come from?
Where did the music come from?
Where did you learn the style of programming you do at your studio?
Whether it’s Westside Barbell, Disney, Oprah, Lord of the Rings, or Virgin, deep and addictive worlds have backstory built out for almost all parts of the business.
Step Two: Tie Things Together
In The Dark Knight there’s a scene where Batman shuts down the lights when he’s fighting Bane.
Bane says:
“Oh you think darkness is your ally. You merely adopted the dark, I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, and by then it was nothing to me but blinding… Shadows betray you, because they belong to me.”
Bane’s strength in the dark is suddenly tied into his back story of growing up in the prison cave.
In our membership Creator Club, we use Circle as a community platform, not Facebook. I’ve been off of Facebook for a few years. I’m inept at that platform, and actively avoid it because of distraction that it creates. So this is the reason for Circle.
I write books, articles, emails, because personally, while I like instagram to connect with friends, et cetera, I don’t like to spend the time on those platforms. Nothing wrong with those that do, but that’s just me.
Plus, I’ve always enjoyed writing.
My desk right now is riddled with yellow paper.
That’s because my grandfather built a concrete company with a yellow legal pad as his organising tool. Now people have the most complex ‘task management’ tools, even though they don’t necessarily get much done.
Complex is trendy.
Well I kind of counter-trend that and go simple, so that’s the connection to the yellow paper.
Building in those connections with your world creates a lot of depth.
The less ‘random’ you can make it, the more connected and deeper it gets, and the deeper the relationship is that we can have with your business.
Look at the art on your walls. The type of diary you use, how you set up your service. It can all be used as fodder for content and stories.
Making a point of tying things together can be profitable.
Step Three: Create a Unique Language Set
In Tolkein’s work, there’s an entire language set that almost nobody can even understand. He was deep into linguistics, so spent a lot of his time creating new languages for the book.
Richard Garriott did something similar with his games. He created symbols and languages that you could understand in any country, so people could decipher secret scripts and codes in the games.
The addiction level (and money-making ability) of these games was immense.
In my own work, I purposefully make up words, misspell names, and create new concepts. Even the whole world building schtick for service business is really not something that anybody talks about.
But Creators have this whole language set around it: Allied Worlds, Character Building, Magic and Technology, Player Types, et cetera.
In 2020 I interviewed the marketing guru Seth Godin.
He has an ability to come up with new ideas, and tie them to a language set: Purple Cow, Linchpin, Tribes.
These are ideas and concepts that already exist. But he explained them in a way that was compelling, made sense, and was easy for people to take that language and run with it, spreading his ideas further.
In your own business, you also can come up with a new and unique language set.
Start off with just a word or two.
Something you’re already using, that you can amplify and bring out into your world.
Or a secret handshake (side note, one of the businesses we worked with did this very well, building out a whole secret handshake in their gym. We capitalised on it by filming it, then distributing that across content. Engagement skyrocketed in those months, for a few reasons).
Conclusion
The ‘depth’ of your business world ain’t something a lot of people talk about.
It ain’t ‘scalable’. You have to think.
But if you look at the most powerful business worlds over time both past and present, you’ll see they often have an extraordinary level of depth built in.
And you don’t need to wait for your business to be decades old either.
The founder of Aesop Dennis Paphitis built depth into the Aesop space from day one. Eventually creating a billion dollar company.
The more depth you create, the deeper your clients can go.
You can tie this into your content, your delivery and even your business strategy and offers. And the deeper you are, and the richer your world, the stronger the relationship can be with you and your business, and the stickier your service becomes.
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Worldbuilding vs. typical marketing tactics - Build a business they seek out
A few years back I was getting into a lot of triathlons. I had no idea, so I appointed myself as a ‘mentee’ under my new friend Pete.
I like to think it wasn’t all self-serving (Pete happened to be a local pro and future world champ). That I created some value for Pete and his friends... But either way, he taught me a lot.
One day we were out on a ride and he was giving me some advice.
Apparently, I was training too hard. Trying to fit in too many sessions each week. I said that I thought that was the point. I was trying to keep up with him.
“No, you want to train ‘easy’. Everyone is training too hard, and going too hard. They get injured, and never reach their potential. You want to go easy.”
I was half way through arguing this, and a few people passed us going up a hill.
I couldn’t help surging a bit to try and catch up with them.
“That’s exactly what I mean!” he laughed at me.
“The goal is to train easy, and get better over time. Your capacity goes up. Your technique gets better. So if you want to rest, you rest. Train the next day.”
In that one conversation, I had gone from someone who knew Pete, to someone who was in his world. I understood how it worked.
Pete created a ‘paradigm shift’ - “Everyone else is training hard, but it ain’t working. Over here we train easy.”
Pete’s world was different.
His mentors were different.
His food was different.
His schedule was different (with a lot of sleeping)
His whole world was different to any other triathlete.
It was exclusive to him, and the only way you could interact with him and go deeper was to enter his world. In the small biz world, Pete would have been what we call a ‘worldbuilder’.
When we think about marketing, it’s easy to start start with what we’ve got for our service, then ‘add’ marketing tactics.
Photoshoots
Better video
A better website with more SEO
In that traditional process, we also look at our 'positioning,’ or how we sit in the market relative to others.
“They do the service that way. We do the service this way.”
It’s a ‘relative’ way of looking at your business, which compares you to others in your field.
I’m a big coffee drinker.
And, I’m in the ‘selective’ coffee snob sub-category. So sometimes, if I’m out I’ll even grab one from the service station. One day I saw one of their signs: “All Arabica Beans”. This is because a lot of the cheap places use Robusta, which is even cheaper (albeit stronger).
They also have a big “$1 COFFEE” sign.
‘Relative’ positioning. The beans are a different type. Convenient, and cheaper. That’s the drawcard.
Then they clarify that positioning through the signage.
You might be familiar with the gym space, this same thing happens all the time:
When you go through a mall, you’ll see a 24/7 gym with some kind of sign: “$0 Joining fee, Flexible contract”. So this is more attractive than the gym down the road with the joining fee.
Then if you look at their socials, it reflects this. An effort to clarify that positioning, and make it clear they are the best choice on price. This can happen a lot when a market gets crowded.
But, this is the old way…
Enter the Worldbuilders…
Now we live in the modern economy, people are looking for more.
As buyers, we need to trust businesses at a much deeper level. The alternative to this - a completely different paradigm, is a story-driven approach, where you build a world. Much like my friend Pete did with his ‘world’ of triathlon (a game, that ended up with him winning the title), you create a way for people to enter your world, and go deeper, or ‘advance’ over time.
And get to where they want to go through your service…
Let’s go back to the coffee shops.
LORDS is a local coffee shop in Newcastle. They have great coffee, but nowhere does it say what kind of beans they have. Nowhere do they advertise their low prices (they aren’t low). Instead, they focus on the customer experience. Which, is totally unique. Their content becomes an extension of that experience, with wild, interesting videos that get a lot of attention.
LORDS has a slew of different characters that they bring out.
They have a clear backstory.
They have different products, or ‘magic’, that help you to move forward in the LORDS world and LORDS lifestyle.
[note: Andy Raskin calls new features your ‘magic’ in his narrative building work. This seems very close, but realise that this stuff stems from storytelling, gaming, and fantasy. We have used the term ‘magic’ slightly differently in worldbuilding, typically linked to a character in the service business. So I might have the ‘magic’ of writing. But I can teach you that ‘magic’ through a profitable promise - which is a writing workshop.]
Great coffee is a pre-requisite to thrive as a coffee shop.
But LORDS doesn’t focus on the transaction. They focus on the experience you get when you have the coffee.
In fact, three new coffee shops have opened up right next to them.
But it’s only strengthened their world. As people go to the new shops, they see LORDS, and a percentage of them are intrigued. Once they are hooked on the experience and the relationships they form, they never leave.
And so it is with worldbuilding.
Let’s look at a brief contrast of the typical way of looking at marketing, versus a worldbuilding approach:
Traditional marketing or ‘positioning’:
“We are here, competition is over there.”
“Our pricing is X, that’s great value.”
“We do it this way, they do it that way.”
Seek more attention through more noise, faster edits et cetera
“Come to us because it’s worth it, and here’s a discount”
Here’s a standard testimonial
This is transactional
Now for something entirely different…
Worldbuilding:
They are doing this thing, but we think the culture has changed…
You can tell, and we can tell (supporting facts if needed)
That’s why we are building this new way of doing things, in a totally new world
Hello, I’m John, I started this thing - This is who I am, this is my experience and personality. (A character in the world.)
This is my profitable promise - how we help you, it’s the ‘magic’ in our world.
Here are some details of our world. Some will surprise you. They exist because they’re cool, and part of our culture.
And this is what the future looks like that we want to build. It’s different.
We are selling the vision and the ability to play in this world, the lifestyle it creates, and the type of person you become, not just our offer that helps you solve a problem.
But if you’d like to join, here’s how you can buy
This offer can solve your problem and help you advance in the world.
When you get a win, we will help you celebrate. In fact, that’s a big chunk of our content.
Yes, the world solves a problem. You need your expertise...
But, we are building around the experience, not just the transaction.
And there’s a lot more attention to detail.
This is not unlike the online gaming culture.
In his book Explore/Create, Richard Garriott talks about how in his early online version of Ultima, he was surprised how many people became online friends, and even got married, after having a shared experience of the gameplay. In one situation, there was a group of twelve people that played together. Suddenly one of them didn’t log in for a few days. They didn’t know where this guy lived in real life. But they eventually found out that he died. They were distraught. This is the power of a strong ‘world’, and similar mission. The mission, the world, and the characters have as much value as the actual point of the game.
Let’s look at a couple of business examples
The first one is Gene Simmons, and his KISS world.
I know, this ain’t a service business. Or, is it? In Simmon’s empire, he has all kinds of businesses, including financial services. And all of them are tied in to his character, that he created on purpose.
Let’s take a look at what he did (I highly recommend his books)
He decided he wanted to be ‘big’
He looked around, and saw that the American culture had changed, and was craving something exciting
He built his new way of doing things - changed his name, came up with the costumes, and the flames, and the performances
They became the band ‘KISS’ and trademarked the faces
Their shows were consistently over the top. If you come, you will be blown away.
The merchandise became ways to affiliate with the band (and world)
They started selling different ways to play in the KISS world
People even went over the top and got tattoos et cetera
KISS and Gene Simmons related products are like any others, and you can buy into the magic in 158 different ways…
To be honest, Simmons built a universe, not just a ‘world’. And it was so unique that people started to copy him, hence the trademarking of the face paint…
But a ‘world’ doesn’t have to be so big.
Maybe you’re a solopreneur. Let’s look at one woman we work with, Amy, who is building Warrior School, a training approach for women.
