Working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, I can tell you there are a lot of opinions on story structure and development. Some people save the cat, other’s delve deep into formula and break everything out into minute by minute guidelines, and some swear by Aristotle’s Poetics.

But the most consistent and persistent story structure that all of them follow, to some extent, regardless of their stated approach, is one discovered a little over 70 years ago. I say discovered because the prevailing belief is that it was there all along, it just wasn’t fully examined until this century. It starts with psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung was originally a protégé of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology, but after a long collaboration, the two split off. In fact, Jung eventually redefined his system of psychology separate from Freud’s approach.

One of Jung’s prevailing beliefs was the concept of a shared subconscious or collective unconscious mind. Jung believed that the consistency found in various mythologies and folk tales across cultures and generations came from the fact that our minds all drew from a universal well of thought and idea.

Later, mythologist Joseph Campbell proposed that Jung’s theories were proven by a concept called monomyth – all stories follow a specific pattern of development. Campbell wrote the definitive text on the subject, The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

May The Force Be With You

When George Lucas was studying film at the University of Southern California (USC) he became enamored with the study of mythology and Campbell in particular. So much so that when he was working on drafts of the script that would eventually become the original Star Wars film (now subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope”), he modeled the entire story on Campbell’s monomyth structure.

Other movies and books follow the pattern – after all, it wouldn’t be a universal pattern if they didn’t.  But some stories go about it differently and sometimes you have to wrangle a bit to make the pattern work “perfectly.” George Lucas, along with his editor and ex-wife Marcia Lucas, followed Campbell’s pattern to a “T.”

And the beauty of that is, I can simplify Campbell’s overly complicated 400+ page book by just pointing to Star Wars. And what I want to do today is walk you through the monomyth approach to telling your stories – by making your customers the heroes.

The Ordinary World

This is where we meet Luke Skywalker. Space battles on the horizon aside, Luke’s life is pretty consistently standard. He works on his Uncle Owen’s moisture farm. He negotiates and buys droids. He’d rather hang out with his friends and/or join the Rebellion, than stay one more season on the farm. But Uncle Owen needs him, so he stays.

Your potential clients live here. They think everything is fine; it’s the way it’s always been. They don’t consider that there might be a better option. They might be in pain, but be so used to it, they can’t imagine there’s a solution that could fix the problem. They’re numb to the pain and to change – or even the possibility of change.

The Call to Adventure

In Star Wars, Luke’s call to adventure is literally that – a call. It’s not directed at him. Princess Leia has encoded a message for Obi Wan Kenobi. Luke wonders if she means Old Ben Kenobi, but doesn’t pursue it until R2-D2 disappears into the night. And once Luke connects with Old Ben after finding R2, the Jedi master tells Skywalker, “You must come with me to Alderaan.”

Your customer’s call to adventure isn’t quite so obvious most of the time. Although it could be, if your company does a lot of cold calling. But anything that gets your customer’s attention and connects you with them is a call to adventure. It might be a billboard or radio ad. It might be a useful blog post. More likely than not, in our world, it’s a Google search that leads the burgeoning hero towards his journey. Or the referral of a trusted fellow business owner.

Meeting the Mentor

Luke has met Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man who would teach him the ways of the Force, so he can become a Jedi, “like my father before me.” But he just sees him as an old man. Sure the light saber and the man’s ability to make the Tusken Raiders scatter are both amazing, but… In Star Wars, the call to adventure is intertwined with meeting the mentor – just as it is with Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, and often the hero realizes it when she is granted a new perspective.

In a business sense this is often the case as well. The introduction of your potential customer to your small business may seem incidental. It is often connected to that call to adventure, because the call also conveys how your company can relieve their pain. But they don’t see it, or don’t trust it quite yet, which leads them into…

Refusing the Call

Luke immediately responds to Ben Kenobi’s promptings, saying he can’t possibly go to Alderaan. He needs to stay on for one more season. He doesn’t even realize he’s using the source of his earlier frustration to justify his resistance. Even when Ben points out, “That’s your uncle talking.”

By and large, humans are resistant to change. Even if we suspect it may make our lives or businesses better, we sit on our hands and make excuses, and dwell in the pain. As I mentioned before, we have become numb. And sometimes even pleasure can seem painful when you’re not used to it. Routine has its own rewards. Simply knowing there is a problem doesn’t mean they’ll embrace the potential solution.

