1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,440 A really easy way to blend in and just contribute to the noise is to 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:09,080 share the exact same tips and tricks that everyone else is sharing. It's safe 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,080 content. It's not going to get you any haters, but it's probably not 4 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:18,239 going to get you any true fans either. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,000 Steph Taylor. For years, I read all the books, downloaded all the 6 00:00:22,039 --> 00:00:26,280 freebies, and did all the courses, but it wasn't until I started taking 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:32,200 imperfect action that my business had its first million dollar year. Imperfect action is 8 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:38,359 about doing things before you're ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and 9 00:00:38,399 --> 00:00:43,119 moving forward even when you're not sure you're doing it right. On this show, 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,679 you can expect mindset advice, actionable marketing tips and strategies to build a 11 00:00:47,679 --> 00:00:51,840 business that brings you more profit, more freedom, and even more joy. 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,240 Are you on the list to get my daily businesses? Every day, I'll 13 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,560 send you a bite sized prompt designed to help you grow your business in a 14 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,319 more intentional way. Sign up at steptaylor dot co, forward slash DBB, 15 00:01:04,719 --> 00:01:11,599 or at the link in the show notes. Hey, welcome back to the 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,000 Perfect Action. This is episode eight hundred and thirty seven. In a world 17 00:01:15,159 --> 00:01:19,079 that is saturated with so much free content. This is how you can create 18 00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:23,879 content that stands out. Today, I'm going to be sharing with you a 19 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:29,239 couple of ways to zag when everybody else zigs with their content. I'm going 20 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:34,519 to share some ways that you can create content that isn't just contributing to the 21 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:40,519 noise, but actually adds value and stands out. But let's just start by 22 00:01:40,519 --> 00:01:45,879 looking at the problem with content marketing. These days, we have way too 23 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,599 much content pushed into our faces every single day. We have Instagram reels, 24 00:01:49,719 --> 00:01:55,879 feed, TikTok, stories, email inboxes, podcast apps, facebook groups, 25 00:01:55,959 --> 00:02:00,640 et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and we can only consumes so 26 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:06,280 much content in the time that we have. The algorithms on social media platforms 27 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,400 they are designed to get the right content in front of you so they can 28 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:14,960 keep you hooked. Because if they keep you on their platform for longer, 29 00:02:15,479 --> 00:02:17,639 you can chume more content, they can serve you more ads, they can 30 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:23,840 make more profit. TikTok does this really well. The for You feed is 31 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,360 just like this never ending feed of full screen videos that will keep you scrolling 32 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,759 pretty much forever. It's one of the reasons why I try not to look 33 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:37,039 at TikTok on my phone ever, because I know just how dangerous and how 34 00:02:37,039 --> 00:02:43,080 time consuming that can be. Whenever a new platform launches, or whenever a 35 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,360 new format launches on an existing platform, like, for example, when Instagram 36 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,759 reels came out, fewer people were using it at the start, so there 37 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,080 was less noise and your content could get in front of more people because you 38 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,120 were competing against fewer pieces of similar content. Essentially, you are competing against 39 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:07,360 fewer pieces of or fewer other Instagram reels to reach the people who were consuming 40 00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:13,319 Instagram reels. And if we think about when this first happened, this was 41 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,520 the point where a lot of experts would pop up and they'd say, oh, 42 00:03:15,599 --> 00:03:19,919 you have to be on TikTok or reels is the best way to get 43 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,560 in front of new people. And while these statements might have an element of 44 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:30,520 truth at the time, they can also be quite misleading and harmful because they 45 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,599 can lead solo business owners to think that they have to be doing all of 46 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,560 the things and be on all of the social media platforms, and that if 47 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,400 they're not doing these things, they're not doing enough to market their business and 48 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,879 that can lead them to feel really down about themselves. It can lead them 49 00:03:45,919 --> 00:03:50,599 to try and do everything and sometimes burn out. There is no one best 50 00:03:50,639 --> 00:03:53,960 platform to be on. There is no one thing you have to do to 51 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,719 grow your business. There are many different ways you can grow your business. 