Women are trying to exercise to get a result all kinds of ways
But the culture has changed. We are more stressed now, plus, we have more information now (new information)
You can tell, and I can tell (in fact, Amy shares how she ‘used’ to train the other way)
More: here are supporting facts about women and training…
That’s why I am building this new way of training to get better results. It is based on more fluid training style, and health. I’m an evangelist for this style of training!
Hello, I’m Amy, I started this - this is who I am, here’s a whole bunch of my personality
This is my profitable promise - I’ll teach you the magic you need to get strong, feel good and have a body you love
Here are some details (‘world building’ across podcast episodes)
This is what the future looks like when we train this way
I’m passionate about this training, not just my offer. I want more people to have this lifestyle.
But if you want help, here’s how you can go deeper in my world.
This offer is part of my magic
We all will celebrate your wins (here are some wins of the other women doing it this way).
Once your world is clear, and you are playing your own game, you get to choose the marketing tactics…
Whether you do instagram reels, or tiktok, is not as important as the underlying story, and where you are taking your customers.
This is what the world is build on, this is what we seek out, and where trust is built.
More:
Now your pricing can be independent. As a customer I’m not paying for a similar service that I can get somewhere else, I’m paying to be immersed in this world and go deeper (advance in the world).
How this can go wrong…
Let’s wrap up with some traps we see come up:
If the world doesn’t stand for anything. This is a common flaw, and no amount of social media tactics can save this. The world has to be ‘about’ something, because that’s why it exists. This means in one sense, it’s exclusive (and we can’t get anything like this elsewhere).
When the world is too available, or too open to feedback. Imagine reading The Lord of The Rings books, then half way along, there was a poll, where Tolkien asked the readers what “should” happen… It would completely destroy the story. Sure we want to be listening to customers, but our job as a world builder is to surprise them, and create new and deeper experiences
When characters in the world have a different idea on what it’s about. This is big if you have a team. The characters must be aligned on why the world exists, or else the world will cease to exist. The stakes are high here.
If you don’t have a way to go ‘deeper’. Let’s say you just use social media for marketing. Well… that’s not your world technically. That’s Zuckerberg’s world. So what you need is a place for people to go deeper with your marketing, ideally before they buy. We recommend an email list. And you can ‘reward’ readers on your list by taking them deeper into new things.
When the world ain’t ‘rich’ enough. In your world, you can develop language, tools, magic, and ‘inside’ ways to talk about what you do. This should be totally different to anyone else’s world.
Because you’re still ‘chasing’. Sending DM’s to prospects, running around doing things for free. Discounting. With world building, your goal is to clarify your message, and then amplify exposure to that message and world. Then at each exposure point, create opportunities for people to go deeper (join my email list).
With a lot of lazy, or more tactical marketing or positioning, you would see how your service fits in ‘relative’ to your industry.
They do this / We do this, at this better price.
Well, the bet is there is no longer a safe ‘positioning’ practice like this. The game has changed and we now seek a much deeper level of trust. You can no longer enter a market, with a slightly cheaper service.
Or a slightly faster service…
Or be a bit more convenient, or helpful, and survive…
People want to immerse themselves in your world, understand your culture, and go deep, before they buy. And then, they often want to buy more from you, to go deeper over time.
Choosing your marketing 'type'
What type of content fits your business world?
How do we decide on what type of content marketing to do for our business?
Should you teach? Tell stories? Tell jokes?
Is it all trial and error?
Or is there a system we can use to decide?
If we don’t know what type of content we want to do, how do we stay the course and not get lost into oblivion?
There are so many possibilities open to us with marketing, it can drive us insane.
Example:
With one of the businesses we work with, he had a system of putting up a video each day on social media. Mostly entertainment and inspirational stuff. They might be seen by a few hundred people. Or a few thousand. But then one day he put one up that went viral. Thirty-five million views. We were celebrating it, but you couldn’t help sense that other people were a little envious of this sudden exposure. Which also doubled his audience…
And so it goes as a service business:
You see peers, or colleagues sending different kinds of emails, or starting podcasts. Someone gets a great result, and it’s tempting to cross over to the latest platform or trend. You can hope that a similar thing can happen to you.
It reminds me of the video game ‘pong.’ Where you tap the ball back and forth with the two sliders.
In business we can end up blipping back and forth. Not just with different platforms, or mediums for marketing, but different types of content altogether.
You need a North Star with the type of content that you do.
What do we mean by type of content?
In one of Robert Greene’s books, The 50th Law, that he wrote with 50 Cent, he talks about how fifty created his own kind of music.
When 50 Cent came up, he had a period around 2000 where he had been shot, and went into hiding. When he was out of action, he reinvented himself. He stewed on the feeling of being at rock bottom. And then he started to write music from that angle. Suddenly he put out a song, right when people had almost forgotten about him. His songs were angry, and reflected the story that was unfolding in the streets real time.
More:
Because 50 Cent was still potentially ‘wanted’ by the people who had come after him, he wouldn’t show his face. As more of his songs came out, they were heard all over the city even though he wasn’t there.
A lot of other rap music was being played at the time.
The problem was though, it was too polished:
“The music on the radio was all so packaged and produced. Even the tough stuff, the gangsta rap, was fake. The lyrics did not reflect anything form the streets that he knew. The attempt to pass it off as real and urban angered him to a point he could not endure.”
50 Cent created his own type of content. He told stories, exposing what was really happening. People loved it.
It’s much the same for us with service businesses.
When we look closely at any page, or business that we love to follow, we see that they have a core ‘type’ of content that they become known for.
Another example:
My wife Ruby loves to follow along with this family over in the States, who run a farm. Their social media account is called Ballerina Farm. Every day they will upload ten or twenty short videos to show what happened that day at the farm. Sometimes it’s feeding the pigs. Sometimes it’s an update on the cow that got stuck in the ditch and broke a leg. Sometimes it’s about shipping out orders to their customers.
Now they have a global audience of raving fans, obsessed with their whole story. They tune in to watch everything to see what’s happening next.
This is what we call a story-driven type of content. Or, we engage with them to get updates on the story.
Someone who follows that business, or marketing ‘type’ of content might also follow other types.
Maybe they watch for the information or the entertainment, a la Gary Vee.
Maybe they also follow other accounts because it links into part of their lifestyle like a fishing channel.
We look to different types of content for different reasons.
As a business owner, you have a choice on what type of content you create…
And while you aren’t ‘locked in’, now this is something you can become known for.
Plus, when you know what type of marketing you want to do, you can get much better at it.
Let’s take a look at some different types of marketing.
Five Different Types of Content
When we look at creators, entertainers, and content producers, we find there are some key types of marketing or ‘content’ that we love to follow:
Latest industry news and updates (especially if it’s controversial)
Humour
Great storytelling
Alternative views, or deep expertise
Insight into pain points, and then discussing solutions
Typically, you’ll want to stick to one or two types, per platform.
Example:
For us, on social media with the Creator Club account, we are about Insight into pain points, and alternative views.
The emails are a different. They are alternative views, blended with insight into the lives of the characters of our world.
This is because the emails are where the inside ‘scoop’ happens. They are more about story, and an alternative view to the whole small business chestnut.
This is largely because I’m always attracted to story, and it suits my personality and our world.
(This is also the type we primarily teach in Creator Club, as it aligns with a ‘world building’ lens of business.)
Give yourself a constraint
In the early 2000’s, AUDI had to revamp their race car for the 24 Hour Le Mans races.
At the time they saw that diesel cars were becoming more popular across all parts of the auto industry. And, to ‘spearhead’ this movement and make them more attractive to the customer, they wanted to create a high performance diesel race car.
This gave them a constraint.
What they did was they used that constraint and said “OK, how else can we go faster?” Sure they pushed to build a powerful car, but also they saw that if they could build a car that stopped ‘less’ than other cars (better fuel consumption) they would be faster across 24 hours.
In the end, that’s exactly what happened. The new R10 had a fuel consumption of 41L/100km. In comparison, at the same time, a formula One car had an efficiency of about 75L/100km.
So the R10 was able to get more laps per stint than other cars. This was a key reason why they won three 24 Hour Le Mans races.
A similar thing happens with your marketing ‘type’.
When you not only know where you want to show up, but also how you want to show up, you have a constraint in place, and now you can improve the work.
Where you show up, and the type of marketing you do is important. Because this is also how you will build a relationship with your audience, and present your offers and sell.
How do we decide what type of marketing to do?
There are three major factors that can drive our marketing type. This has nothing to do with the latest ‘trends’ in the industry.
Why?
Because if you were to change your type with every shift in trends, then you would be constantly chasing. Now. This doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate new trends into your work, but that’s at a more tactical level.
Method 1 - Use your personal strengths and characteristics
When I was fourteen I had to write a short story for school. At the time I was reading these adventure novels. So basically what I did was I wrote a story in the style of one of these adventure novels about going to an island that was covered with sea snakes.
And as we walked around the island, we had to dodge all these highly venomous snakes (sea snakes can’t really harm you, but in my story they were dangerous).
Since then, I’ve always enjoyed the mix of information and story.
Now, are there better storytellers than me? Of course. Are there better copywriters? Sure. Are there better teachers? No doubt. But I have come upon a unique type of content that only my journey could create.
People talk about A.I taking over copywriters, but there’s no chance that can happen really, because it only ‘recreates’ what’s been done. It can’t come up with a new story like the one above.
You get to choose, one ‘type’ of marketing that suits you
If you’re very analytical, or more information driven, then you might specialise in succinct tips or education. Or the latest news in your industry.
If you’re a comedian, and can speak or write in a funny way, then you will want to do comedy. You could do email and social media that is funny, and that’s super popular.
Or, if you like story and have an interesting world, simple share what’s going on, and show us how the story unfolds.
Method 2 - Look at the type that maps to the psychology of the people you want to serve
In marketing, there’s a constant pressure to jump onto the latest trends or platforms, whether that’s twitter or facebook groups or TikTok.
One thing we want to think about is that the type of marketing that you choose is going to overlap or attract certain types of people.
Example:
One of the trends that I saw come out that I immediately didn’t like personally, was when people would do short videos, and ‘point’ to different text on the video as music played. It was this big trend that would take a lot of the posts viral. And this may not be accurate, it’s impossible to say - but my guess is that the people that I want to work with aren’t really into these kinds of videos either.
On the other hand, I believe that smart people read books. And I know, there’s technically no difference between audio books and books. But with a book you can’t really be doing anything else. You have to stop other activities in order to read it. Whereas with an audio book, you can walk around. The point of that is by writing a book, I’m speaking to ‘committed’ people that actually stop to read a book.