Crossing the Threshold

It doesn’t have to be, but this often can be one of those all or nothing moments. Luke doesn’t just return to the moisture farm. Because he sees the inherent danger – even though he wants to ignore it – he races back. To find the homestead gutted, and the burning corpses of his aunt and uncle left by the Stormtroopers.

Your potential customer crosses the threshold when they schedule the first exploratory meeting, or 30-minute free consultation. This may seem like a poor comparison to what happens to Luke Skywalker, but think about it. In order to accept help, to even consider that help, a part of the customer’s ego must die. They must admit that what they are doing now won’t fix the pain they feel and/or it’s not something they can accomplish on their own. They must die to the concept of doing everything themselves.

Tests, Allies & Enemies

This is exactly what it sounds like. The hero has met the mentor, now he meets the other players. Luke & Ben fend off goons in the cantina, after Ben uses the Force to manipulate the simple minded Stormtroopers. The droids have already encountered Darth Vader, to some extent, but Luke hasn’t, so the Stormtroopers represent the Empire.

After the initial altercation in the cantina, Ben hires Han & Chewie. The Stormtroopers appear again, chasing the heroes off Tatooine. And the Empire somehow beats them to their destination – arriving to see an asteroid field and a moon that isn’t one.

They get trapped on the Death Star, find Princess Leia, almost killed in the trash compactor and Luke faces the loss of his mentor.

In the storytelling world, this is often a longer section, and may be referred to as the “fun and games” portion of the story.

For your clients, it can be any number of things. Their investors or advisors may not see the value of what you are offering, or at least enough value to justify the cost. Your client may not see results right away – if you’re providing a service, it may be something that takes time to grow or to show results on – like Google rankings or social media.

Fellow business people or the board of directors may be just as numb to the pain of change as your new customer was. They didn’t have an answer before, or a sufficient one, but they also haven’t gone through the same change as the client did. Often times they can derail efforts.

At the same time, they may be allies who are helpful and excited about the new possibilities. Tests, allies, and enemies. It all leads up to…

The Ordeal

This is the final battle. The elixir or treasure has been brought back and now we have the final test of the hero. Will she win the battle, or die trying? Luke has the plans to the Death Star – had them all along, but didn’t understand what they were until they encountered the battle station for themselves. He must use the knowledge of the engineering design flaw to save the Rebellion and their home planet.

In many instances, you may not be around to see this moment for your new client. Or you may learn about it much later, after they have successfully navigated the ordeal, and blown up their small business ‘planet killer.’ Hopefully, they’ll share the story with you. Maybe they’ll post it on Yelp or in a Google Review. Or maybe, hopefully, you’ll learn how much the treasure you brought them has become valuable because they referred a new client to you.

Resurrection/Master of Two Worlds

In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is the one resurrected, from a certain point of view. He returns as the voice of faith in Luke’s ear, telling him to trust what he has learned about letting go. Luke remembers his trial with the test probe in the Millennium Falcon and shuts off the targeting computer. He’s relying on faith.

But he’s also relying on R2 and the X-Wing fighter he’s flying. Much like the droids and the moisture vaporators when we first met him on Tatooine, Luke is still utilizing technology. He has become a hero by embracing both of his worlds/identities. The mystic and the mechanic. Sometimes we call this ‘entering the new normal.’

We know a little too much about ‘new normal’s’ these days, I think. In an example from our own business, we’ve learned to embrace the usual model along with the virtual, work from home model, and attempted to fuse the two. Like a phoenix rising from the COVID ashes.

But for your client’s, this is the moment that your product or service really comes into its own. The client is so happy with it, and/or understands it so well that they use it all the time. It becomes part of their new normal.

This is also when they freely give referrals, just by using the product or service. In court, testimony is presenting evidence. For Christians, it’s always being ready to give an answer for the hope they have. When your client is that happy with your product or service, they can’t stop talking about it. Or it’s so much a part of her life, that others see it and ask. The circle is now complete.

Now It’s Your Turn

You can see The Hero’s Journey as the one you are on. And that’s fine; I encourage that. In fact, I recommend utilizing this story structure as you build and tell your small business’ story. But if you can also use it to tell your potential customers a story that resonates with them – that’s where the gold lies. It’s great to be the hero of your story. But if you can make your prospective clients into the hero of your story, you’ll truly see your business change. You can be the entrepreneurial Han Solo or Obi-Wan Kenobi encouraging and guiding hero customers to win the day. That’s what we like to call a win-win situation.

