Want to sell more in 2022? It’s time to get your content marketing in order for the new year.
But before you start planning out your content, I want you to listen in to this episode. Because your content marketing probably doesn’t need a big overhaul; what you need is a few little changes or refreshes to make it 2022-ready.
We’re talking little things like showing up in the right places, talking to the right people (in the right way), letting go of the social media stress, and being inclusive of all your ideal audience members.
Listen in to this week’s episode and get ready to crush it in the new year!
Mentioned in This Episode
Transcript:
Welcome to episode 160 of The Content Experiment Podcast, a podcast that supports the idea that content and marketing are ever-moving targets in any business and it’s okay if you don’t feel like you’re doing it ALL right, ALL of the time. You have permission to experiment with little tweaks and changes in your content to find what works for you, what increases value for your audience and what grows your business. And most importantly, what feels good for you.
I’m Abby Herman, content strategist and consultant for online business owners who are ready to make a bigger impact online and CEO and creative director of The Content Experiment, a content marketing agency that offers full service content marketing and podcast management.
I firmly believe that success isn’t about what big marketing brands and so-called gurus think is the right thing; it’s about you and your business. Your lifestyle and, frankly, your values and belief systems.
You get to do business in a way that works for you.
Do what works for you
Align your content with your values
Personally, I want to save people time and money. And anything that wastes my time, even a little, triggers me in a big way.
Know where your audience is showing up
How is your audience consuming content? Podcasts are SO popular right now, in pretty much every market
According to a Nielsen report in 2017, 50% of US homes are podcast fans. That’s 60 million homes–and that’s not people. Think of how many people are in each home.
People are listening a home, but they’re also listening at work, on their way to work, at the gym. Many are listening during chores, like walking the dog, cleaning the house, doing laundry. (Or is that just me?)
Of course, we know that people are showing up other places and consuming other content, besides just listening to podcasts. They’re also on LinkedIn for business, keeping tabs on their family with Facebook, and scrolling Reels and TikTok just for fun
Do you know where YOUR potential customers are showing up? If you’re not sure, I want you to take a little time and ask them. My free Ask Your Audience challenge can help. I’ll walk you through who to survey, who NOT to survey, what to ask, and how. And I’ll give you some templates you can copy and use as your own. Go to thecontentexperiment.com/ask for free access and get started now.
Account-based marketing is growing in popularity and replacing (or supplementing) the traditional funnel
Account-based marketing, or ABM, is about being more targeted with your messaging. It values relationships over spray-ane-pray marketing.
Here’s how it works:
Identify the people and businesses you want to work with > personalize content and & engage with them > land & expand relationships – look to episode 162 with Karen Yankovich, the first episode of 2022, where we talk more about building relationships online
Basically, know who you want to target, create personalized content for them, grow those relationships
Loom videos
DMs – video and voice are very effective
Personalized emails
Personalized trainings – I did a training in Angie Trueblood Pod-wise membership recently and though it was a training I did before I was able to personalize it for podcast hosts and those who want to be podcast guests
76% of marketers saw higher ROI with ABM than any other marketing strategy in 2020
https://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/10-content-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2022-02437130
Own your content.
I think we’ve been through enough social media outages that hopefully you already know this (but that I’ll repeat, just in case)
Actively grow your email list and offer value with every email you send–every week or every other week at the least
Be more inclusive and equitable
A lot has happened over the last two years to really spotlight how much many of us were not being inclusive–in our language, in the way we presented content, even in our own biases and thoughts.
We may not get it perfect, but putting forth an effort and spending time learning about how to be more inclusive is a good start.
This might look like hiring someone like Erin Perkins, an accessibility consultant who helps business owners ensure their content is accessible to those in the disabled community, or spending time reaching out to business owners from different cultures and backgrounds than you in an effort to learn new perspectives. It might also look like looking at your own privilege and biases and doing better in the future.
The work here should never end, no matter how much work you’ve already done so far.
https://www.studioid.com/springboard/trends/content-marketing-predictions-for-2022-and-how-to-navigate-them-3/
If you do nothing else:
Get consistent – with all of it
Be consistent with publishing your pillar content, be consistent in emailing your list, be consistent in building relationships, be consistent in sticking to your boundaries and values, be consistent in learning and growing
Of course, when I say “be consistent,” I don’t mean you have to show up three times a day, or even every day. Back at the very beginning of this episode, I said that you need to do what works for you. And that means deciding how much you can show up and doing that, consistently.
If you take nothing else from this podcast, I hope you’ll take the importance of consistency.
Even as we roll into the holidays and the last two weeks of the year, I decided that I wanted to be consistent. I haven’t missed an episode in the more than two years since I started the podcast. Maybe I will at some point, but I wasn’t ready for that day just yet. So I took the time to batch a bunch of episodes early in the month so if you’re working right now, you’d get an episode just like every other week.
It’s time for you to get consistent too. And if you’ve been struggling with what content to create and who to reach out to to grow relationships, I recommend asking your audience what they need and want from you. Remember that you get my free ask your audience challenge at thecontentexperiment.com/ask.