By telling stories, you are speaking to people who value story and meaning
…And don’t need the quick tip cheat sheet to try and get to the result.
On the other hand, if I write longer articles, they aren’t going to be suitable for a CEO that has their day stacked from 5am to 8pm and is driven in a corporate career.
Anyway, when you think about a type, consider who you want to speak to, and who you serve as a customer. Make sure that your marketing type is compatible.
Method 3 - Standing alone
The final angle with choosing your marketing ‘type’ is to stand alone. Now, this isn’t going to be totally possible, all the time. But basically what it is, is looking at a ‘unique’ type of content, relative to your industry.
Let’s say you’re a personal trainer.
Well in that niche, maybe everyone is doing tips on exercises. Well, instead of tips, you could focus on storytelling, or humour. This actually happened a few years back, with a guy his name is James Smith PT. He’s blown up now, but basically started out at zero and doing humour posts. It was totally new in the niche.
Personally I kind of think this way about story…
In the coaching or consulting world, there’s a lot of education, a lot of tips, and a lot of more virtuous advice.
So by prioritising story driven-content, I have a unique and personalised angle.
You’re not ‘fixed’ to just one type of content. But if you think about it like music, you’ll quickly see the edge in having a guiding constraint:
If you were to sit down to write a song, it would help to know what genre, or kind of song you are writing.
And what type of music you are wanting to excel in. This means you’re clear on how your listeners will feel when they tune in, and you can improve your craft.
Content marketing is much the same.
If you ain’t clear on what type of content your want to do, it’s easy to jump all over the place.
You won’t have a clear bearing on what you’re doing and it gets harder to improve your work.
If you are clear on your content type, whether that’s story driven, cutting edge tips, humour or otherwise, you’ll know exactly how to get to work each week. And then you will quickly start to improve your craft.
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Build your marketing rhythm to become well known, with less stress and zero ‘start stop’ chaos
We all run into a bit of luck. Sometimes you do marketing that goes really well. Or someone shares your content, and you get a bunch of traction and maybe some enquiries. Right time, right place. Or sometimes the latest algorithm version gets a hold of it. We had one guy put up a video recently that ran up to 33 million views. It was great, his audience doubled.
But when this happens, it’s an event. It’s not something that we can rely on.
Because it’s not a system.
Even if I were to say to the guy who got 33 million views ‘can you do that again?’ all he can say is that he’s continuing with what he was doing before… But he can’t make something go viral again.
Every once in a while I like to nerd out on physiology or physics papers. There was a Russian scientist back in the day, his name was A.A. Ukhtomsky. Anyway he was talking about rhythm in nature. And that rhythm is really the thing that’s needed for any separate parts to become a system. That all systems in nature have a rhythm to them of some kind.
It’s the same with marketing. Once you have a rhythm, you’re like a lighthouse that’s blasting light out with a frequency. People see you - they know where you are, and what you’re doing.
A lot of new service business owners lack ‘rhythm’ in their work. So what happens is they get really excited, and put out some content, or plan a podcast, or emails for marketing. And then they don’t get the response that they were looking for, so they stop. Then they start up again later once the energy comes back. That’s called ‘start-stop’ marketing. I went through this right at the start as well. But not only is this kind of marketing not effective, but you never build a body of work, and you get steered by your emotions all over the place.
But with bigger businesses, there is always some kind of marketing rhythm (sometimes this is offline focused).
In fact, there are exceptions (usually where the marketing isn’t improving over time, or the service needs work), but it almost gets to a point where the more consistent the marketing rhythm, the better the service business does. This is painfully clear with online businesses.
But what about if your business is full?
We still recommend marketing consistently, or in line with whatever rhythm you set up.
One way to think about this is your marketing is basically like a pulse. Blood pumping through the system of your business. So, marketing is a sign of health for the biz. When we see the rhythm start-stop, we would call that ‘arrhythmia’ in the body, and it ain’t good! Similarly, arrhythmia in marketing isn’t good either.
Consistent marketing can help you build your brand, connect with future clients, open up collaboration opportunities, and more.
What kind of rhythm is best for your biz?
What kind of volume / frequency should you do?
I don’t know sonny.
It’ll depend on your biz-ness, your time and ability, and where you’re at. But let’s start with two assumptions:
1 - Some rhythm and consistency (say, over a 12 month timeframe) is a good thing
2 - We have to walk before we can run. So if you’re new to the game, then your ‘rhythm’ is gonna look pretty johnny basic, as you build the muscle to keep up the work.
That second point is kind of important. There are a lot of podcasts and newsletters out there that are one season in, then stop. Probably about the same as the number of books that are half written. A lot of this is because the project sounded good on paper, but it’s just too far outside what the person was ready for.
A better option is to layer it up.
Layering means you’re starting with the most basic step - establishing a core piece of content for a rhythm. This gets you going, helps people find you and then you can add to it once you have strung together a few reps.
Typically, I like to see up to three months worth of the first layer, before the second layer is added.
OK, let’s break them down with some examples:
Layer one - Weekly (or monthly) content rhythm on one platform
In the world of short form videos and tik tok, many-a-newbie business owners start off with shotgunning onto social media.
I think part of this is the gurus telling us to do it.
And a big part of it is that’s where most people are paying attention on the consumption side.
And if this is what you want to do, then all the power to you. However, the downside is - you don’t build a body of work. You don’t have a way for people to go deeper. And you’re trying to flesh out ideas for your marketing (helping your clients) with 40 second videos that are right alongside videos of cats and dogs and people doing double back flips. So basically that’s to say it’s easy to lose your track, and not really have much in the way of actual marketing.
The alternative, is to start to build a rhythm with one core piece of pillar content each week. Or month. And I have to say that, because I know a few business owners who do full-blown magazines (awesome), but these are more like a quarterly cycle, or monthly at a minimum. So even a weekly cycle is too short for these guys. And that’s OK.
But for most people, a weekly cycle is great, and what it can look like is this:
** A weekly article that takes people deeper into a topic, or tells some stories. You can publish this on your site, on medium.com, or now all the rage seems to be sub-stack. Which, I don’t really understand why you would do that versus email, but whatever.
** A weekly podcast. This could be a solo episode, or interview with someone in your industry (‘how to’). Basically an audio version of the above. Personally I am better at pounding on the keyboard, but some people thrive on doing audio. You could publish this to the normal platforms, or keep it on a private app, or host it on the website.
** A short video that brings some value to your people. You could talk about something in your industry, or tell some personal stories or BTS on what’s going on with the business. This could be as short as three or five minutes. And definitely doesn’t need to look professional or anything. In fact, sometimes the more ‘raw’ the better.
And more.
Basically, it’s just a chance to create something that’s helpful for your people, on a time cycle that you can commit to for three months.
(The way I do it is this - the article is on the weekly cycle. I’m ‘thinking’ about the article and outlining it in the front end of the week, and then writing it in the back end. This means that by the time I sit down to write it, I’m pretty clear. Editing is very minimal - I might show it to Ruby quickly, but that’s pretty much it. I’m ready to publish as soon as it’s written. Then it goes out on the email…)
Layer two - Multiple pieces of content, or split content into short-form
In the second step, we’re presented with a choice.
Do we do a second article, or podcast this week?
That can be a great idea.
A lot of high level podcasters in particular do multiple episodes (there have been times where I’ve recorded as many as four or five episodes per week)… And once you have done ‘one’, it’s a lot easier to do a second or third.
Or, you can start to split that core piece of content up a little more and share it to short form.
This is what we do.
So what happens is the weekly article is written, and over that week, I know what the short form content is for the Creator Club instagram page. So the posts we do over there are typically photo, with what most people call ‘long form’ captions. But really the captions are super short in the scheme of things (say, compared to this article). So each caption might take me ten or fifteen minutes to write. And it’s talking about something loosely related to that week’s article.
This sounds a little boring - like it’s not doing lots of cool videos and that kind of thing on instagram.
But firstly, I couldn’t care less (and i suck at flashy videos).
And secondly, it allows the rhythm to continue in the easiest way possible.
Anyway, all of this is to say that in your second layer, either do more of what you were already doing, or, look at splitting it up onto another platform.
Layer three - Daily content on short form platforms
We typically will do four or five pieces of content on short-form platforms each week.
This is on top of the weekly long form content (article and podcast).
This is about 15 minutes per piece of content, which is 1.25 hours per week.
And for us, we use email and instagram.
As I mentioned before, this is basically topics that are ‘derived’ from our main article topic, or, they are posts about what we have coming up on the timeline. Or both. But the point is that in this layer, you are starting to ‘flesh out’ one platform on a daily cycle (at least - you can do more here).
(Remember, the core weekly piece is still going.)
OK, let’s pause and talk about this. This can sound like a lot here. You’re doing some kind of weekly article. Or a podcast. Then you’re blasting things out into a shorter form platform like Twitter or Instagram. That’s a fully fledged marketing rhythm my friend! The thing to remember though if this feels overwhelming to you, is that if you followed the above progression, you wouldn’t be here for at least six months anyway (three months per layer), to adjust. Sure there’s the odd person that can jump here faster. But for anyone new to marketing, you want to build to this point. And basically what that means is, when you’re here, it’s not more or less stressful than at the beginning, because you’ve adapted along the way.
Now - a final caveat. This ain’t going to work if you get lost into the instagram doom scrolling every time you go online. This is a post and move on kind of thing. We’re talking about marketing, not consuming, and you want to watch out for sucking loads of time with this stuff.
Layer four - Bring in a second core platform
OK, so you’re sitting at a core long form each week (article, or podcast), and some short form content, if you want.
This means you’re taking your audience deeper on something, and you’re showing up frequently as well. From here, you can add more core platforms or different types of media.
Example:
Say you’re writing a weekly or monthly article.
Well, now you could add a podcast.
Or, say you have a weekly podcast… Plus some instagram.
Well, now you could add a weekly email to your strategy.
Basically what Layer 4 does, is it allows you to start to ‘surround’ your audience, providing content from various angles, and on various mediums.
Again, this ain’t going to work out if you try to jump straight here. Go slowly, and adapt over time.
Layer five - And on we go…
From here, you can add more depth to your content, or, you can show up more frequently in any of your content streams. Or, you can add more streams, like speaking, or a book.
Ultimately what you’re creating here is omnipresence with your marketing. But it’s really going to start to be up to the individual at this point, and remember there will be a time and energy cost associated with this (i.e. you may need VA support, or outsourcing of some media).