I challenge you to reverse the perspective of how you see your clients and how they see you.

If you’d like help identifying those prospective clients – the perfect customers that you can serve best and bring the most value to – or help connecting to them, please reach out. We’ve built our small business helping other businesses succeed, and we can help you too. Let’s Grow The Dream together!

I tried a few online services before settling with one suggested by my sister in Texas – Elevation, based in North Carolina. Pastor Steven Furtick just connected with me, as he did many others. Their church actually grew during the shut down, and one sermon in particular caught national attention.

Like many people, I struggle with seeing myself and my true identity as I see my seemingly more successful, happier friends posting online. But I can’t put the blame on them – I am just as prone to post only positives on my social media channels.

And not just to make myself look better – sometimes you don’t speak your mind for professional reasons, or you share positives to maintain good relationships, or because of contract stipulations, or any number of reasons. I personally try, as much as I can, to not complain, and only post positive, uplifting things, in the hopes that it helps others.

As business owners, or when we represent a business online, we can be just as prone to curating only positive content. Only good news, only positive vibes, nothing that can make us look bad or diminish our apparent value.

Yet…

It’s a Trap!

I can point to hundreds of articles online that vouch for the necessity of being as authentic and genuine as possible online. And they’re not talking about people, but about businesses. As far back as 2013, credible marketing and business analysts have pointed out that authenticity is more important than ever. And I have to agree.

Now more than ever, your customers need to see that there are real people behind a business; that sometimes mistakes happen. That the best laid plans are sometimes not followed – and even if they are, often still go awry.

Sometimes, you have to be willing to admit that nobody’s perfect. That the cobbler’s children have no shoes. And as bad as that sounds – it actually helps build credibility. Disclosing these truths may be painful, but sometimes it’s exactly what is needed.

Lessons From the Trenches

One of my favorite examples is from the other industry I work in. Streaming giant Netflix reports their subscriber numbers, good or bad, every quarter. They could just report this information to their shareholders and it would inevitably leak anyways. But as much as Netflix guards certain information – like total viewers of any particular show or movie – they do share some stats freely with the media. Even if they are not in their favor. Most recently, they noted that growth was lower than they had projected.

Of course, the knowledgeable industry insiders did what they always do – proclaimed that the bubble had burst, that Disney+ or HBO Max were stealing viewers from Netflix, or that we had reached a market saturation point. I’m sure Netflix knew those headlines were coming. As I said, it’s not unexpected, cause every time numbers dip, that’s the anthem.

But can I tell you a secret? Netflix is okay with those headlines, and releasing the data that’s interpreted that way. Because even when their numbers are down, or under projections, they know they will bounce back. They have data that confirms it.

Just like the big money men in 1929 invested more when the stock market crashed, Netflix can point to their charts that show their numbers always increase – in the long term. For them, the streaming race is a marathon, not a sprint.

What’s more, Netflix is still controlling the story. By being transparent, even when the industry insiders try to knock them down a peg, they show confidence. They don’t pretend everything is perfect. Yes, numbers are down – but guess what, the company is still generating buzz.

That whole, P.T. Barnum ‘no bad publicity’ thing? It’s sometimes very true.

Blessings in Disguise

When you’re honest and embrace your failures as well as your successes, you are telling your story. Your authentic, real, and trustworthy story.

Every failure becomes part of the foundation, a stepping stone towards continued success. We all know the aphorism, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but we want everything to be perfect now. I know it sounds counterintuitive, so let me repeat it again. Being transparent about your failures builds credibility with your audience – your current and potential customers.

Because just like Netflix, we need to look at the long game. Minor setbacks are just that – minor. By ignoring missteps, or sweeping them under the rug, we betray some of the confidence our clients put in us.

Do your customers want to be the ones whose ball you dropped? Of course not. Nobody wants that. They prefer that your interactions with them – your products or services are as flawless as possible. Be open that you – like everyone – has fallen on your face a time or two. But, despite that, you got back up, and continued to work to deliver as promised. They won’t see the failure as much as they see the perseverance.