52 00:03:57,759 --> 00:04:02,360 There are many different platforms, each with their benefits and disadvantages. And anyone 53 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,759 who tells you that you have to do a particular thing, they're probably pushing 54 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,039 some kind of agenda. They're probably trying to sell you something. Now, 55 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,600 as more and more people start to use this new platform or this new format 56 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,560 on an existing platform, there becomes more noise, more content. We think 57 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:26,240 about Instagram reels years ago compared with now, I would post an Instagram reel 58 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,000 and it would reach thirty thousand people. Now I'm lucky if it gets maybe 59 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,480 five thousand views. That's because there are more reels out there, and it 60 00:04:34,519 --> 00:04:39,399 becomes harder to get my reels in front of the people who are consuming reels. 61 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:44,720 And what tends to happen is you also start to see people posting content 62 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,040 on that platform or on that medium without asking whether they should be. They 63 00:04:49,079 --> 00:04:53,600 don't ask, oh, should this video be a reel or does this piece 64 00:04:53,639 --> 00:04:57,959 of content need to be a podcast episode. Instead, they post content to 65 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,639 tick a box so they can say, oh, yes, tick, I 66 00:05:00,759 --> 00:05:05,079 posted that Instagram reel today. Rather than being intentional about what they're posting and 67 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,439 whether it aligns with their goals, they're thinking, Okay, I need to 68 00:05:09,439 --> 00:05:12,759 post three times this week so I can tick these boxes off and say that 69 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:18,480 I've done marketing, rather than creating content that is strategically aligned with the direction 70 00:05:18,639 --> 00:05:26,040 they are taking their business now. Algorithms then have to find a way to 71 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,680 distill the noise. They have to find a way that when everybody starts posting 72 00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:34,319 Instagram reels, for example, users are seeing what they want to see. 73 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,720 They're not just seeing all of the rubbish. Otherwise they would leave the platform 74 00:05:38,759 --> 00:05:42,959 and they would go elsewhere, and that's a hit to their advertising revenue. 75 00:05:43,319 --> 00:05:46,560 We've seen this happen with Facebook. Fewer people are using Facebook and they've had 76 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,720 a decrease in revenue. So when the algorithm then finds a way to distill 77 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:56,519 through the noise, your content gets shown to fewer people than before, and 78 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,199 yeah, your engagement drops. And typically this is not because of the algorithm 79 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,319 so much as it is about the actual content that you are posting, because 80 00:06:05,319 --> 00:06:09,680 if somebody is still posting really good, really relevant content, that will still 81 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:13,000 be shown to people. The algorithm will find a way to show that to 82 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,959 people. In the case of podcasting or blogging, this might look like really 83 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:24,040 slow growth. People are consuming your content, but maybe they're not coming back 84 00:06:24,079 --> 00:06:28,959 for more, or they're not taking any steps to work with you, inquire 85 00:06:28,959 --> 00:06:31,680 with you, join your email list, follow you elsewhere. It's like they 86 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,120 consume that piece of content and that is it. And it's really easy to 87 00:06:36,319 --> 00:06:41,759 blame the environment. It's really easy to say no, it's just way too 88 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:45,480 hard to stand out these days, or the algorithm doesn't show my content to 89 00:06:45,519 --> 00:06:49,439 anyone anymore, and give up. And this is easier than putting on your 90 00:06:49,439 --> 00:06:53,959 big girl pants or your big boy pants and asking what is it about my 91 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,680 content that doesn't stand out? What is it about my content that means it's 92 00:06:59,759 --> 00:07:04,639 not impacting people, it's not resonating the way I want it to. And 93 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:09,600 that's a really tough question to ask. The good news is, though, 94 00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:13,600 