Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast! I am just settling back in after traveling. I've been in LA for a week, but now I'm back in North Carolina. And it's going from sunny to finally cooling off a little bit, and it's gonna start to feel like fall. I'm excited for the weather this weekend as I go watch the kids play sports. We've got football and soccer going on in our household. And so, yeah, I'm excited about that and to put on some big comfy hooded sweatshirts and sweaters and that kind of thing.

I hope that you're settling in. And whatever time of year it is, whatever the weather is, wherever you are, I hope that you're enjoying it. Today, I wanna chat a little bit about content because here's the thing. Simply creating more content isn't going to grow your business. One of the most common mistakes that I see entrepreneurs make in their marketing is creating a ton of content, thinking that if they create it, Somehow, they're gonna magically grow their business. They think that content is king, and we've all heard that. Right? So I see why they think that. We hear it all the time.

But they think that content is exactly what they need to finally reach more potential clients and make more money. Well, not exactly. I am a fan of content, and I believe content is a Critical piece of your marketing. But I've got some good and some bad news for you. The bad news first, Booking clients isn't a direct result of simply creating more content. In fact, the more content you create, The fewer clients you might actually book if you're just spending a ton of time creating content that doesn't connect and convert. That's where the good news comes in. Content marketing can and will grow your business as long as you aren't going about it the wrong way.

Your focus should not be on quantity, but, instead, every piece of content you create should be created with purpose. You need a system to turn content to cash. Now for today, let's be sure that we're on the same page regarding content marketing. Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing in this way. Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. Let's be real here. That's very different from what most entrepreneurs are doing. I mean, imagine this scenario.

You look at your bank account and decide that you really need to book in some clients. So, of course, naturally, you start scrolling on social media, right, only to realize that you haven't posted in 17 days or more. Oops. So you think to yourself, what can I write about today? And because you have an appointment in, oh, 11 minutes, you quickly post some quote that you find online, and you do attribute it to the original author, by the way. And then you just check that box off and you move on. Fast forward to a few hours later, and you're still beating yourself up about not being as visible as you should be, as you know that you need to be, and you make a vow to go live on Facebook Every single day for a month, you make it to day 4, and you wake up wondering, what the heck am I gonna talk about? But you managed to pull something together. Then day 5 comes and goes with no Facebook live. So much for those plans.

And you think to yourself, maybe I'll just launch a podcast instead. Does that sound familiar? I could keep going, but I bet you've experienced something similar firsthand. Because even if you have it altogether most of the time, It's easy to fall off the wagon or to get burnt out by the content creation cycle. It's a constant cycle of creating content, and it's really frustrating when you're not getting results. So how do you get results with your content marketing? It all goes back to that definition. So let's use that definition to take a quick audit of your content marketing. 1st, is your content marketing strategic? Is it intentional? Is there a reason for each and every piece of content that you create? There has to be a purpose that's aligned with your ultimate goal. 2, are you focused on creating and distributing? You have to do both.

Sometimes we create the content and think if we build it, they will come, but you have to get your content in front of your audience, not just once, but multiple times. Keep it in front of them over and over again. 3rd, is your content valuable to your dream client. 4th, is it relevant? As in, is it bridging the gap between the needs of your audience and your solution. 5th, is your content consistent both in frequency and timing? Does your audience know what to expect? Do they know when to expect to hear from you? Are you proving that they can trust you by showing up consistently. Next, is your content being used to attract and retain? In other words, are you drawing in and connecting with your dream clients and then keeping them engaged and coming back for more? Is your content sticky? Is another way to phrase that. Once you attract them, are you retaining them? Also, is it created for a clearly defined audience? There's something that I talk about often with my clients because it's the foundation of everything in marketing, and that is knowing your audience, being really clear and defining a specific audience and then creating your content and your messaging specifically for that audience. And lastly, is it driving profitable customer action? You know that you're running a business, So you're not just creating content for fun.

And while it can be fun to create content, it also needs to create a return on investment. Creating content takes time, and you need to see results. And you'll do that by inspiring your audience to take some next step toward working with you. You don't have to jump straight into a sales conversation, but you want to move them with each piece of content. You want to move them 1 step closer to working with you.