Perseverance has value. So does a track record. When you combine those with transparency and authenticity in your message – you’ve got an advantage over your competitors.

The Story Behind the Story

You may be wondering how I settled on the topic for this week’s blog. I’ve talked numerous times about drawing from your own experience when creating content. I just did a long series on content creation, leading to a push to an event that we at Grow the Dream were hosting on the first Saturday in June.

If you didn’t sign up, you might not have noticed – but many of our clients are already aware… That event, the Strategic Marketing Workshop for 2021, did not happen as planned. There’s no one reason, several factors, some within our control, some outside of it, collided, or coincided, and we had to postpone the event indefinitely.

I’m not happy to be telling you this. It wasn’t pleasant to inform the people who had signed up for the in-person event that we were forced to cancel. It was necessary. We’re shifting gears, recalculating, and looking at several options. And I feel comfortable telling you this, because our ideal clients are often in a similar position.

As entrepreneurs, we often have to adjust, reconsider, be very adaptable and agile in our approach to business. For some of us, that’s when we flourish. Heck, some small business owners repeatedly put themselves in troubling situations because that’s how they get the dopamine flowing. They love solving problems – even if they are of their own making.

We get it. And just like you, we aren’t stopping. We might be offering different services – maybe returning to our roots, maybe charting a new, less traveled path. We’ve done it before – so we know we can do it again. And just like our timeless marketing principles, we’ve thrived doing it in down times and good times.

The Road Goes Ever On

We hope you’ll take this journey with us. If you had signed up for the Strategic Marketing Workshop, we’ll keep you informed via email, in addition to what you see on this blog. But regardless of where you stand, we’re moving forward.

We’re going to keep serving our clients and finding new ones, just like we teach them to do. We will persevere. We will keep reaching for success. If you’d like to find out how you can be a part of that success, I hope you’ll reach out.

As I’m fond of saying every week, we built our business helping other small businesses succeed and expand. That continues to be our mantra and our commitment. Let’s Grow the Dream together!

I’m not going to rehash all of the particulars. I just want to look for a moment at bare facts. The emotions of this ‘adventure’ have been all over the place and in many ways have distorted our perception of time. While it seems so much has changed, and so many things have happened, this apparent lifetime-length journey really has only been 18 months.

Even though it has only been 18 months, because of these seismic shifts – Coronavirus, social changes, political upheavals – our world will never be the same. It’s not just a feeling. We literally have either stunted the growth of or rapidly advanced many expected developments. And regardless of how you feel about it, as small business owners, you need to adapt – and there is a lot less time for dithering or thoughtful consideration.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t take the time to make an informed decision. But you absolutely need to adopt a strategic approach to your business – and you need to do it quickly. Otherwise, it’s way too easy to get overwhelmed by the options, the decisions, and to lose sight of the future.

We’re in a brave new world. Even the futurists have lost track of what’s coming.

But there is good news.

While there are new decisions to make and approaches to consider, the principles of small business strategy are still the same as they were decades ago.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

You may be approaching your business as more of a remote entity. Yes, you may be employing more gig or freelance workers from all parts of the country. More of your business may be online than ever before. And, sure, Google is changing their algorithm one more time.

Oh, yeah. Did you miss that? It was supposed to happen this time last year, and the folks at Alphabet opted to delay it in light of everything that was happening. But it’s still coming – it’s on the horizon now, and businesses everywhere are scrambling to prepare.

If it feels like you’re suddenly overwhelmed with too many things going on, you’re not alone. That’s kinda been the theme of these past eighteen months – scrambling. Trying to keep up. Working to adapt. Trying to do anything. But most importantly, trying not to do the wrong thing. Cause there’s just not time, right?

We talk about strategy a lot at Grow the Dream. Not just in these articles I post every week, but overall strategy. Strategy for our small business. Finding ways to connect and communicate. Are we helping others? Can we assist ourselves?

There’s an old English idiom: “the cobbler’s children have no shoes.” And we struggle, like many businesses, wondering if we’re helping or educating others on our principles, at the expense of not following them ourselves.

We love to help entrepreneurs define and share their stories – but we need to share ours too. Our success is a direct result of us helping your business succeed.

Brass Tacks

I could go on for a few hundred more words (and have in the past) justifying and explaining why companies in general, and especially small businesses, need to adopt a strategic approach. But I know who our target audience is. I know that they will take action when informed of what they need to do. Even if they sometimes often wait ’til the last minute.

