- If you're ready to dive
into content marketing for your business,
but you've gotta do it on a budget,
you're in the right place.
They say it takes money to make money,
(cash register chiming)
but in this case,
we're doing it on the cheap.
In this video,
I'm breaking down the main content streams
you could have in your business,
from videos, to blogs, to podcasts,
and I'm sharing with you the most budget friendly tools
to do it all.
My name is Elise Darma and I'm an elder millennial,
here to help you bridge the gap
between the pre-internet world, the corporate world,
(bubbles popping)
and today's digital marketing world.
And today we're talking content marketing on a budget.
So the first type of content
you could have in your business is written content,
and this is actually how I got started.
When I started my agency,
and then when I started my personal brand,
I made sure to have a blog on my website.
That's because I committed to writing content
that would be found in Google or in other search engines.
For your written content,
let's talk tools.
Now, of course, there's WordPress.
And if you were to sign up for WordPress,
that would cost between five to $10 a month,
(cash register chiming)
but that includes hosting and your domain as well.
As another option, there's Squarespace.
Squarespace is a bit more user friendly
and a bit more slick in it's design,
but it's gonna cost a little bit more,
anywhere from 15 to $25 per month.
(cash register chiming)
On top of your blog platform,
you might also wanna use a transcription tool,
like Rev or Temi.
Rev.com costs $1.50 per minute,
but Temi only costs 25 cents per minute
(cash register chiming)
to get your audio or video transcribed,
so that's the one that I prefer.
The last tool I'd recommend here is free and it's Grammarly,
which is a Chrome extension.
It doesn't hurt to have an extension check your grammar
and check for typos as you go.
So if we go with WordPress over Squarespace,
our total amount per month is currently $10.
(cash register chiming)
Next, let's talk about your graphic based content marketing.
Graphics are a perfect addition
to your written work like your blog.
For example, you might wanna create a thumbnail
to go along with your blog,
so that when people share it, it looks nice and branded.
Plus, graphics can be really handy
to put in your blog itself,
to help get your point across,
things like diagrams or charts.
Last but not least, graphic content can be super handy
for building up your Instagram.
So let's say you don't wanna start with a blog
and you just wanna start
by building your community on Instagram.
You can build a feed just by posting graphics.
Quote cards, art pieces,
none of these require you to be on camera
or to be the face of your brand.
Now, the best tool to create your graphics
to support your content marketing is Canva.
I am a huge fan of Canva and I don't know who isn't,
and it's so affordable.
Yes, you can sign up for Canva for free,
but I highly recommend their pro plan,
because it allows you to do literally everything,
like you don't need Photoshop,
you just need to spend $12 a month to get Canva Pro.
(cash register chiming)
So with Canva Pro and our WordPress site,
our current monthly total is now $22 a month.
Next, let's talk about audio content,
and this is really for my podcasters out there.
This is totally optional,
you don't need to have a podcast for your business,
but if this is your priority,
here's what you need to create a podcast.
You need a computer, a microphone,
headphones, and recording software.
That's it.
Now, let's say you have a computer
and headphones already, most people do,
but what about your other equipment?
What kind of mic are you gonna get that's on a budget?
Because a mic is so important for a podcaster,
you don't wanna go too cheap on this one,
plus it's only a one time investment.
So you can get a pretty decent mic
for anywhere between 100 to $200.
There's the Audio-Technica mic,
sure has a ton of mic options.
And for many years, I used the Blue Yeti mic.
Now, in terms of software,
you likely already have recording software on your computer.
Check out Garage Band if you use apple
and check out Audacity on PC,
which is a program that you would need to download.
So our total per month once again,
is still only $22 a month,
but we also have that one time investment
of a $100 for a really good mic.
Written content, check.
Graphic content, check.
Audio content, check.
Next, video content.
Video is king and queen these days,
(regal music)
even if you don't plan on having a YouTube channel,
because all social platforms are moving more
and more towards video.
So even if you don't plan
on having a YouTube channel like me,
I still recommend for you to invest in some equipment.
To get started with video content marketing,
all you really need is your smartphone, a USB lav mic,
and recording or editing software.
Now, if you are interested
in growing a YouTube video channel like me,
you are going to need some different equipment.
You need a good quality webcam to record yourself.
You can use your mic that you've already purchased
for your podcast equipment,
and again, you need recording software.
So let's talk tools.
If you're just making video content for social media,
I highly recommend for you to buy the USB lav mic.
In my case, I've used the Rode SmartLav mic for years.
It plugs directly into my smartphone,
and any video content I record through my phone
is so much clearer and more crisp,
because it's pulling in the audio from my mic
and not from my phone.
The Rode SmartLav plus mic costs 99 bucks.