Five ‘caveats’ to help bullet-proof your marketing rhythm
** We only covered one possible progression of a ‘rhythm.’ Other variations include simply emailing once per week, then increasing that to 3-5 times per week. Or, you could write a book once per year and do speaking around it. There are a number of ways. The point is that you can see how we can build a rhythm for marketing with our business, and go slow enough to adapt so that it isn’t stressful (bite off a little less than you think you can chew…)
** Build your unique version. Your articles might be short. Or your podcast could be a Q&A panel with multiple guests. Or you could write poems each week on your Instagram stories. I don’t know. But you can build a version that’s unique to you. And it’ll look different to yours truly.
** Use reminders. Personally, I don’t automate much of this whole process. Because it’s so simple. I just put it out there when it’s done. But I do use reminders. Because sometimes I get busy, and forget to start outlining that weekly article. Which can turn into a bird's nest if I let it go.
** You don’t have to show up where everyone else is showing up. This is the concept of ‘show up alone’ by the great Dan Kennedy. Basically, we don’t need to follow the latest trend to succeed or stay relevant. For example, I write, and I don’t do flashy videos. Even though everyone says they are the way to go. I’m happy to show up in my own way. And you can do your way too.
** When you get derailed, just jump back on the plan. Look - you’re going to falter if this is new for you. When that happens, and maybe you miss a day, or a week. Then that’s fine, just get back on the horse, and write an email, or outline an article. Or regress a layer to get your mojo back. But either way there’s no benefit in sulking or looking backwards - just start fresh and forge ahead.
If I could choose between a consistent marketing rhythm, or a few viral posts over a few months, I would take the rhythm any day of the week. Even if there was less output, and even if it seemed kinda boring. Why? Because you can add impact. You can ‘juice’ it up on some steroids and improve the work. This is something you can’t do if there’s no rhythm.
As you build your marketing rhythm, it might feel like you’re going slow. Like you’re stuck in second gear. And you want to go faster.
But stay the course. Soon people will start to see your work. And then they can pass it along to a friend. When the new person has a look around, they’ll see a bunch of stuff there, because you’ve built a backbone, or a ‘body of work’ over time.
They can see you as a professional, and you can build the trust and reputation you are looking for with your business.
All while keeping your energy up and having fun creating along the way.
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Run your first live event (and over-deliver to create clients and raving fans)
There are few strategies that are more powerful in helping you grow a service business than getting in front of people. Sure it’s nice to ‘get on a call’ or have a link to book you on a zoom. But getting in the room, standing in front of people can’t be beat.
Personally I’ll go to great extents to be ‘with’ people. One reason - which is ironic because I don’t like big crowds - is that I DO like good people. I like spending time with them. I like helping them. I like collaborating with them or working with them.
But why are they so powerful for business (and in particular, for the brand-newbie?)
Back in the day, infomercials blew up on TV because of the sudden ability to ‘show’ people how you can help them in real time, streamed to the masses. Demonstration is one of the best forms of marketing that there is. A live event is similar, and although it’s much smaller, your ability to steer the energy in the room is much higher. There is a much stronger connecting or energetic transmission.
When you are early in your biz journey, you just can’t afford to sit around and wait for people to find you. You need to be actively working to position yourself in front of the people you want to help. Live events are a great way to do that, and instantly will put you at the ‘head’ of the room, even if all you do is organise it and get other people to speak.
Ruby and I have run events a bunch of times, from the very first iteration of business:
Soon after I opened a running retail store, I didn’t have many customers, but I realised that having customers would be a good thing. And that the customers weren’t just going to find me. So, I sponsored some races, and created some events in the store. It was a small store, but that didn’t stop us from doing running technique workshops and nutrition talks, and packing out the little shop.
These rarely led to big purchases on the night (sometimes a few bits and pieces) but helped to ‘position’ the store as the leading independent running store in the area.
Later, when we owned a gym we did a slew of ‘em.
In fact, before opening the gym, we did a ‘tour’ of events going to other gyms. We would turn up with forty or fifty goodie bags. The contents of which we mostly got for free from event sponsors. And then we would talk about stress and recovery while we were at these gyms, because this was a fairly new thing back then. When we eventually opened a gym, we kept doing workshops around nutrition, health, training and mindset. Sometimes we would run them. Sometimes we’d get a guest in to take it.
In all of the cases, it helped to meet new people, build a network, sell products and services (both physical and digital) and cement our positioning.
Now these events don’t need to be big.
And there’s no harm in just starting out by having an info night, or a get together with colleagues or clients.
But there are a few things you can do if you’re planning your first live event to make it more powerful.
Below we go through three key factors that can help you convert a normal gathering into a high value event to creating clients and raving fans. I’ve written this particularly for ‘micro’ events, which are anywhere from 5-40 people (we’ve had some clients start out with only three or four people showing up, and still build success over time), so you can apply these things even if it’s your first event.
I’ve also assumed here you have some ideas on who the event is for, and what it’s all about.
One. Leverage ‘Immersive’ Content
A while back I read an article about how kids would learn new tasks in a lot of traditional communities of the Americas. They used something called Learning by Observation and Pitching In (LOPI). Basically the way the communities taught the kids wasn’t through ‘assembly line’ school systems. But through involving them in the community tasks, and the kids helping to actually do important jobs, they learned much faster. The elders in the community would gently guide the kids - nodding encouragement. Or slowing them down, until they got it right.
I’m sure you’ve done a lot of this kind of learning yourself. And it’s also something we can do in live events. It doesn’t mean that the event is all work. But creating content that is ‘immersive’ or involves the people at your event is powerful.
When you think of a kid, when they learn to ride a bike, they get super excited. This is because they know that they ‘did’ something. Or they were immersed in it fully. They didn’t listen to someone talk about it. They didn’t read a manual on it. They did it. This is how we define ourselves. Through our actions, not what we think or read. And this is how we’re defined both in the eyes of others, and in our own mind.
There are a couple of ways you can make your content more immersive:
01. Give people an exercise to do right at the start of the workshop:
Something to get them paying attention early. Or you can do things throughout the event.
In one workshop that we ran, Ruby had a great exercise to get people going. She cleared a big whiteboard, and gave everyone a post it note. On the note, they wrote out something they wanted to get out of the day. Or something they wanted to let go of - like a fear maybe. Anyway, then they put all the notes up on the board, and you could see other people’s notes. Even though it was anonymous, everyone could see that their thoughts were similar. It sounds minor, but it’s a great way to build connection, without just launching into the talk about whatever it is that you’re covering.
02. You can go more extreme:
In some events, we’ve done free diving, big movement sessions. Walking meditations. All kinds of stuff to make it immersive.
Tony Robbins takes it even further - he gets people walking on hot coals.
He does that because it gets people involved, and immersed in the experience, and gives them a story to tell when they get home. The coals aren’t really that hot. It isn’t dangerous. It’s a trick. But it is powerful because it’s immersive. People can say “I did that.”
That’s the goal.
When you make your content more immersive in your event - and not just straight speaking, then people will pay attention and get involved. It will be something that’s memorable.
Now, if you can’t make it immersive - say you’re just giving a talk - you can still offer a small task. Something that they can do after the event, a worksheet, or a goal they can execute on.
Two. Create a Unique Experience from your World
I’ve been to a few different Yoga workshops, mindfulness events and meditation events. And some of them are unique, and bring something new into the mix. But a lot of them are the same. There’s the same relaxation. The same breath pattern. Then there’s the ice bath people (which I’m not into myself), and now all the gyms have the same ice bath days.
It’s not that these things aren’t good, or helpful.
It’s just that as soon as you jump on a trend for something, by definition it ain’t really unique to your world. So current trends aside, the question is what can you do from your world, that’s unique?
In 2014, Chanel ran an interesting experience at their fashion show that was a good example of this. Basically what they did was transform the Grand Palais into a functioning supermarket, with fresh produce and shopping baskets, and all of the food items were emblazoned with the double-c logo. There was even a hardware section with Chanel brooms and hammers. Anyway, people lost their mind, and stole a bunch of the stuff. They kept it for themselves as a memento, or sold some of it off later. It was total madness, but a great example of a unique experience, that people couldn’t get anywhere else.
Let’s look at an example -
Say you’re a strength coach and you want to run an event.
What’s something you can bring in that’s unique to you?
Maybe there is a way of training, a type of music, or a type of food you could bring in?
Maybe you could decorate the space into some kind of theme from your world?
Live events are great to help you build your business world and brand. But you need to put in some effort to think about how you can do it.
Three. Give them Something to Share
What happens when people walk out of your event?
Do they read through the material?
Do they go home and think things through?
What about having something to share?
A while back I was ‘enrolled’ into a self help seminar. It was a two day event, and half way through they were getting us to look at areas of our lives where we thought we had communication gaps, or things we had left out of integrity. For example one guy stood up, and he had a fight with his father, and hadn’t talked to him for years. He was crying, et cetera. Anyway, the crowd cheered the guy on, and so he called his dad and made amends. So we all had to go out and make this ‘phone call’. So when you left the seminar, you didn’t have a physical thing to share, but you shared a conversation, and you had a story to share. And this is basically how the program grows, they got more people to sign up because more people would hear these stories.
Giving people a story to share is the best. Word of mouth still accounts for a huge amount of business, even with online businesses.
Most of the people we work with find us through a conversation they have with someone else.
Or they’re referred to us from another business.
But we also create tangible things that people can share. We send out t-shirts to new Creator Club members that they can wear. We host live events and create content and photos.
Every step of the way we are looking for one small thing we can bring in that can help people get an experience worth talking about, or something to share.
What is something that people can share from your event?
What is a story they could tell?
Final Words on Running Your First Live Event
The first few live events are never easy. Mine were small, doing running technique classes with ten or twelve people. But they were successful enough that I decided to keep going. And then like all things, they get easier over time.
Another friend of ours started her first live event as three people meditating on Bar Beach.
Each full moon they would get together to do it again.
After a year or so, there were 600 people.
They opened a yoga studio soon after, and instantly had a horde of raving fans ready to come in, and sign up.
So the most important thing is to start. Pull out your little secret diary and pencil something in, so you can put these prompts into practice, and start to do your marketing.
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How to add more depth to your character for cut-through content
We can only move fast in our marketing and cut through the noise when we have a clear direction, so we don’t get bogged down in overthinking.
Why is it so hard to settle on a direction?
Why do we get stuck on marketing, and content creation as a coach or creative business?
Is it lack of engagement with the stuff we do put out?
What about if we aren’t clear on how our ‘character’ shows up in the business story, so we’re left flapping around on social media looking for ideas on what to say?
The other day I was talking about content with a coach who works with women.
We opened up Instagram and looked at a bunch of women who are in her ‘space.’ You could count the number of posts before there was either one of those boring Canva tiles with a quote on it, or a shot of them in a bikini or with their top off on a cliff or beach. It’s like, is this still happening? Are we not bored of this same thing yet?
In my experience, compelling marketing and a strong business brand is driven by a bunch of different things.