that you can still create content that stands out. So I'm going to give 95 00:07:13,639 --> 00:07:15,680 you a couple of tips in a minute on how to create content that stands 96 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:20,439 out, But I do want to say there are a few prerequisites. Prerequisite 97 00:07:20,519 --> 00:07:25,839 number one, you need to stick with the same platform for a while, 98 00:07:26,639 --> 00:07:30,079 regardless of what platform it is, whether it's a podcast or TikTok or YouTube 99 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,160 or a blog. You need to stick with it for at least twelve weeks, 100 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:39,000 rather than showing up for like a week on one place and then deciding 101 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,800 that, oh, no, TikTok's better, so going over there, and 102 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,839 then deciding no, I need to be on YouTube. The grass is always 103 00:07:44,839 --> 00:07:47,759 going to look greener, but it's not. I promise the grass is greener 104 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:53,160 where you order it. The second prerequisite is that you need to be consistent 105 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:58,800 with sharing content on that platform so consistently, and it doesn't consistently doesn't mean 106 00:07:58,839 --> 00:08:03,800 every day. Consistent means every week at least, and it means sticking to 107 00:08:03,839 --> 00:08:09,279 some kind of schedule that you can you can fit with your schedule with your 108 00:08:09,399 --> 00:08:16,360 other priorities, some kind of content creation and publishing cadence almost And that means 109 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:24,839 prerequisite number three. You need to prioritize content creation the biggest the biggest area 110 00:08:24,879 --> 00:08:28,600 where I see business owners slipping on their content creation and their consistency is because 111 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:33,320 they're not prioritizing it. You get a lot of clients in through the door, 112 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,879 and it's amazing because now you have a really good income and you're really 113 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:41,120 busy. But because you now have that income coming in, you're not worrying 114 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:46,919 about how you're going to get those next clients. And then when the projects 115 00:08:46,919 --> 00:08:50,960 that you're working on with those clients finish, or if they decide that they 116 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:56,080 don't want to pay you a retainer anymore, then suddenly you find, oh, 117 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,039 I wish i'd done some marketing three months ago, because now I really 118 00:08:58,039 --> 00:09:01,200 need to hustle to try and get some more work through the door. But 119 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:07,120 if you prioritize it and it's something that just becomes part of your week, 120 00:09:07,639 --> 00:09:13,200 then you're going to stick with it and it'll help to create that consistency in 121 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:18,000 your business. You really do need to treat it as a very important task 122 00:09:18,159 --> 00:09:20,200 in your business, because it is. In my business. Content creation is 123 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:26,159 my most important task. Now. The occasional piece of really good content might 124 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:31,279 get you some attention, but consistent great content is how you build that audience 125 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,480 and how those people begin to know you, like you and trust you enough 126 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:41,320 to buy from you. It's not about having one TikTok video that goes viral. 127 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:48,159 It's not about posting one Instagram reel and a lot of people like it. 128 00:09:48,159 --> 00:09:52,279 It's not about putting up one blog post. It's about consistently showing up 129 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:54,720 in the same place so that people know you, like you, and trust 130 00:09:54,759 --> 00:10:01,639 you enough to buy from you. Okay, So the three three for creating 131 00:10:01,639 --> 00:10:05,000 content that stands out in a world where we are just saturated with content. 132 00:10:05,399 --> 00:10:11,919 Tip Number one. Share content that others in your industry are afraid to talk 133 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:16,799 about. A really easy way to blend in and just contribute to the noise 134 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,080 is to share the exact same tips and tricks that everyone else is sharing. 135 00:10:20,799 --> 00:10:24,759 It's safe content. It's not going to get you any haters, but it's 136 00:10:24,799 --> 00:10:28,200 probably not going to get you any true fans either. Now I'm not saying 137 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:33,399 you need to be controversial on purpose. It might suit some people's brands, 138 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,440 but it's not going to suit everybody to be controversial on purpose, And honestly, 139 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:39,879 I don't think you need to do that to try and grab attention. 