There’s a reason I waited until today to do this article. And a reason for last week’s call to action. Last week I needed to make you aware that an event was coming. Today, I’m banging the drum, letting you know – sign up, because it’s only a couple of days away.

It might feel random and precipitous. It might feel like that moment when the preacher is giving a message and it seems like he’s staring into your soul and his words are only for you. I’m all about letting God work – but the twinge you feel in your stomach is the result of well-executed strategy.

I wish I could invite everyone to this – but we are limited in space and time. So if you live and work in the Sarasota-Bradenton area – or you’re willing to get up early enough to drive there – I have a special treat for you.

Saturday, June 5, 2021 (yes, this weekend), Grow the Dream is hosting a face-to-face strategy seminar & workshop. You’ll learn all about that Google update and how to leverage it for your business. You will learn how to tell your story – by actually working on it in the moment. You’ll get hands on literal experience as David G. Johnson deconstructs one of the participants’ website – maybe even yours – and shows how to make it work better. And we’ll even do some social distance networking.

Now Is The Time

I know your inclination is to wait, to be cautious, to get to it tomorrow after you’ve thought about it. I get that – I am probably more guilty of uber-overthinking everything than most. But as I’ve mentioned, the workshop is only a few days away. The Google changes are right on the workshop’s heels.

I have two quotes by my desk. One is anonymous – “When there is a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.” The other is from the Biblical book of Habakkuk. It seems to contradict the first one, because it mentions waiting for the appointed time. But the first part defines the waiting – write down the vision, that he may run who reads it.

My deepest desire is to motivate people with my words. I want to help as many incredible, world-changing small businesses succeed as I can – and that starts this week with our “Strategic Marketing Workshop: 2021 & Beyond.” If it helps convince you to attend, breakfast is even provided!

It’s time to get back to business, and that means getting ahead of the changes – online or otherwise – that are coming. It means knowing and telling your story effectively. You owe it to yourself, your family and the people whose lives you hope to change with your business to be there.

The future is now. Don’t be left behind. Sign up for the workshop today. Let’s Grow the Dream together.

Baking cookies requires three major steps/phases:

1. acquiring the ingredients
2. mixing the ingredients together, and 
3. baking

Strangely enough, achieving your organization’s goals also involves three major phases: 

1. input (activities)
2. output (outcome)
3. impact

The 3 Phases of Achieving Results

The Input Phase 

When we’re baking our pandemic cookies, the input phase involves obtaining and gathering all of our ingredients. This part is easy to quantify and measure. In fact, it’s even simple to measure the activities involved with tossing the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc. into a bowl and firing up the mixer. 

In our analogy to the process of achieving results, the input phase involves all the activities that an individual or organization executes in pursuit of a result.

The Output Phase

When we’re baking, we might refer to the cookie dough after it has been mixed together as the output from our activities. 

In our organizations, the output would refer to the immediate result of a program or initiative from our input activities. And this is where we might be tempted to stop measuring. After all, we have a result, right? And our result is often simple to measure and describe.

But if we stop here, we miss the most powerful and compelling part of our story.

To help illustrate this, let’s look at a real-life example.

Why It’s a Mistake to Stop Measuring at the Output Phase 

A great example of measuring inputs and outputs can be found in the grade-level reading movement. 

For some quick context, here are some important statistics about why children need to read on grade level courtesy of the United Way of Topeka: 

“74% of students who fail to read proficiently by the end of third grade falter in the later grades and often drop out before earning a high school diploma. 61% of low-income children have no children’s books at home. Poor children hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers.”

Various initiatives have emerged to address the grade-level reading conundrum. An input would be volunteer readers entering a kindergarten classroom weekly to read with a child and work on sight words, social and emotional intelligence factors, and the general joy of reading. 

In that situation, the output would be the increased number of reading hours a child experienced because of the volunteer (or activity input.)

But wait. Who cares? Why does the number of hours a child reads matter? 

To be blunt, it doesn’t. 

The Impact Phase

The number of hours that a child and volunteer read together is not the problem that we are seeking to solve. We’re actually trying to address the grade-level reading crisis. 

What matters is the result or impact… specifically, that the activities by the volunteer lead to the quantity of hours necessary to help the child achieve grade-level reading. A child reading on grade level is the result (impact) that we intended with the original activities.  