One common thread is an unfolding story.
And for coaching and creative businesses, this is what’s called ‘Character Driven’ story, or a ‘Character driven business’, which is basically the opposite of a plot driven story.
Do you have a character driven business?
The way I think about this is if you plucked you out of the biz, and put someone else in, would it change the business significantly?
For most people we work with, it would, right? Their business would be totally different without them. A couple of months back I talked to a woman who bought an online coaching business - but the previous business owner was kind of an influencer. So what happened was, he sold them this business, then walked away, but he was the main overarching character.
So when he left the scene it makes this huge gap in the business.
You see this when a lead character leaves a business, or passes away. Occasionally the business can recover, but it’s tricky.
The way most people solve the content or marketing problem, is by downloading some kind of planner. Just the other day I was hit with an ad on social media to download a planner with a bunch of ‘done for you’ content. I couldn’t think of anything more stupid. That has to be the fastest way to eliminate all independent thinking and character building. Or they outsource their marketing to a social media manager. And this puts the creator into what’s called a ‘content first’ mindset. Meaning, if I could just get my content right, then I would see success. Or, “my content just isn’t resonating”.
But when you see engaging content, consider that it’s the output from the character, the business story and their world.
Cut-through ‘content’ has to come from this core of the business.
Come back to your character first, to drive cut-through content.
A while back I was watching a show about how Quintin Tarantino developed the characters for his movies. I think he was talking about Pulp Fiction at the time. In my view, Tarantino creates some of the most compelling characters in film, and it’s our nuanced relationship with his characters alongside what those characters do, that drives so much engagement and creates a cult-like following with his stuff.
Basically what he does is, he writes out twenty or thirty pages of dialogue between the characters in some random situation.
Say, talking about some current events.
Now, he knows he isn’t going to actually use this dialogue for anything in the film.
It’s basically thrown away.
But what it does is lets him get to know his characters.
And from there, he does something wildly effective.
He let’s the characters drive the story.
We’ll simplify how this happens below, and how it relates to your business.
But great marketing, and a great brand, has very little to do with how ‘polished’ the colours are. It has very little to do with having the right Canva branding package. And it even has little to do with what is being ‘said’, but it has a LOT to do with who is saying it, what they stand for, what they want, and what they do.
If we get stuck on content, or if we want to power up the marketing to create a more compelling story, we can always come back to the characters in the business, and world. Where are they going? What do they want to create exactly? And what events are out there on the timeline?
Example:
Let’s say you’re a yoga teacher.
And you’re trying to figure out what you want to do for content or marketing.
Well you’ve got some educational stuff you could do.
You could do the classic yoga pose on the cliff top with the yoga pants on.
Or, you could come back to what you really want, how you want to help people, the future you want to see, and what you are doing about it?
If you want more people to live a less stressed out, balanced life, with more energy, what are you going to do about that?
You could run events? What kind of events? When are they held and why are they different because you are running them?
Now you have a timeline, and you are doing something in a certain way.
This character driven content is less of a stand alone piece of marketing, and more about a ‘sliver’ of interesting information that is documenting how part of the story or work is moving forward. Your content shows how your world is developing.
Questions that can help character-driven content
Let’s look at the Joker from The Dark Knight. I’m aware I’m using film examples here… But understand that your business is a story very much like a film or novel. Sure your offer solves a problem, but it does that through a compelling story, that people want to be a part of.
So when we think of the Joker, we have a very clear, and compelling character.
We know exactly who he is, how he evolves, and how he behaves.
Any ‘content’ from the Joker isn’t just driven by what he says, but that we know what he wants, what he needs, what he stands for, and therefore HOW he does something. This is what makes the Joker the Joker.
EXAMPLE:
In the scene where he’s walking out from the hospital after blowing it up, with a smile on his face, although he is evil, we are immensely satisfied. Why?
Is that the darkness in us resonating with the event?
Maybe. But I don’t think so.
It’s that how he walks, how he executes his plans, and the fact that his wants and needs are being met (for now) bring us closer to the character.
What does your character want, exactly?
When we get stuck in content, we can come back to what your character wants and how they are evolving. Because it’s the character’s desires that drive the story forward. But this has to be specific.
In the Joker’s case, it is to create total chaos in Gotham city, and continue the battle with Batman. This is specific. This isn’t just “I want to commit crimes.” That wouldn’t be compelling or specific for us to resonate with, because any obstacle that pops up would be too easy to overcome, and it would be boring.
In Tony Robbin’s case, it’s about wanting to end poverty and wanting people to be empowered. His desires drive his world forward.
Another example, let’s say you’re a bit of a gun personal trainer, and you love your training:
** You might want to master a particular movement yourself (infinite fodder for story)
** You might want to help a particular demographic of people in your town or online get healthy in a certain way
** You might want to win the battle against some industrial food company that you think is making people unhealthy
** You might want to help people look and feel great so they can meet their dream partner
As you can see, the want is personal, but in a business setting, it’s going to involve creating some kind of change for your clients.
For me, my wants could include:
** Giving small business owners the supreme skills to build their world and their business
** Teaching them the basics of marketing so they can succeed
** Supercharging small business so it can defeat the slow, technocratic, big business giants
** Helping and inspiring others to be strong, creative and successful in their businesses
OK, so now what do I do to satisfy those wants?
** Write “All in” a book that is a guide for coaches and creative business owners
** Run live events both online and offline
** Offer coaching for small business owners through Creator Club
** Write frequent emails, and release podcast episodes with tips to grow a business
And so on…
So one thing you can do, is take some time, and write out what your character wants, being very specific.
What does your character need?
This is much deeper. It’s rooted in our identity, and our values.
The Joker needs chaos and carnage. He needs the battle with Batman, and even in his own words, he would be lost without him.
These are literally what he stands for.
For me, my values are strength, success, integrity… These are the things that I work for each day, and together with my wants drive how I actually do what I do.
So some people try to come up with these values, or what your character finds really important, or ‘needs’ by writing things out.
But the real way to do it, is to watch your behaviour.
We only know that the Joker needs chaos, because he is always doing things that create chaos.
We only know that I value strength, because I train each day. It’s what I do.
So take some time to look at your behaviour, to see your unique set of needs.
It could be to be loved, to have comfort, to be creative, to make progress…
If I want to help people get strong, and I have a need for love and creativity, I’m going to have a very different coaching business than if I want to help people get strong, and have a need for progress and efficiency.
Your wants plus your needs give us how you do something.
How you run an event
How you teach a class
How you exercise.
How you do a podcast
How you buy online
How you create a coaching program
And even how you dress, look, walk and talk.
This is why as business owners, we can learn so much more about our customers by watching their behaviour than we can by listening to what they say that they want.
When you are clear on these, you can exaggerate them in your content.
Each article, podcast, or post you make is a chance to show more of your character, what they are doing, thinking, and working on. This will bring cut-through character and personality to your content, so your audience can build a relationship with you.
And all of this is to say, just like in Tarantino’s films, this creates a big chunk of your own character, and can drive your content forward much easier.
Conclusion
If you’re stuck with your content, or aren’t sure how to stand out… instead of leading with “I have to create content”
Ask the question of
“Who am I, what does my character want, what is happening on my timeline, and what can I share from that?”
Your content will now have:
** Desires that we can resonate with because we have desires ourselves
** Much more story and internal narrative
** Nuances and quirks in how you do things, which create relatability
** Conflict and obstacles that get in the way of you getting what you want, which creates engagement
** Personality comes through as you deal with it all
** Story unfolds through the events on your timeline…
You’ll notice straight away that you start to stand apart from the crowd, and will be on your way to building story driven marketing campaigns and a horde of raving fans.
Take the 147 Question Character Building Quiz
Personal brand building on ‘steroids’ to help you get clear on your character in business, so you can find your voice, create cut-through content that resonates and drive your business story forward. ** Includes Bonus Video: Character Building ‘Lost Files’
How to write mouth-watering articles to create a website they don’t want to leave, and turn readers into raving fans (and even clients!)
(See the bottom to download as PDF)
When I first started hashing out posts and content for business and websites in 2017, I kept getting stuck on what to write. I knew I wanted ‘more’ than posting on social media, but I didn’t have a clear vision of what that could look like.
I’d get distracted, then my site would sit there, with just a few articles or blog posts on it.
Maybe you’ve felt this?
What stops us from really creating a meaningful body of work that can help us grow our business?
Is it fear?
Lack of confidence?
What about when we don’t have a clear system in place to make sure the process is worthwhile?
My first exposure to the world of articles was back in the Wild West online fitness world circa 2009. Back then I was into all of the paleo fitness gurus, and intermittent fasting et cetera. I used to nerd out on the latest blog, going deep into nutrition and training topics.
The Westside Barbell site was another one. I’d spend hours scouring the site when I was getting into strength training, trying to learn everything I could from Louie Simons’ articles and books.
Later, I learned a lot from Sean D’Souza, a marketer in New Zealand. I saw his site, and was blown away with how deep and ‘sticky’ it was - to the point where I just kept coming back to see how he structured it all.
All of this led to me starting to pound out emails, longer articles and even a book (with more coming).
When people visit your site and see a lot of helpful content, it leads to one of three outcomes:
They get stuck into an article and read the whole thing
They bounce, but realise that you have a huge amount of articles and resources there on the site, they make a mental note to come back later
They are repelled, because they don’t like going deep, or helpful information
All of these are good outcomes.
(You probably don’t want to work with the last group of people anyway).
The other thing, is the longer form stuff can really help you to grow your email list, because you’re kind of ‘leading’ with generosity, and then you can link hyper-relevant opt-ins to the back of your articles, so people know exactly where to go to sign up to get more of your stuff.
If you’re keen to set up your own articles, and build your own sticky website that helps turn readers into raving fans, and even clients, start with these steps.
1 - Make sure you are clear on your business ‘vertical’, then branch out
Your ‘vertical’ is your specific area of focus for your business.
For us, it’s business coaching for coaches and creative businesses.
This sounds obvious, but when you know what your focus is with your business and how you help people, you spend time and energy writing about stuff that’s actually helpful.
What I’ve found is, when I wasn’t been clear on this, I’ll would write about all kinds of things that got off topic. And just because I was interested in something at the time, doesn’t mean the relevant reader was.
(Obvious in hindsight…)
Start by making sure you’re clear on your ‘vertical’ and then you can branch outwards.
EXAMPLE:
I recently met a woman in the bookkeeping business. She has strong revenue at about $45k per month, but when she came in, she had low profit. She wants to focus on the real estate segment, where she can help agency owners clean up their books, make more money and be better prepared for the future, plus save money on the front end by not hiring admin.
This would be her new ‘vertical’ - Bookkeeping, finance, and back end practices for business growth, for established realtors.
