Hey everyone!
Jason here, digital marketing consultant.
And in this ultimate content marketing strategy and guide, you're going to learn everything
you need to know to put together a content marketing machine, the five simple steps to
consistently producing great content that your audience and customers will love.
Timestamp table of contents in the description, along with some other helpful videos, to actually
begin implementing this content marketing machine and plan.
So the very first thing we need to talk about before we dive into the five steps, is you
need to choose a content medium, that you are going to focus on.
Because when you try to master everything, you wind up being good at nothing.
So you really want to make sure that you focus on one content medium, whether that's blogging,
that's audio, via podcast, or that's pretty much video via YouTube.
These are the three mediums that I highly recommend focusing on.
Now, how the heck do you choose?
It pretty much just comes down to whether or not you want to be on video.
Because video is here to stay and it's the easiest one, as you'll see in the promotions
phase, to actually syndicate across multiple platforms.
If you don't want to learn to be good on video, because nobody's good in a video when they
first start, this is a very unnatural thing.
Just sitting in a room, talking in front of a camera.
That's not really normal.
Nobody's comfortable with that.
But if you don't want to become comfortable with that, then podcasting is the best place
to start.
And if you don't want to talk at all and you are one of those people who loves writing,
then blog posts are the way to go, but definitely don't base the decision on what you think
you're good at now.
Because whatever you're good at now, doesn't really matter.
It's all about what you want to become good at it.
So once you choose one of these, the very first step in the content system is research.
Because you want to make sure that people actually want to engage with the content that
you're making.
If you already have an audience and you already have a large email list, you can pretty much
make whatever type of content you want, because you already have people who want to engage
with you.
But if you're just getting started, you need to make content that's discoverable.
That helps you get discovered and brings in new people to your audience, channel and business.
And so to do this, we need to create something called your content pillars.
And these are going to be three to five pillars of the type of content that you're going to
make.
Because number one, you want to make sure that you're focus on the type of content you're
making.
So the people understand the type of content that you make.
And number two, you want to make sure that you don't wind up talking about the same thing
all the time.
So there are two questions you want to ask when it comes to your ideal customer or viewer.
Now, if you don't already have an ideal customer viewer, this process is still going to work,
but I highly recommend you check out the link in the description to a full video that walks
you through how to come up with your ideal customer avatar.
Now, there are two questions to ask.
Number one, what results are they after?
And number two, what roadblocks are getting in their way?
So this is going to be a 30 to 60 or no 90 minute exercise, where you really want to
think about your ideal viewer, your ideal reader, your ideal listener, and how can you
be helpful to them?
What are they struggling with and what are they ultimately trying to achieve?
So you want a long, long laundry list.
In this particular example, let's just say we're creating a new YouTube channel, that's
going to be all about how to grow a YouTube channel.
Well, the roadblocks are probably dealing with is, not getting enough views, not getting
enough subscribers, not ranking videos.
Maybe they're concerned about their video quality.
And why does all this matter?
Because what they want out of their, growing their YouTube channel is maybe to finally
quit their day job.
They want to make a part time or full time income, and they just want to grow their channel
so they can spend more time replying to people who actually really like watching their videos.
Okay, great.
So this is obviously an oversimplification.
You want a much longer list than this, but then what you want to do is identify three
to five topics that represent pretty much everything you've listed out.
And these are going to become your content pillars.
And your content pillars are going to help you frame the type of content you make and
also organize your content calendar.
And these pillars are going to apply with whatever type of content medium you are doing.
And they can also apply for going to be doing multiple content mediums in the future, but
definitely start with one.
And so once you have your three to five, then what you're going to want to do with whatever
medium you're doing is post at least three times a week.
So choose which days are going to be which pillars.
And then choose the days that you're going to focus on your syndication platforms.
We'll get to your syndication platforms in step number five, but just know that you want
to choose.
What days of the week are you committing to posting?
And then what pillar is going to be on that particular day.
If you're only posting three days and you have five pillars, well, then you can kind
of mix and match which pillars go with which week.
But essentially you want to make sure that you're not doing the same pillar three days
in a row.
So your content stays focused on the general broad topics that you want to talk about,
but also you don't wind up making the same style of video three days in a row.
And so this is how you create your content calendar at least three times a week.
And you've also chosen your general topics.
So once you have this, you're ready to actually start diving in and figuring out what specifically
should my blog post be about, my podcast be about, or my YouTube videos be about.
And there are a couple of free resources you can use to make sure that you're always choosing
keywords and topics that are relevant to your potential audience.
So you want to use free tools like SemRush, BuzzSumo, Answer the public and YouTube search
suggestions.
Even if you're not doing YouTube search suggestions, you're doing a podcast.
You can actually use YouTube to generate ideas for your podcasts or your blog posts and vice
versa.