Do you, your organization, or the organizations that you donate to take it all the way to impact? 

Do you have results in mind… or are you just looking to feel good about your actions, eat the cookie dough,…. and regret it later on when you have a tummy ache? (Or feeling that the needle is not moving on the real issue.) 

Too often we spend time thinking about the activities and ignoring trackable measurements that lead to impact. 

Going Forward

Starting with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals increases the possibility that milestones and activities will create the desired results. 

We would love to help you to learn more about developing your compelling story at our “Strategic Marketing Workshop: 2021 and Beyond.” A $600 value for only $97, this impactful and interactive workshop will also cover the platforms and tools used to tell your story and to disseminate your services and products to the right audience. Register here to attend – breakfast will be served and discounted headshots available onsite! We hope to see you there!

It’s an entrepreneur’s problem, typified by statements like “It’s just faster if I do it myself.” Which is something I hear a lot. And my response usually is, “is it?” I can say that, because I’ve both suffered from the perfectionist (and economical) drive to do it all myself. And I’ve dealt with supervisors who would suddenly offload – or try to – a huge project with an unrealistic deadline that they’ve suddenly run into.

And because of my own personal proclivities, I usually all but kill myself to try and relieve their emergency. But that’s a discussion for a later time.

As David says later in the podcast, “There’s only so many hours you can work in a day, or a week or whatever… You’ve got to be able to hand off the things that keep you from delivering your best value.”

I’m going to repeat that last phrase again… “delivering your best value.” You see, I think that most entrepreneurs and small business owners really do believe that they’re responsible for giving the best value to their customers. But at the same time, they often lack the perspective to see that they’re unable to do that. They’re spreading themselves too thin, trying to do too many things – and things they are not best at.

Expect the Ineffectual

Next week, I’ll talk about the specter of opportunity cost – and the cost of lost opportunities. But today, let’s look at an old analogy from John Maxwell. Or maybe it was Warren Buffet. Doesn’t matter. What’s important is the lesson, not the teacher.

Suppose that your earning potential is $100 per hour. You’re working from your home office and go to refill your coffee mug. Suddenly, you notice that the lawn is getting a little too high. Or the laundry basket is starting to overflow. Or those dishes need to be done. Maybe it would be good to run the vacuum…

Now for me, those tasks have the added “advantage” of being easy procrastination techniques that make it appear as if I’m being productive, while I’m just avoiding the work I should be doing. But that’s not why I’m bringing them up.

Now, if I spend an hour washing the dishes or vacuuming the house, that’s $100 of earning potential I’ve just thrown to the wind. Or – I can hire a maid to come in for 3 hours, pay them $75 and focus on the things that make me and my company money.

Now, instead of dishes, suppose I’m spending time tweaking the design on my website or posting social media posts. Or maybe minor accounting and spreadsheet work – things I am not very good at, which inevitably take more time to do than writing – which I am damn good at – and could outsource to a capable, qualified professional for a lot less than my hourly rate.

You’d balk at spending $100 an hour for a landscaper to mow your lawn – but you’ll spend 2 hours doing it, essentially wasting $200. That’s kind of the definition of “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

“Investments” Past the Point of no Return

As much as it pains us to delegate, outsource, let anyone else touch our stuff – and maybe screw it up – we have to look at it as an investment. We have to look at a cost-benefit analysis. I’ve discussed it many times before, but it’s relevant to revisit the Pareto Principle here.

The Pareto Principle, simply stated is this – 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort. So which parts of your work are you spending the most time focusing on? Are you earning less because you’re spending too much time on things that don’t yield the greatest income?

Let’s put it this way – if your greatest skill is your ability to close potential clients and bring money into the company coffers, why would you reduce the time you have available to do that? You have an already honed skill – an advantage that cannot, so far, be replicated within your business. But, instead of closing customers, you’re spending an inordinate amount of time trying to learn a different skill. You’re struggling with a learning curve. Maybe you’re frustrated by the lack of progress from your efforts.

You’re putting off meeting with potential clients because you’re trying to get better at attracting new clients.

Of course, you’d never do that – except I see it happen every single day. Business owners put off the things they are super skilled and talented at, to focus on learning whatever the next new thing is that supposed to help their business.