From there, she can branch outwards, and look at specific activities they do, or problems these guys have.
Writing helpful articles on these areas for her website could be part of a positioning strategy to become known in this new area, and create a site that is much ‘stickier’ for these new clients.
Let’s go more specific with another example.
Say you’re a strength coach who does online training for guys with more of a ‘power’ focus. So that’s your ‘vertical.’
But that’s still way too general to actually write about. You don’t want general articles. You want to go specific, so that what you write about resonates deeper. So you ‘branch out’ from here to go narrow, contextual, and wrap your ‘world’ and ‘character’ around it.
So to branch out, let’s look at exactly what some of your clients might be doing in their day to day, seeing that training could be their number one key passion.
You could write on:
What to look out for when you get your first first ‘online’ strength program
Developing ‘power’ versus strength (if that’s relevant)
How to change to a new coach when you realise your last one sucks
Using a remote program in the gym without obsessively looking at your phone for the workouts
Filming lifts for remote feedback and not feeling like a tool
Staying motivated when there’s nobody there in person to train with you
Buying workout gear that doesn’t look lame
Supplements that can help you stay healthy as you train through winter
Mindset strategies to break through specific plateaus
And more. You could probably do 30 - 40 topics on here pretty easily.
You can see how we’re going ‘outwards’ from the main vertical, to surround the topic with sub topics.
So then you can be specific, and bring your world and stories into it. (This is exactly what I’ve done with this article)
2 - Deploy the supreme power of entertainment
Before small business, I was an engineering nerd.
To do well, I had to learn all kinds of engineering speak, and submit big, technical theses on different aerospace topics.
All of a sudden when I owned the gym and started doing content, I had to de-train all this engineering speak. I had to lighten up my content. I would write articles for the gym, and it would be all dark and gloomy and heavy. I needed to have like a checklist, to check for some jokes, and make sure the whole thing wasn’t too ‘coach-speak’.
Otherwise it was boring.
I don’t think I’m the only one here. It’s easy to write articles from the high horse. This is why so many people are worried about the AI stuff right now, because they are used to speaking directly to a topic, rather that around the topic and entertaining as well. AI is just going to destroy this kind of dull content.
And this is where all the storytelling kind of came into it for me.
I realised stories and jokes are a great way to lighten things up, and entertain so that people can stay with you, and you can get the response you want. This ain’t new. You can go back one hundred years, and see direct response copywriters using this. John Caples was a great example. He had an ad for a music school course, with the famous headline: “They laughed when I sat down at the piano, but when I began to play…!” And it was all story, entertaining the reader, and a super successful ad.
You can see this also in the coaching industry if you really look at who does well.
The big players are entertainers.
I mean Tony Robbins, the dude basically came up unqualified, but created huge celebrity around himself, and then had the fire walking thing which was his signature ‘show.’ There’s even a quote from the guy:
“It’s not the Information Age, it’s the entertainment age.”
Great coaches, great creatives - if you know about ‘em, they are most likely entertainers, storytellers, people who can speak, write and hold attention while they do it.
In my experience, if you just give ‘value’ all the time, you get crushed.
So the way I think about this is the 80/20 rule.
80% story or entertainment, 20% insight.
I remember when I was little getting a ride into school, and someone would have the morning radio show on. Even if they had some expert in there, I remember thinking man they just talk crap. Basically they just entertain. Back and forth… Then a little bit of insight. It’s the same with mainstream media, if you think about it. Entertainment can be fear and tension as well. But basically it’s more to do with the banter and the drama than it is to do with being a teacher in front of a classroom.
And that was a huge shift for me and for most people. Most are out here doing 90-100% education or insight, with zero entertainment, recording it into super-coach-speak facebook lives, and wondering why the hell it ain’t getting’ any engagement or converting.
I don’t know any quick solution here, because you’ve got to find your voice and loosen up.
Personally, I have a bit of a copywriting checklist to go back through once the article is done… Is this too heavy on coach-speak? Are there enough jokes? Are there enough stories?
If I need to lighten up the article, I go away, loosen up, then come back and finish it.
Ideally I have fun writing the articles, and laugh at my own stuff.
3 - Use the articles as a bridge in your world (and help readers become raving fans and clients)
Articles can get lost on a site. If you’re not careful, they fall into some kind of dark hole on the internet.
And if you see this happening to you, you’ll quit writing completely, because it looks like a hopeless waste of time. Why put stuff out there that nobody reads?
Exactly. You shouldn’t. You want it to be time well spent that can grow your biz.
So the alternative is to create a ‘web’. An ecosystem that includes your articles, your social media, and then your email opt ins.
So basically the way this ‘web’ works is:
Write the core article, by branching ‘outwards’ from your vertical (area of business).
Put out social media posts that point to the article (no, not just one. Do multiple)
At the bottom of the article, have a pop up, or embedded email sign up.
(You can do this same process with a podcast).
So your articles are a ‘bridge’ for people to go to your email list, rather than trying to get people to jump on your list straight away (“a ‘leap’ that can be too far.”)
And you get exposure to your crafty articles from social media or other sources.
What if you don’t have social media? Well my friend, you need to find other entry points to the articles.
See if you can get your articles up on other people’s sites.
Ask friends with similar businesses if they want some articles for their weekly or monthly business newsletters
Mention your articles on podcasts - either your own, or when you go on as a guest
Publish your articles on other sites with more traffic (medium-dot-com, et cetera. You can still link to your opt-in on the back end)
The more obvious one - start up some social media channels that suit your market, and publish the articles to there for free
Articles are a great way to take people deeper into your world, add value, and show that you actually know what you’re doing. And the over-arching goal with them should always be bring your readers and audience to a deeper level of your world, at all times.
So remember to include an opt-in spot at the bottom (or as you go down) the page.
This gives people a chance to get a relevant PDF, quiz, video, or other opt in as they go. And gives you a way to speak to them over time, to build a relationship, give value, and share offers they might want to buy.
There you have it, enjoy your article writing success.
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The ‘offline event map’ for online treasure
People dream of running ‘online programs.’
They want to move away from offline, so they can sit in their lair like yours truly, drink coffee, and do great work, on their terms.
It’s like the new digitised version of the American (Australian?) dream.
And of course led to the modern explosion of coaches, gurus and experts that can help you do everything from copy-writing to optimising your tinder profile for more swipes.
Nonetheless, it ain’t as easy as the Facebook crew tells you.
And when you see ‘em screaming from in front of a whiteboard that it’s as simple as ‘turning on the tap for a flood of high-ticket leads and a booked out calendar…’ that’s when you can safely move in the opposite direction.
Why is it so hard to build online programs?
The root of the whole problem lies in one thing:
Trust.
In the first business we opened, I was selling running shoes. I’d learned sales from my mentor and my whole job was selling as many shoes and socks as I could.
And I wouldn’t say it was easy.
Especially at the start.
And I also saw some guys come in who could never sell shoes no matter how long they tried. They just couldn’t play the game (eventually they would move on).
But within a few months, boxes were flying out of the door, customers stacking what they could in their hot little hands.
The point of all of this:
The modern marketing universe is pushing you to have as little contact as possible with your customers. They love terms like “lead flow”, your “traffic” and your list. The idea is that you can somehow trick people into buying, if you just have the right reels, copywriting, or tools at your disposal.
But anyone who has worked in retail, or face to face sales will know that it is much easier to sell face to face, or offline.
In particular, in a one to one environment.
Because when we are face to face, it allows us to build trust, quickly.
This is still true for us today
The other day we did a check through the last ~60 or so businesses that we’ve worked with recently, to look at the origin story of each one.
Here’s what we found.
Over 50% of these businesses have come to a workshop, live event, retreat, or event that either Ruby or myself spoke at.
And out of the other 50%?
Most of them have known one of the other business owners that we worked with. The old word of mouth referral.
In simple terms…
Even now - with the podcasts, emails, these articles, and any social media that we do, offline interaction is the single biggest driver of growth, whether that’s the first introduction, or later on in the relationship.
What is actually happening?
A few years back when I owned the gym I was into physiology, and studied a lot around health, and the nervous system.
A true white paper nerd.
And I came across a guy named Dr. Stephen Porges. Porges coined a term called “neuroception”.
Basically what it is, is this ability that we have even as little babies, where we can subconsciously ‘assess’ people around us, to decide if we’re going to trust them. This is really important for little babies, because they need to know what’s safe. And whether they can trust adults around them.
I think my dog even has this. She can always tell a shady character from a mile away.
Anyway, we never lose this.
That face to face ‘assessment’ is almost an energy thing. We crave it. It’s effective, instantaneous, and it ‘allows’ us to move forward with the purchase.
Now, you can bridge this trust gap in other ways.
While offline events are th most powerful - to a lesser extent you can use live online events and even creating an audio experience (podcast, et cetera) for your people.
People will often sit on the sidelines, wanting your offer, but wait diligently until they meet you.
Or, you’ll build a relationship offline, and then this can convert into an online sale, when they realise they can use what you’ve got.
It’s all a matter of trust.
What if I don’t have a thriving business?
“Easy for you John, you’ve already got trust, or an audience”
“It’s easy if you’re already going, you can just announce an event…”
Kind of. But hold on.
Sure in my case after years of showing up, a few people pay attention. But really, I’m more than happy to spend my time in my lair, punching out projects and working with the core group of business owners that we have in our world. I’m not surrounded by people, and it wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t even know anyone here because we had just moved up.
When we moved north here to Newcastle, I was starting from scratch.
But within two months, I had run three workshops, and it helped to build more relationships that have continued to help our business.
It takes some raw action, but here’s how you can do it if you don’t have a business or a lot of trust.
Show up where they are. Look, there’s no way you’re going to have the frame at the beginning. You’re going to have to enter their world. But that’s cool. Look around you and find like-minded businesses, practitioners, or industry experts. Get a lay of the land. See who has shared interests, and who you can connect with.
Reach out. But with zero neediness. It could be something like this: “Hey John, I see you do business coaching. Look, what I do might not have any relevance for you, or your people. And if it doesn’t, that’s totally cool. But I support people to grow their business by producing podcasts for them. I’d love to meet you anyway, find out more about what you do, and share some of the results we get for people. Would you be open to a 20 minute coffee next week?”
Bring specific value. Notice in the message above I was speaking to the value that the person could bring, specifically? Successful people that you want to work with are typically busy. And busy people don’t really want to ‘do a coffee’, or just spend time networking for the sake of it. Can you help them see why it would be worth their time?
All you have to do at the start, is get your foot in the door.
Create a relationship.
The relationship leads, and from there, you can present an idea for a small workshop or event.
But I need some more help. Examples please…?
Look, I can’t think for you.