Now, when it comes to webcams,
which should be good enough for you
to get started with your YouTube marketing efforts,
there's a variety of options here.
I highly recommend for you to, at minimum,
get a 1080p webcam,
Logitech sells one for 70 bucks.
If you have a bit of a higher budget,
then go ahead and splurge on the 4K webcam.
This is gonna cost about $200,
but I recently upgraded to this webcam
and the video quality is drastic.
So it's definitely worth spending that extra money.
Now for your recording software,
you don't have to spend any money here,
just use the software that comes with your computer.
So if you're an Apple user, that's iMovie,
and if you're a PC user, that's Movie Maker.
So our monthly total so far
is still only 22 bucks a month,
and our one time investment has gone up to about $200.
Next, we can't talk about making all this content
without talking about lead generation.
And the best way to collect leads
is through your email marketing efforts.
Remember, you don't own your social media followers
or your blog visitors.
So don't lose that traffic.
Create an email list
and cater your content marketing efforts
to encourage people to join your list,
because once they do,
you will technically own their email address
that you can use in a variety of ways.
Everything from weekly emails to running retargeting ads
and targeting them based on their email address.
The best thing I did in 2016
when I started my personal brand, Elise Darma,
was sign up for a tool called ConvertKit.
Now, at the time it was a paid tool,
and it still is a paid tool.
I really like ConvertKit,
I've been with the tool for what's the math, six years,
and now I pay hundreds of dollars a month
to keep this tool in my business.
But for you, you can get started
with ConvertKit for just $9.
I highly recommend you try it out.
Now, if your budget is really tight
and you don't wanna spend that money,
you can also try MailChimp.
Mailchimp does have a free plan.
The reason why I initially chose ConvertKit
and why I've stuck with it,
is because it has healthier open rates
in comparison to Mailchimp.
Mailchimp emails might look prettier,
'cause you can add graphics and all these cool designs,
but ConvertKit emails are a bit more on the plain side,
but I'm okay with that,
I want to send someone a plain email,
because I want it to be like from a friend to a friend.
And because I've been with ConvertKit for six years,
I've only seen healthy open rates and healthy click rates,
and that is what's super important to me.
So I know we're on a budget,
but I'm gonna make sure we choose ConvertKit for this one
and not the free Mailchimp.
So let's add it to our monthly total,
which puts us up to $31 a month,
plus our one time investment of $200.
Next, let's talk about tracking software,
because you are in the content marketing space,
and you know that you can't just put content out there
without measuring and tracking the results
you're getting from it, right?
You know that, right?
It took me a couple of years to learn this,
and in fact, I used to run my website
without Google Analytics on it for way too long,
and that was really dumb.
So make sure that you install Google Analytics.
It's free, install it on your blog or your website,
to make sure that from day one,
you are tracking exactly how people are finding you.
Are they finding you from Instagram
and going to your blog from there?
Are they finding you from YouTube
and going to your website from there?
You will get all this data in Google Analytics and more.
So make sure it's set up today, day one.
Google Analytics is free, yay.
So our monthly total is still only $31 a month,
plus a one time investment of about $200.
Now, the next content marketing stream
I can't not talk about,
because it's not really around producing more content,
but it's really about guiding your visitor
through your funnel.
What I'm talking about here is funnel software.
You may or may not be familiar with this,
because most people think their website is all they need.
And I thought that for many years too,
that was until I tried a tool called Click Funnels.
Click Funnels is actually where I build all
of my landing pages, all of my sales pages,
all of my opt-in pages, checkout pages, confirmation pages,
there's a lot of different pages there.
And I have built hundreds of pages
in Click Funnels since 2016 when I started using this tool.
If you've ever opted into one of my freebies,
if you've ever purchased one of my products,
like Story Vault, Caption Vault, Videos Vault,
you have experienced the Click Funnels software.
Beyond the ability to design literally anything
through this software,
why it's so important for me as a small business,
is because it's where I run my sales.
So I connect Stripe and PayPal to the software,
and this is where I run my sales.
Plus, I get a ton of data
on how people interact with my funnel pages,
way more than what Google Analytics can give me.
So I know exactly how many people land on my page.
I know how many people opt into my page,
so I can tell if it's a healthy percentage or not.
I know how many people land on my sales page
and if enough people buy
and whether that's in a healthy range.
So this is all key,
because what else is the point of making so much content
if you're not tracking the sales that are coming from it?
And for me,
having funnel software in my business is a must have.
So this is a much bigger topic
than what I can cover in this video right now.
And I've actually covered how to get started
with Click Funnels in this video right here.
So if you're interested, go ahead and check it out.
And I'll see you there soon.