I don’t like social media. Talking with strangers can be nerve-racking. I don’t even particularly like having an online presence.
Marketing myself is and has been a struggle. I’m a relative marketing novice. My wife is an expert and I’ve picked some up through osmosis, but it is not my thing. Market research, operations, etc. is my wheelhouse and I generally get to do that by myself and with colleagues but it is far from a public act.
I can write content for others fairly easily, but when it comes to putting my own ideas out there or managing my own personal brand, it becomes far more daunting. I’m still figuring out how to do more of it, but here are some ways of thinking about creating content that have helped me be more productive.
1. It’s Just Habit
Pushing the proverbial stone up the hill only really exists when starting something new. Eventually you can throw the stone.
A bit hurdle to getting things done is seeing the task ahead of you as daunting. The problem is that you probably aren’t taking the steps to just get it done (lay it out in bite sized pieces) or you are overthinking your content.
Overthinking is just habit. Analysis Paralysis is just habit. Perfectionism is just habit. But doing the thing is also just habit. Get in the habit. Doing it will become less painful.
Outline everything into small steps and just do it. Blog? Outline, research, write, edit once for content, copy edit once more, publish it on channel a, b, c. Email? Define the desired action, outline how one comes to take that action, define what content is relevant, put it all in there, edit it, schedule it or set up the automation.
It becomes simpler when you just focus on what you are doing rather than whether you’re doing it perfectly right. It is better to have a low conversion rate and then iteratively improve than it is to have no conversions until you get out of your own way.
You’ll soon be able to pump out good quality content and then chip away at it until it is very good.
2. You Are not Your Content
If you’re like me, you’ll get wrapped up in your content and stop seeing a clear line between yourself and your creations. This is a huge drain. Please don’t get caught up in it.
You are a lot more than your content. You or your brand should be well represented, but worrying about whether it is an ideal representation is useless.
I’ve worked with clients who had pretty rough websites, but their companies brought in new clients regularly. In part, this is because their websites were just useful ways to find them, not necessarily core to their lead generation efforts.
Create in line with the brand you want to create, the identity you want to build for yourself or your company, but don’t get hung up on whether small imperfections reflect poorly on your brand. Definitely don’t get hung up on creating to please everyone.
When it comes down to it, though, people are connected to your content because it serves some sort of purpose. Members of your audience are not here to judge you. You are here to provide something to your audience.
Ultimately, you don’t need to befriend everyone. Not everyone is your client. You don’t need to be supremely likeable.
People will love your content. People will hate your content. People will be dismissive. People will not give a damn about your content. It isn’t about you. And if it was…
3. It Doesn’t Matter What People Think
What matters are the relationships you build with your audience. Your audience will never be everyone and if you pretend it is, fewer people will find value in your content.
Define who you believe your audience to be and speak directly to them. Appeal to the full range of their emotions: their frustrations, their loves, their fascinations, etc.
There are detractors of every single business that has ever existed. Don’t get hung up on that. Focus on the folks that your content resonates with and focus on the audience you know you need. Listen when they have problems. Otherwise, just keep creating.
Most importantly, your early work will not be seen by very many people. It will be friends, clients, former colleagues and family. They will, by and large, have a very positive view of what you do. Take the opportunity to work out kinks while there’s a whole lot less pressure.
Be you. You will find your voice and your audience.
4. A Lot is Better Than Perfect
You’re never going to get perfect. It is an impossibility, yes. But more importantly, you don’t know what is great when you’re focused on perfect.
Here’s why. You have no clue what perfect could be until you experiment. Your ideal audience may be slightly different from what you imagined. Or they may be differently motivated than you’d originally expected. Some tones, topics, formats may just appeal more to them in ways you cannot plan for.
Be responsive to the performance of your content. Create a tracking sheet and label your content to compare which pieces of content do best. I have an Instagram for my photography (it is mostly landscape and some wildlife photography). The wildlife photography does better on average (30-100% better in impressions, likes, new followers, in fact). This tells me that I need to do more of that content if I want to drive engagement. Photos of striking mountains also perform better than my other landscapes.
When I have the time and money to travel for wildlife photography, I know that it will perform a lot better. If I’d decided early on to focus only on landscape photography or only on non-mountainous desert landscapes, then I’d have lost out on lots of opportunity.
When I clean up my photos in Photoshop, I don’t spend a ton of time. Even when I want to, I just make some initial adjustments and clear up any obvious lens dust. It gives me content to schedule out so I don’t have to spend hours every week editing and publishing unless I want to publish more frequently.
5. Repetition is More Important Than Originality
Nothing new under the sun something, something. It’s all good. The brain has a hard time with new concepts anyways.
No, really. Repetition helps build your brand. Some folks do bang the drum of repetition, but it is still underestimated as a marketing tool.