I can’t tell you the right workshop to run, you’ve got to do some independent thinking.
Having said that, here are a few things we’ve done. Now the crazy thing here is most of these aren’t related to business coaching.
And yet, we currently work with many people who have been to these events.
That’s important to realise.
It’s not always about the “what” you do, but rather about the “who” you are doing it with, and how you show up.
An offline event is purely one supreme way to build trust and connection, which leads to online success.
Trust and resonance leads money flow.
EXAMPLES:
World building workshop for business owners, discussing the ideas of building out their characters, story, and world
Meditation workshops at gyms
Breath and recovery workshops at gyms in multiple states
Workshops around training when I had the gym
Mens workshops talking about health and training etc
Content creation workshops teaching people how to create content
And many more.
Ruby has also done a ton of speaking gigs and workshops - self care, vision workshops, on and on.
You probably won’t make a ton of money on the front end
Remember, the purpose of these offline events isn’t usually to make money at the actual event.
I mean you might make a little, but they aren’t usually highly profitable.
For example - I remember flying over to Perth, delivering a workshop, and flying home and only making $50.
Some have even cost a little bit to run.
And that’s OK. Because it’s the longer term customer relationship that we are talking about.
And this is very much in line with World Building, in that we commit to the experience, not the transaction.
Knowing that this helps position us in the mind, and create lasting business relationships.
Now, a word of warning.
If you’re brand new, you can’t risk spending a lot of money to run these things.
But what you can do, is create break even opportunities.
Run a simple event for free.
Run an event for a low ticket price, but provide some food and the venue
Pay to travel to speak at an event, and offer a low ticket product or service on the back end (these aren’t about selling high ticket items to a cold audience on the stage).
And then make sure to use the event as a gateway to bring them into your world.
Conclusion
For a lot of people, the online business is the dream.
The tricky part is - there’s a LOT of people thinking just like you.
So the result of that is people are spending more time on social media. More time in Facebook groups. More time on time-suck-tube… Trying to break free. Trying to get the answer to standing out.
But when everyone is doing one thing, it often pays to look at the alternative.
Offline events have been a powerful business building technique for decades, but they are really coming into their own today.
If you’re already running an online business, the offline idea can help you build even more trust and resonance, and more sales.
If you’re brand new, the offline connection can help you build audience, awareness, authority and yes, customers.
Something to think about
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Speed is everything (stop withholding to go fast)
Before this small business stuff, I was an engineer. It was my first job out of uni. Yes, I did work a bit when I studied, but this was a consistent pay cheque. After living on $30 per week for food, and my car flooding every time it rained, I was stoked to have some cash flow.
This job was a big step in starting to sort myself out.
Anyway, I worked with F-18’s doing crack repair design.
When you go on these jets, they are super ‘raw.’
There’s not even any paint. No leather trim. No fancy digital screens.
And the outside is plain grey.
They look cool, but you wouldn’t call them ‘beautiful’.
They’re built for speed.
For a few years, in one form or another, I’ve been interested in speed. Speed of Steve Jobs. Speed of clients I work with. My own speed, and sometimes, lack of speed. The basic ‘theory’ is that if you do more, produce more, and test more, you’ll figure things out faster.
I’ve seen clients 10X their business in two years.
And others not launch an offer in a year.
The difference is speed.
They get more ‘shipped’ in a given amount of time, they learn more, and they build a greater reputation.
I’ve found that speed may even be the most important ‘characteristic’ overall.
Speed allows you to test offers with your market.
Speed allows you to create a bold reputation.
Speed allows you to execute ideas faster.
Speed allows you to make more sales.
The other day I was talking with a sales manager for a local gym. He does 2-3 x more sales than any of the other managers in other chains. I asked him how? He said he just attacks his work. He’s not any smarter, he just has more speed.
Anyway, that’s enough yammering about the ‘why’.
And know - I haven’t mastered this. I've sat on things for years. I sat in a corporate job, miserable, for years, lying awake at night. I sat on a book I wrote for weeks, before I could send it to the publisher. I've sat on draft emails for too much too long, perhaps hundreds of times.
But each day, I get faster.
I started to hang around people who do things so fast that it blows your mind.
And now, I practice ‘speed’ as part of the work itself.
Where does ‘speed’ come from?
Over the years, I’ve looked back at why some are so stinking slow, and some move super-sonic.
And there seems to be no difference in ‘stress’ or ‘fatigue’.
I realised it’s not just about the effort, or ‘pressure’ we create, but also about the friction.
People who move quickly seem to have less mental friction slowing them down.
In the book - "15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership."
Here’s one thing they said:
97% of people admit to outright lying.
But this isn’t nearly as big of a problem as “withholding.”
Most firms and leaders withhold.
Withholding is refraining from revealing the relevant facts.
We’ve been programmed to withhold and/or lie. We are afraid, so we withhold.
But this makes us slow.
Now, it’s generally accepted that withholding is from fear.
So the question is, what are you afraid of?
Most people are afraid because they are uncomfortable with their truth, or who they actually are.
So they withhold in their training.
They withhold in their relationships.
They withhold in their work.
So, to build speed in your business, and cut over-thinking, we attack this withholding stuff thing right at the jugular.
If this resonates with you, you know it’s going to take time to internalise this.
Nonetheless - here are some prompts that can help you build speed in your business, by cutting with-holding:
Where in my life:
Am I overthinking?
Am I withholding?
Am I doubting
Write out some ideas. When we start to see where you are withholding in one area of life, we also start to see where we’re withholding in another area. The dynamic is the same.
Where can I bring out:
My truth?
My transparency?
My honesty?
Where in your life can you bring out more? Where can you amplify your nuances, or your personal characteristics?
With-holding creates a tone of problems, because it is a bottleneck for speed. It creates back and forth conversations in the mind. It creates lethargy, and doubt.
But when we practice candor, or destroying ‘withholding’ as much as possible, we get faster in our work.
We build speed.
And speed is one of the big keys to business growth.
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13 reasons to create ‘long form’ content for your business world
Over the calendar year, my writing ebbs and flows.
I focus on other things, or I get distracted. So, around September, I force a kind of "berserk" writing period, and do around thirty days of ~3000 words per day.
I wake up, get myself caffeinated, and hole up in my lair.
The sprint helps get my mind right again.
And also ‘build out’ new parts of the Creator Club world.
Whether that’s a book, a course, or in this case, a new article vault to bring a bunch more value to the Creator Club website.
Anyway, one thing that happens if you do this is it ‘forces’ a shift to long form content. You can’t do this exercise with Tik Tok or Instagram reels, or Pinterest posts. You have to come up with an idea, and write it as an article, or record it as film or audio. Which opens up the age-old debate of long form vs. short form for content marketing for business.
Or long form vs. 'pop-corn' platforms.
And it's an important debate.
And maybe something you’ve thought about yourself with your marketing.
Because as a creator, you now have endless options and access. You can tweet, post, write, record and film yourself silly. So it's important to be clear on where to focus your energy.
In my humble opinion, long form will always dominate short-form popcorn platforms over time.
Even though short form platforms attract much more attention from the masses.
There are many reasons for my contrarian views.
Here are thirteen of them, that are worth considering as you build out your own business world:
REASON 1 - With most short form platforms, you don’t ‘own’ diddly. You don’t own your audience. You are “borrowing” the data from Meta, or Google et cetera. That’s generous of the platform hosts… but, technically means you don’t own your business if that is your only platform (!). That’s right. If you don’t own direct access to your audience or market (the core of your business,) then you don’t own the business.
REASON 2 - Short form platforms are at risk. First is the risk of having your account hacked, or taken down (this happened to my Facebook circa 2020, and I’ve seen it happen to many others for no reason. Yes, it can happen to you). Then there's the risk of ‘pollution.’ Bots, attention seeking false information, bandwagon effect now makes up the core of the content.
REASON 3 - Short form metrics are becoming ‘false’. Now, this is tough to prove, but it’s certainly been my experience - to keep the masses addicted to the platforms, they reward users with false metrics. Try this experiment: put out a few videos - wait for one to go semi viral. Now look at the accounts that engaged. Many will be bots. I’m not big on social media, but the other day I put one video out, in an hour or so it had over 40k views, and hundreds of shares out of the blue. Most were not real people.
REASON 4 - Long form content is the only way to have a body of work. Recently I printed out Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays. Over 300 pages of work, and it’s as if he wrote it yesterday. This is the same for any book, or even long form video or audio. You can publish the audios to a podcast, then you can also store the files in an archive, have them on a USB. You can “hold” your timeless body of work.
REASON 5 - Long form is the fastest way to build your voice. If you focus on one idea for a period of time, or recording a series of videos or podcasts, you can figure out what you want to say. This is very tough on social media. There’s so much information, that your mind is pounded by everyone else's voice.
REASON 6 - Long form helps you to build your world. To steal from literature, J.R.R Tolkien was a master world builder. But a lot of people don’t realise the extent of what he did. Over his career he ‘constructed’ the grammar and vocabulary of at least fifteen languages and dialects. This isn't possible on twitter. Sure world building is possible on popcorn platforms, but it’s hard to get the detail to go deep.
REASON 7 - You can relax and think for yourself. Everyone knows the story of Joe Rogan selling the rights to his podcast to Spotify. The deal was worth around $110M. One of the things about Rogan’s work was that he had these in-depth, relaxed conversations with people. On longer form platforms, you don’t need to chase attention every single moment. You can relax, and let the full character play out. Podcasts are great for this, but so are books or articles.
REASON 8 - Long form content marketing can become short form. What do I mean by this? If you write a book, you can take sections of the book, and bring them over to short form. It may not be what the platforms were designed for, but it can work. Now, the other way can work to develop ideas, but it's totally different.
REASON 9 - Short form is great for documenting the journey. But what is the journey? What is the bigger thing that you are creating? Speaking gigs? Workshops? Events? What is the journey that you want to document? That will probably be something long form. One of the best people I’ve seen at this is Austin Kleon, who is also known as the writer who draws. He writes books, but uses twitter and insta to ‘document’ his work. His audience gets to come along with him for the journey.
REASON 10 - Your long form content can intertwine with your program modules or structure. This is something I do a lot in Creator Club. Example: next month we're doing a topic on delivery and innovation, with a particular focus on communication. We are running a challenge on communication, and today I’m writing this article on long form content. It's all related. This is because my mind is focused on the work that we are doing with business owners, which allows me to create long form content around this.
REASON 11 - You can sell your long form content. I came across someone on Instagram a little while back, and they posted a lot of health advice. But they also with-held some content, and the message was, "Join my Patreon (a pay wall), and you’ll get access to all my posts." But the posts weren’t anything longer, they were just more short form content. Personally I think this is garbage. When we pay to go to a concert, or go out for a meal, or even buy an album, we are paying do go ‘deeper’ with the creator. We naturally expect longer form content. And conversely, if you create longer form content, people will buy it. We have business owners in Creator Club who are bringing in thousands each month selling ebooks and courses.