Now, shiny object syndrome is a real thing – but I’m saying even proven techniques like writing and publishing a consistent content blog can be a waste of valuable time if you haven’t got the skill. And many entrepreneurs don’t.

Time is Money is Time

Let me use a simpler example. Suppose you launch your business and a large part of the daily activity is fielding incoming calls. Is it more cost effective for you to spend your $100-an-hour-value answering those calls – including the ones that will never yield customers or income?

Or would it be better to pay a secretary $20 an hour, plus benefits, to take those calls, freeing you up to create and develop the business? The only time you’re on the phone is for valuable tasks that yield $100 or more income per hour you spend on them.

Going back to the beginning of this article – there’s only so much time in the day. I’m an employee of Grow the Dream, so my hours are paid. But because I’m in California, I can work while David sleeps in Florida. And he can quickly prep things for me in the hours before I’m awake, so I can hit the ground running.

By using employees and freelancers in different time zones, Grow the Dream as a company is working 18-20 hours per day. David is talented and probably gets less sleep than he needs (I know I do), but he can’t consistently be working 18-20 hours per day, 5-7 days a week.

Neither can you. I don’t care how motivated and talented you are as an entrepreneur or small business owner, our bodies run out at some point. Are you limiting your success? Are you hurting yourself and your business (not to mention your significant others)?

Successful business owners leverage their time and resources.

If you want to be one, you will too.

Entrepreneurial Fulcrum

For more than 20 years, we’ve taught small business owners how to leverage their digital marketing efforts. Ignoring “conventional wisdom” about search engine optimization, and focusing on a strategic approach has led to faster than normal success. And the rest of the world is catching up to our methods, as Google and Facebook algorithms increasingly hamstring the old approaches. I’m not going to belabor that here.

But one thing we realized as we taught is that there was a need to assist small business owners with some of the more skill-based marketing efforts. A lot of entrepreneurs who went through our courses embraced the principles! But they lacked the ability or time to execute them most effectively.

So we pivoted a bit. We began offering our clients the option to not only learn the techniques – but also help implement them. We started with developing our unique model buyer personas. Other digital marketing services have adapted or ‘borrowed’ our methods, but didn’t focus as clearly on the specifics. Our clients get extremely detailed profiles to use for targeting their ideal customers – the ones that are a win-win for the client and their customer.

Then we went one step further. We offered clients who needed it the writing and graphics services we already utilized in house. Some clients have us write their content blogs. Some have us edit their writing into a clearer, more focused presentation. They leverage our highly-skilled, capable, talented staff for their benefit.

Which is more cost-effective… Spending valuable time learning a new skill, or utilizing a team with nearly 100 years of combined experience writing compelling copy targeted at a unique audience? This isn’t calculus. By taking advantage of what we do best, those small business owners were freed up to focus on what they did best.

“Automate” by Delegating

David is fond of telling our clients that our motto is to “train our clients til we’re out of a job.” And we do try to do that. But it’s irresponsible to not consider additional options when you need skills and talents that are outside your area of expertise.

Your business is your passion. But can you explain that passion or educate people on the necessity of your product and service effectively? Passion and speaking passionately go a long way. But at some point, you need to adapt or adopt captivating, effective communication techniques – especially if you’re doing it on paper.

Your passion is evident in your voice, your body language, your enthusiasm. But is that conveyed on the page? In my experience, often it’s not.

My passion is storytelling – and conveying it on the page. Words are my stock and trade. I know how to evoke visuals, emotions and engage readers. So does Betsy Dane, our other talented senior writer. She’s also top notch when it comes to grant applications and some of the business writing I find more mundane.

I can tell you, ‘you need to write consistent, targeted content posts,’ til I’m blue in the face. But if you don’t know how, or worse, are one of those people who hold off until it’s precisely perfect, but never published… that’s not doing anyone any good.

We may not be working our way out of a job – but we do want you to have the best chance of success. If writing or editing frustrates you, you’re less likely to do it. Hiring us to fill in that gap is not only a good investment, it may be a necessary one.

In this way, you can automate the important – by letting us help your business grow.

Areas of Expertise

The best way to grow your small business is to focus on the areas of your expertise. I know that’s hard when you’re just getting started. Even if you’re not a solopreneur, everyone in your business is likely wearing multiple hats. And that’s great when you’re getting started. For some, it’s that excitement that drives them.