So all of these things are tools that you can go ahead and learn on your own, link in
the description to a video that actually walks you through a full suite of free tools you
can use for your digital marketing, this is just one small piece of a bunch of tools that
can be helpful in your research, but essentially in your research phase, now that you have
your content pillars, you've chosen the three days a week that you're going to post and
what type of content.
Now it's actually time to find key types of keywords that you go after.
And then what types of topics or subjects should you be writing and producing content
about?
Now, the next step in the process, you actually want to write out your headlines and your
social teaser texts before you actually go into the writing and production process.
And the reason you want to do this, as you really want to make sure that you're not only
focused on choosing the right types of keywords and topics, but you also want to make sure
that you're writing good headlines that are focused on, the user before you get all into
whatever the topic is going to be about.
Because something that's really easy to do is choose a keyword or a topic, and then write
what you think the video should be about or what you think the blog post should be about.
And simply writing the headline first, based upon your research, forces you to make sure
that you're always serving the user intent, what other people care about versus what you
think is really important.
And so this is just a little screenshot of what my content calendar looks like.
So we actually write out all of the headlines.
We choose the keywords we write the teaser text, which is going to be that little piece
of text that you use to entice people to click on social media, or it's that little preview
that shows up before someone clicks on your YouTube video.
And we do all of this to make sure that we're always serving the actual user and pulling
people in.
And then we create the content to make sure that delivers on the promises that are made
in the headline and the teaser text.
Now this next part is going to be most time consuming.
And that is the production.
So now that you've made sure that you're actually going to be making content that people want,
and it has a high likelihood of helping people discover you, it's time to produce.
Now done is better than perfect, with any type of content you're making.
You can always remake a video.
You can always update a blog post.
You can always redo a podcast.
Nothing is set in stone when it comes to content, you can always improve.
So when we're looking at our content calendar and doing at least three posts a week, irrespective
of what medium you're doing, you really want to make sure that you commit to that output.
Not necessarily trying to make sure that every single post, every single video or episode
is the best it could be.
Done is better than perfect.
Number of occurrences is so important, when it comes to your long-term content marketing
strategy.
Now, when it comes to podcasting and YouTube, there are a couple of options you have in
terms of gear.
So I'm briefly going to go over some gear, but remember that done is better than the
perfect and the gear is not what's going to help make you successful.
So at the very basic level, we have a phone and a lav mic.
So essentially just take the current phone you have, and you can record YouTube videos
off it.
The first 3 or 4 videos, I did on this channel was with the phone, not this one, cause the
phone's dead now, but you don't have to buy an expensive camera to get started.
And if you want to podcast, all you need is a recording app and a $40 lav mic and you're
good to go.
The next step above that if you're doing video or podcasting is going with something like
the blue Yeti mic.
So the blue Yeti mic and a $50 Logitech webcam, the C920, I believe is all you need, if you
want to take your video or podcasting up a level, I actually recommend recording yourself
while you're doing your podcasting, so you can have video as well, but if you don't want
to record yourself, that's fine.
But this set up right here less than 200 bucks, and you're good to go.
Now, if you're going to be doing any vlogging, they can go ahead and pick up a GoPro.
And this small mic, this whole setup is about 400 bucks.
And if you want to get really fancy, then you can pick up the Sony Mark too, which winds
up being about $900, with the whole setup.
And what I'm using to record this video right now is the Lumix G85MK extra or something.
I don't know.
They always come up with weird names for these.
And that entire setup with the Shure microphone wound up being just under a thousand dollars.
Now, whether you're going to spend a thousand dollars, you're going to spend 800, you're
going to spend 400 or you're just going to spend 165.
All of these options work, none of these are going to make or break your success.
So I highly recommend if you don't have the budget for one of these, then you can just
start with your cell phone.
It's so easy to overcomplicate the process, trying to get the best gear, get the fanciest
stuff, when really it's just about the output and number of videos that you're making.
So that's all the fun gear that you could play with, but it's really not not important.
And it can actually wind up being a distraction.
So with your production, if you don't have a lot of time to actually write all your blog
posts, write all your scripts, then you can go to a place like freelancer or Upwork to
actually get some freelance help with producing your content.
So if you're looking for a writer you're typically going to pay 200 to 500 dollars, for your
video script, your blog post, or your audio script for your podcast.
And if you want any sort of graphics, you could expect to pay 15 to 50 bucks for your
graphics.
Now when it comes to editing, so if you want someone to edit your podcast audio, your video,
or someone to proofread your blog posts, you're looking at anywhere from 75 to 200 dollars.
And again, if you want some more graphics, probably be 15 to 20 bucks.
And of course, if you're on a really tight budget, you don't have to hire someone, but
I definitely recommend at least figuring out if you can afford to have an editor with any
content medium, because if you're doing blog posts, you definitely want someone to proofread
your stuff.
And if you're doing video or audio, you'll be able to output, put out more content.