140 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:45,279 But if you truly believe in something, if there's some kind of unpopular opinion 141 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,759 that you have and the reason you haven't talked about it is because you're afraid 142 00:10:48,799 --> 00:10:52,279 that some people might not agree with you, or some people you might get 143 00:10:52,279 --> 00:10:56,000 a few haters. That's probably something you should talk about, especially if it's 144 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,360 something you believe really strongly in and like. It might be an unpopular opinion, 145 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:05,600 or it might be a personal story that you are afraid to share because 146 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:11,000 you're worried others will judge you for it. So share those things that feel 147 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,320 uncomfortable, to feel vulnerable that other people in your industry aren't talking about. 148 00:11:15,399 --> 00:11:20,519 It's really easy to just regurgitate the same tips and tricks, but that's not 149 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,799 how you stand out. The second tip is to meet your audience where they're 150 00:11:24,799 --> 00:11:31,120 at right now and answer their questions for them. When we are the experts 151 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,960 at what we do, it's really easy to keep coming at every topic from 152 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,120 that expert angle, putting our expert knowledge out there, sharing the research, 153 00:11:39,159 --> 00:11:43,120 sharing what we know. But sometimes we need to put ourselves in our audience's 154 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:48,159 shoes. We need to understand, Okay, what are the knowledge gaps? 155 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,159 What do they not know that we don't even realize they don't know? What 156 00:11:52,279 --> 00:11:56,080 kind of basic things are they not understanding? Are they not grasping completely? 157 00:11:56,559 --> 00:12:01,480 What are they struggling with? How can we empathize with these struggles even more 158 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:07,159 in our content. For example, if you are sharing tips for how to 159 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,399 maximize their running workouts, but they are struggling to lace up their shoes and 160 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,000 get out the door for a run, then your content is going to fall 161 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,720 flat. So instead, what you would do is find out what questions they 162 00:12:20,759 --> 00:12:24,120 have about running, find out what's stopping them from getting out of the door. 163 00:12:24,159 --> 00:12:26,200 What is it? Mindset? Is it, accountability? What is it? 164 00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:33,120 And use their language, solve their little struggles with them, empathize with 165 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:39,039 them, help them with those little struggles first, rather than giving them what 166 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:43,879 they're giving them that really far down the track kind of content. Personally, 167 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:50,440 I find that my best content topics come from asking my audience what questions do 168 00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:54,159 you have about? And then whatever the topic that I want to know is. 169 00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:58,000 So, for example, this episode, when I ask my audience what 170 00:12:58,039 --> 00:13:01,480 do you want to know about growing your audience? One of the questions that 171 00:13:01,519 --> 00:13:05,240 came up was how can I stand out online? Great, that's given me 172 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:09,120 an entire podcast episode I can talk about. I could talk about this all 173 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:15,440 day. Okay. Tip number three, go deeper. In a world where 174 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:20,480 short form content is everywhere and it's distracting us and it's entertaining us, create 175 00:13:20,519 --> 00:13:24,600 content that is the opposite. There is so much short form content out there, 176 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,120 and it's really easy to create, it's really easy for people to consume 177 00:13:28,159 --> 00:13:31,639 it, and it's really addictive because of the short form content. It's so 178 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:37,159 addictive and it keeps people consuming more because it's just dopamine hit after dopamine hit 179 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:43,000 after dopamine hit. But short form content works so much better for entertainment than 180 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:48,519 for education. And for most of us, those of us who are selling 181 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:52,879 services, those of us who are selling our expertise, our own digital products, 182 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,600 anything around our own knowledge. A huge part of marketing that is educating 183 00:13:58,639 --> 00:14:05,600 our ia deal client. It's educating them on what they need to know before 184 00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:09,720 they'll be ready to solve the problem that they have. And unfortunately, a 185 00:14:09,799 --> 00:14:13,120 ten sentence TikTok video isn't gonna really go very far for that. It might 186 00:14:13,159 --> 00:14:18,879 grab somebody's attention, it might entertain them, but it might not really be 187 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,200 that effective in moving them closer to buying from you. So instead of battling 188 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:28,720 against all of these fifteen second tiktoks and three sentence Instagram captions, why not 189 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,519 write a one thousand word blog post going deep into a topic that will help 190 00:14:33,559 --> 00:14:37,639 your ideal customer. Now you might be thinking, well, it takes so 191 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,919 much longer to do a thousand word blog posts than a ten second TikTok. 