REASON 12 - You stand out. Have a look around your industry right now. How many people in your market are on Instagram? Now, how many people are creating long form, high-value content over time? The pool gets a lot smaller, quickly. The thing is, most people who start up a business want to get their ‘marketing’ going as fast as possible. They don't have patience. So, they start creating content where they focus most of their own attention - social media. The problem is, this can lend itself to copy and paste content, or ‘safe’ content that isn’t saying much. If you bring in long form content, you can go much, much deeper, and build a body of work that nobody else has in your field.
REASON 13 - You have a talking point. A few years back I put out an eBook on health and training. It was around one hundred pages long, and went into various “pillars” of health - or, my views on health at the time. After I put it out, I had a bunch of people email me. One guy even took me out to breakfast, and brought along a printed version of this eBook, so he could talk through it all. It’s the same with a book. If you put a book together and have it published, you’ve got something to hold. You can do speaking events, or podcast interviews around the book.
Now, before the insta-growth gurus start yelling at me…
None of this is to take away from short form content marketing.
I mentioned Tolkien earlier - he pounded out tens of thousands of pages if you stacked up all his work. The epitome of long form. But he surely would have had a minion helping him run an insta account so he could troll C.S. Lewis.
And in fact, long form can be cut to short form very easily.
Or, short form could be used for a different reason altogether...
And more:
My guess is the social media popcorn platforms will hang around: Mind control is in full swing and the thirst for quick hits of dopamine is at all time highs.
But it's all something to think about anyway.
Both to secure your business, and build your work.
How ‘zero value’ content can help you grow your business
This article will either divide, or unite.
Hopefully, the latter.
How often have you been told to give more ‘value’ in your marketing as a coach or creative business owner?
More tips, more education?
That all you have to do is speak to the pain points, and offer a solution, and people will hurl credit cards, wads of cash and email addresses at you?
A lot of you I bet.
If you don’t give enough value, people won’t watch, right?
This is a super common idea marketers and business coaches will tell you.
“If you just give more value, then people will buy eventually.”
“Go deep on education, help people more.”
So you create another ‘tips’ video to help people learn.
But after doing this, you’ve probably seen three problems:
1. We have well and truly passed through the Information Age. I remember when I was growing up, the challenge was getting the info. The screeching dial-up internet was just coming in. The encyclopaedia Britannica was barely available on a CD. Information was king. But now, information is everywhere. We’ve moved beyond. In fact, the supreme guru himself Tony Robbins calls this now the “entertainment age”.
2. People who constantly suckle free information have a lot of free time, and often, are demonstrating that they don’t value paying for powerful work. I know this is contentious. People will be yelling that free information triggers “reciprocity.” But in the land of TMI (too much information) that starts to lose it’s impact… The irony that this is a free article is also not lost on yours truly.
3. A lot of the educational content out there gets super boring. When you start to notice this, you really notice it. It’s like the matrix, and all of a sudden you can see boring content everywhere around you, belting you over the head with education and virtuosity.
The way the free ‘value’ content idea is supposed to work is you put out the free stuff, people comment how helpful it is, they give you this emoji 🙌🏻, they save it. Then some time in the future they work with you.
But…
What really happens most of the time is they file it away as they make their way to the couch, where they sit down (and pay) to binge watching season after season of Ozarks.
Or scroll through videos of cars or random cats.
Which brings them zero ‘value’, whatsoever.
Now, I get it - “it’s different for us”, because we are coaches, or creatives, and we should be the one to elevate people’s thinking, and bring them new tips, and ideas…
Where the Ozarks show is just a drug family making their way through life trying to survive the Mexican cartel.
Yes, and…
To educate or help people, first they have to be engaged.
Or - any content that we do, educational, or otherwise, can’t be boring!
This means story, entertainment, or at a minimum, some personality. This is the stuff that makes Breaking Bad, Ozarks, and the Kardashians so engaging (and obscenely profitable).
It’s also what makes a great coach or service provider.
Now I’m not saying ‘don’t deliver any value’ or ‘never teach’ in your marketing. This article has loads of value in it. But, if we go back in time and realise that the best teachers, educators, and coaches from the beginning of time, have also been entertainers.
EXAMPLE:
A little while back I hired an online coach to write a strength training program. It cost a little more than $1000 Australian, and went for twelve weeks.
Here’s a summary of his marketing “strategy”:
He told the story of past training (semi-professional athlete in three sports) on podcasts
Every second day or so he uploads a 60 second clip of his training to instagram
He shares some opinion / attitude in his content about the fitness world
There are zero how-to tips.
Zero educational pieces of content.
Zero three step guides.
So why did it work?
Through demonstration, the guy helped me to create a vision of what the future could look like with his program. Turns out he’s a similar age to me, and a similar height, so I could “see” myself starting to learn from him and putting it into practice.
Ultimately, when he opened up the offer, I emailed him right away and transferred the cash.
Educational value still has it’s place
I’ve had a lot of different teachers in my life.
There are two that come to mind right now.
In uni, there was one guy who was this big lumbering American dude. Probably 6’5”. He taught mechanics of solids, and he was very serious.
The other teacher was from high school. He was the art teacher, and he would tell stories, let us put on the music we wanted, and take us on field trips out to his studio.
Anyway, one day at uni, I was in the mechanics class in the front row.
I literally fell asleep.
I’m not sure why, but partly because this guy was like listening to a broken record. After a while he called my name out with a question in front of the whole class to try and teach me a lesson. But in hindsight, I think he needed the lesson.
Anyway, the point of all of this:
Straight education isn’t helpful.
And in fact, a lot of times it sends us to sleep.
The art teacher on the other hand was super engaging, we learned a lot, and I remember him clearly.
The art teacher still educated us, even though he was entertaining.
And this is the goal.
Education is helpful will help position you as an authority. But giving away more free info or free downloads isn’t going to necessarily get more peeps buying your stuff.
Wrap any ‘value’ around your engaging world
Say you are a health coach. How could you bring in this “zero value” concept to create more engagement?
Well let’s say you’re talking about how important sleep is.
Sure, we don’t get “enough” sleep.
We all know it’s important…
But how could you jazz it up?
Well, you could tell us a story about a time when you didn’t get any sleep for three days, and what happened when you went to work? Or you could interview someone you know who’s an athlete, and listen to their story around sleep.
Both of these help you build your world.
They introduce story, or introduce us to your “allies” in your world, or other people you interact with.
So basically what we come to is this - Any time we talk about something educational in our emails, delivery, or social media, we can ask “How can I make this engaging?”
“How can I wrap my ‘world’ around this in a way that’s interesting?”
If you wouldn’t find it fun and engaging, the audience probably won’t either.
Remember the strength coach I told you about?
You could argue there was some education in him demonstrating the movements. But it was wrapped in entertainment.
The captions are interesting. He’s wearing quirky clothes. The music is interesting. He’s filled the clip with his “world” so you go deeper with him, and get to know him more.
And you’ll have ways to do this as well.
Where you film your content
How you speak and stories you tell
How you dress and bring out your character
And more.
All of this stuff helps to build your world, and creates more engaging content that takes people deeper, without adding more education.
But it makes the education that you do bring more interesting.
“Content, I am not interested in that at all. I don't give a damn what the film is about. I am more interested in how to handle the material so as to create an emotion in the audience. I find too many people are interested in the content. If you were painting a still life of some apples on a plate, it's like you'd be worrying whether the apples were sweet or sour. Who cares?” ― Alfred Hitchcock
In our world, content still matters (we aren’t purely in film), but creating an emotion, or ‘wrapping’ the content in our world to help tell the story is critical.
Creating “zero value” content
Sometimes an exercise I like to do with new business owners is have them create some zero value content.
It sounds crazy at first.
Literally an email, or social media post with no value in it.
Basically, this is an opinion, a story, or some vision that builds the world and character of the business, but without ‘teaching’ anything.
Pointless noise?
Well, if all you did was zero value content, then it might be. But zero value content does three things specifically:
1. It helps us see we don’t need to be virtuous all the time. That content can ‘stir’ and cause emotion without having to position as the enlightened teacher. And, when we do that, we actually have more fun and build a better relationship.
2. It teaches us how to build a relationship with our audience. You might tell a joke. You might share a little story. You might talk about something that you learned - not to teach - but just to share. This builds resonance, or relationship.
3. It helps you to not “care” as much. Rather than needing to get perfect engagement or feedback from the market every time, zero value content helps you to loosen up and get more creative.
Now - this is a skill.
We’ve got to practice it.
You can study film, TV, talk show radio - there are a ton of ways to learn how to improve on this. Personally, whenever I watch a movie that’s engaging, or whenever I hear something that shocks people, or raises curiosity, I take note.
How did that work?
Why did it catch people’s attention?
Usually it’s not because of information or ‘value’, but because of story or the way it was said or phrased. That’s all helpful for learning. Once you practice with some zero value posts for a while, you’ll learn how to bring more entertainment into your stuff.
One time I watched a TED talk by a guy and he was speaking about how our brains kind of sync up when we tell a story.
His name is Uri Hassan, and the talk was called “Your brain on communication”.
So if you stand up and tell a story, and I listen, the brain wave pattern from your brain, will literally sync in with my brain.
It’s like you “give” me your vision from the story.
Whatever emotion the storyteller has, is the emotion that the listeners will get.
Anyway, since then, I thought about how people like to have fun in life. I mean emotionally, they like things that keep them on their seat.
People like fun stories.
I always thought that you want to have fun when you create content, or write things, because people can feel it.
People can feel whatever you are feeling.
That’s why in a lot of the great movies, the actors “embody” the characters. For example, Denzel Washington in Training Day - he ad-libbed a lot of the dialogue. They got guys from gangs to come into the movie and play the role of extras, and Denzel would “feel” the emotions of being on the streets and in gangs. Then he spoke from that place.
So when you watch the movie it feels so heavy - he put himself in a heavy position, and you’re feeling what he felt.
Heath Ledger the same in The Dark Knight. He studied the character from Clockwork Orange, and really embodied the “feeling” of the Joker. So that when he speaks, and cackles with that laugh, you feel it.
So if you aren’t having fun when you write things, the reader isn’t going to have fun either.
They’re going to be bored out of their minds - that’s what is happening with most of the content out there for coaches and creative business owners.
At the end of the day, if you have a little bit of fun, you’re already way ahead. You’ll have much more resonance with people, they’ll get your personality, and will be able to dive deeper into your work.