You probably spend a whole lot of time worrying that you are writing what everyone else is. You should spend more time thinking of what you want to say over and over.
That’s ok. What you need to do is find a core perspective and message and keep on sending that message home. Think of famous self-help and business influencers, the kinds that are getting 5-6 figures per speaking engagement. They don’t say much new. They repeat their message over and over again.
Not only does this help build your brand, it also breeds trust. Psychology research has shown that when people hear claims more than once, they are far more likely to believe it. That’s the illusory truth effect. That means that the more you hit the same message, the more likely you are to become believed, trusted, and seen as expert. Moreover, you will become a reliable source of familiarity.
So say what you know, or even what you think you know. Say it again. Then say it again. Then say it again. The familiarity will be doing a ton of work for you.
6. Figure Out How to Love Failing
If you don’t end up falling on your face here and there, you aren’t going anywhere. I know it sounds trite, but it is true.
Think of it as exposure therapy. Create some content without self-editing, do 1-2 editing rounds, and then publish it even though you aren’t happy with it.
Now look around and note that you’re still alive. Keep doing that and eventually you’ll start to get better and stop sweating everything.
Learn to love failing both because it is a good teacher and because it helps you overcome your fears
7. Laugh About It
I say stupid stuff. So do you. So do my heroes and your heroes. Don’t be devastated by your own foibles. Don’t be devastated when your content doesn’t perform as well as you want.
I had two 10s in the LinkedIn carousel version of this blog. I find it really funny that it could have been intentional to show that perfection is just not necessary. It wasn’t at all intentional, but the fact that it could have been tickles me.
I could instead go back and edit it, berate myself for not editing more thoroughly, take it as a reflection of how I am an impostor, etc. That is just debilitating.
Even when it isn’t funny, laugh about all of it. Learn what you need to but find levity and it’ll keep you going.
8. Create to Connect
The point of everything you’re doing is to build connection. Don’t create to look smart. Don’t create to sell things. Don’t create to find divine truth.
I wanted to be a professor until I saw what the job market was like. Being an academic was long a part of my identity. I have a bad habit of thinking in ways that seek knowledge, rather than in ways that partake in knowledge or share knowledge or build community.
The problem is that even when people are seeking knowledge, they don’t often just want information. People generally want to connect with other humans (even when their stated purpose it learning new things).
Put yourself into the content. Write and speak as if you are speaking to someone in the room. Be vulnerable. Create to connect with others.
People will appreciate it and they will subscribe and seek out your content.
9. Don’t be Profound
There are 100,000 people online saying the same thing slightly differently. Meaningful or meaningless, useful or useless, they’re all just a bunch of little ideas.
If you write to be profound, you’ll probably just come off as pretentious. Most people aren’t into that.
10. Nobody Cares
By the end of the week you will forget the details of the content you consume. So will I. That means there’s no pressure. Sure, it’ll live on the internet, but the deluge of content will most likely all but bury it. Unless you’ve manage to offend a large swath of people, you’re fine.
Put stuff out there and see what happens. Make useful content. Make content that brings you joy or that is near and dear to your heart. Few people will consume it at first, so just go for it follow your intuition.
If people do care, congrats, you just hit it out of the park.
11. Value is Complex, Don’t Overthink It
A lot of influencers in the content marketing space talk about creating content that provides value. It is easy to narrow that down to some utility.
Sure, the template decks that HubSpot creates are killer and save people tons of time. Aspire to this if you want. However, please don’t get hung up on what value means.
Expectations do vary from channel to channel, but that doesn’t mean that value is narrow on any of them. Often it is sharing a laugh, frustration, joy, or a simple anecdote.
Don’t vent or create content without purpose, but don’t overthink the value piece.
12. Empathize
Empathize to connect with your audience. It is easy to be broadcast-oriented in communication. You have something you want to say and you say it. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that my audience wants to hear that.
You should always start with an idea of a persona or audience and sketch of who they are, what they do, what their priorities, needs, and motivations are.
Make stuff for them. You’ll speak to what speaks to them. You’ll speak to their fears and desires and doubts.
Understand your audience, care about them, and create from that place.
13. Do Things You Enjoy
Yes, video reigns supreme. No, you don’t need to make videos. If you can’t stand being on camera right now, you probably won’t create much video content.
If you love writing, focus on blogs. If you love leading people down a specific path, maybe you should focus on email content. If you love taking photos, then perhaps you need to focus on Instagram or Pinterest.
Don’t waste time with things you dread. Do things you like doing. Not only will you create more and better content, you’ll also be happier and more motivated to market yourself.
Keeping it Going
If you’re struggling to get yourself out there, I hope these points can make it a bit easier. They’ve helped me find greater comfortability marketing myself.
If you need help getting your marketing strategy in order, reach out to us. We love helping businesses grow through high quality content strategies.