192 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,519 Great, but that one thousand word blog post will have a much longer lifespan 193 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,519 than a ten second TikTok and you won't be doing as many of them. 194 00:14:50,879 --> 00:14:56,120 And then what I find really good is repurposing that long form content. So, 195 00:14:56,399 --> 00:15:00,559 if you've written that thousand word blog post, can you earn a little 196 00:15:00,559 --> 00:15:05,360 snippet of that into a TikTok video? Could you talk about it for ten 197 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:11,799 seconds and then direct people to go and read that blog post. Maybe instead 198 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,759 of a thousand word blog post, it's a ten minute podcast episode or even 199 00:15:15,759 --> 00:15:20,960 a five minute Instagram video rather than a fifteen second Instagram reel. So it's 200 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,600 more about going deeper into the topics than creating just mass amount of content. 201 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,919 For example, so I could have given you these tips, these three tips 202 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,960 in a really short Instagram reel. I could have been on camera pointing at 203 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:37,240 little bubbles, you know. Tip number one, Tip number two, Tip 204 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:46,159 number three, But without listening to this entire episode, you'd probably be scratching 205 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,519 your head wondering what I mean by go deep or meet your audience where they're 206 00:15:50,519 --> 00:15:56,039 at and answer their questions, because that short form content doesn't give me enough 207 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,840 of an opportunity to go any deeper into a topic. And yes, I 208 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:03,960 could say, hey, read the caption below, and I could expand on 209 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:07,480 it in there. That could be a longer form kind of content. I 210 00:16:07,519 --> 00:16:11,679 could use that shorter form video to promote this podcast episode and send people to 211 00:16:11,799 --> 00:16:17,559 listen to it. But just by watching that fifteen second video on its own, 212 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,720 they're probably not going to get a whole lot of value, all right, 213 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,799 So there you have it. Three tips to stand out better. Share 214 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,080 content that others are afraid to talk about. Meet your audience where they're at, 215 00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:34,960 and answer their questions, and go deep. Do long form content rather 216 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,879 than just creating lots of short form content. Your step to put this episode 217 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,759 into action, I really would encourage you to pick a platform, a platform 218 00:16:45,799 --> 00:16:49,360 where you're going to share longer form content, and you can commit to sharing 219 00:16:49,639 --> 00:16:53,320 one piece of long content each week. That could be a blog, it 220 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,279 could be to your email list. It could be YouTube, it could be 221 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:03,159 in longer form Instagram videos, it would be anywhere, anywhere. It's not 222 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,920 so much about the platform as it is about finding a type of content that 223 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,640 suits you, that you can commit to consistently, and that you can go 224 00:17:11,759 --> 00:17:15,160 deep enough into a topic that you are an expert in. All Right, 225 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:19,240 that is it for this episode. If you have any friends who you know 226 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:25,119 are struggling to share content that stands out, share this episode with them. 227 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,039 Hit the share button, copy the link, send it to them. It's 228 00:17:27,039 --> 00:17:30,160 how I get to help more people. It's how I get to help your 229 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,400 friends. And if you haven't already subscribed to the show, hit the plus 230 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,640 button or follow in Spotify and that will just make sure you get every brand 231 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:42,519 new episode released straight to your podcast app every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 232 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,079 Thank you so much for listening. Catch you next time.