If you have someone helping with the editing, process, speaking of editing.
Now the next step in the process, step number four is optimized.
So this is where you're actually going to start optimizing your content.
And there are two levels to optimizing your content.
The first is SEO, which could be a video in and of itself.
So link in the description to some videos that walk you through the search engine optimization
process for YouTube.
And the second part more importantly is the call to action.
Again, link in the description to a video that walks you through a deeper dive, how
to do this particular part because optimization is a video in and of itself.
And you'll see why I did that in a second.
Now what's really cool with optimizing is you want to make sure that every one out of
5 or 10 videos or podcasts or blogs, link over to something called a landing page where
you grow your email list.
And essentially you want to grow your email list because this is where you're going to
be able to make paid offers, and it's a private channel that you're going to have direct access
to your customers and your audience members.
So it's very important that you don't gloss over this process, but you don't want every
single piece of content you put out saying, “Hey, click the link in the description
to get XYZ” Or, “Oh, thanks for listening to the podcast and subscribe, subscribe, subscribe,
subscribe to my email list” Because that's just going to come across as needy.
Now the final part is promotion, and this is one that's often overlooked.
But now that you've put all this time energy into creating some awesome content, it's time
to actually get the word out.
It's time to tell the world, “Hey, I have this awesome piece of content you should come
engage with it, because I think it's really going to make your life that much better”.
Now there are two ways to promote content.
There's cross-promotion with your content and then there's new promotion.
So we'll go through cross-promotion.
You'll notice that several times throughout this video, I went and said link in the description,
too XYZ video, whether I was talking about a customer avatar video, I was talking about
doing SEO or research or talking about the call to action, part of your content, whatever
I was talking about when I didn't have time to go deeper, I went in linked in the description,
and this is something you can do with whatever type of content you're putting together, because
there's always going to be a deeper dive or there's going to be a next step or previous
step in the instance of the customer avatar, that's a previous step and the instance of
the call to action, that would be the next step after your content marketing plan.
And so essentially all you need to do is mention other pieces of content you've already made.
Now, when you're just getting started, obviously you're not going to have a bunch of content
to reference, but as time goes on, it's going to be easier and easier to link out to other
things, call to action.
Again, link in the description to a video that walks you through a deeper dive, how
to do this particular part.
Now the second part of promotion is of course getting the word out and syndicating content.
So this diagram right here is going to walk us through everything you could do to syndicate
your content.
Now, of course you can pause and actually read each one of them.
I'm just going to briefly go over this diagram and then go through the costs, if you wanted
to pay someone to help syndicate your content.
Now, when it comes to promoting your content, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram are pretty
much always going to be syndication platforms.
So I'm going to focus on those three.
With Pinterest, no matter what type of content you're making, you can make three to five
optimize images specifically for Pinterest, that link back to your original piece of content.
When it comes to LinkedIn, you can actually post a quick synopsis or introduction to podcast,
your video, your blog post, and then link over to the full piece of content.
You definitely don't want to put your entire piece of content on LinkedIn.
The only exception to that is the YouTube video, because you can embed the YouTube video
on LinkedIn.
And then finally we have Instagram, which is the hardest one to actually syndicate to,
because you can't actually directly link over to your content, but you can just make a post
talking about your most recent piece of content, or you can cut out a podcast or video snippet
and upload it as a 60 second post.
With your blog posts, you can use some of the images from your blog post as a post,
but whichever you decide to do the Instagram post needs to be able to stand on its own.
So the primary reason you're putting together the post is you want to grow your Instagram
account.
If you don't care about Instagram, then just, don't worry about syndicating content to Instagram.
Now, if you want help with this, here's a quick rundown of how much it might cost for
syndicating to these platforms.
So if we're looking at Pinterest, it's probably going to cost you anywhere from 10 to 20 dollars
to have a graphic designer, create Pinterest pins for each piece of your content.
And then LinkedIn, it's probably going to be 20 to 60 because you're going to be having
someone actually do some writing.
So you want to make sure you get a good writer and for Instagram, depending upon whether
or not you're just reusing an image from your video or blog post, or if you're actually
cutting out some audio or video, it's going to be 20 to 40 dollars.
And WordPress of course, it's going to be the most expensive upwards of $300, because
this is going to be someone taking your transcript from your podcast or video and turning it
into an actual full-fledged blog post.
So that does it for the five steps of your content machine.
Of course, you can take a deeper dive into all of these, links in the description to
some videos and playlists that will help you take a deeper dive into the research, promotion,
optimization and of course, production of your video podcast or a blog post.
So thank you so much for watching.
I sincerely hope you got some value out of this video and you have a good idea of how
to put together your own content marketing plan.
And of course consistently make content.
So hit that like button subscribe for more in depth marketing tactics and strategies,
just like the ones covered in this video.
And until the next keep building the business you love.