That’s great if you want to be a serial entrepreneur. But what if your business idea isn’t one that Microsoft or Google or Facebook is going to pay millions of dollars for? What if you don’t want to start over and over and over again? What if you do, but recognize the value in having a strong business to sell off to the highest bidder?

Whether you want to create one awesome business that serves the world and eventually offers you more freedom, or if you want to create multiple world-changing entities… You still only have so much time.

Don’t you owe it to yourself and your family to leverage the best means at your disposal? Our services aren’t for everyone. But we are the best at what we do for the people we do it for. We have market proof of growth for our customers’ businesses year over year. Proof not only of the success of our strategic approach – but also success of the content we write for our clients.

We’re so confident that we’ll give you 25 minutes free of charge with our top consultant to see the difference. Just reach out and test the waters. We’ve built our business helping small businesses expand – and we can do the same for you.

Let’s Grow the Dream together!

Those six inquiries are great for police investigations, although they get translated a little differently. Why for a news reporter becomes motive for a detective. For most small businesses, creating content is less about strictly ‘reporting the facts,’ but the funny thing is – the five W’s work for marketing content too.

Just not quite the same way…

Who Am I Writing For?

If you’ve read many of our posts here at Grow the Dream, you know I usually cater to this question last, because it has a huge impact and it’s one of the central tenets of our process. In fact, I’ve written several articles just about the question of Who.

But I’m constantly amazed at entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even large corporations that have no idea for whom they’re creating their content. And, yes, you guessed it, it all comes down to strategy.

Every small business has one to three ideal customers. They are the clients who get the best results for a reasonable price they’re willing to pay. When we figure out who those potential customers are (often based on the existing customers we have), we place them, figuratively, in the bullseye of a target.

You always aim for the bullseye. Yes, it’s the smallest, often hardest to hit area of the target. But that’s the point. If you aim for the outer rings and miss, your arrow goes awry – or into some unsuspecting squire. If you aim for the bullseye and miss, it’s much more likely you’re still hitting the target.

So who do you write for? – your ideal customer! If you pinpoint your content to that perfect client, you have a great chance of hitting their pain points. And you stand a very good chance of reaching and connecting with people on the outskirts of the ideal. Both are acceptable marketing results. But if you cast a wide net (to really confuse metaphors), there’s a better chance you miss the perfect client – or any client.

What is the Purpose of The Post?

I know what you’re thinking – the purpose of the post is to make sales! That was easy. And yes, the purpose is to make sales – assuming profit and income are important to your business. But if it was that easy, you’d just do a post that says “here’s your thing, buy it”. (Which is kind of what the rest of your website is for.)

The purpose of your posts has to be more than just a call to action. There are a lot of different angles to take. One we’ve found that works well is an educational approach. This is how something works; this is how you do this; here’s the bigger picture.

But it’s far from the only one.

You can do testimonials – here’s what other people use it for, and here’s the success they’ve had. Or just straight up, I love this company or product and here’s why.

You can talk about pain points and how your product or service makes people feel. Decisions are always made from an emotional point – embrace that and talk about how your thing makes people’s lives better.

And, yes some posts can be very blatantly about how great your thing is and why you should invest in it right away. A call to action can be a post unto itself.

The most demanding aspect of a content blog post is that it does several things at once – educates, builds credibility, elicits an emotional response, and calls to action. It takes an effort and some practice to master, but if you are willing to put in the time, these posts can be the most effective.

Why Will the Intended Audience Care?

As I’ve pointed out before, decisions are made from an emotional point. Business decisions are made by people. People hate pain. If your thing means less pain or gives them more pleasure, they’re in.

Further, if your potential customer is searching for information, anything you can give them that makes their search easier, more assured, or less stressful will be successful.

Even if they ultimately choose not to do business with you on the first encounter (and most don’t), you establish your credibility as an expert in the field. And, you can display assurance and confidence by being okay with that – even pointing them to a competitor that better fits their needs.

Blog posts can isolate and inform your potential client – and by the same token, the less frustrating your content is the better. For example, a spammy post that announces by the headline that it will answer their question, but doesn’t – or tells them they need to check out parts 2 and 3 coming down the line to get the full answer, irritates people.

Think about how annoyed or angry you get when you click on the top Google result for your question only to find it’s misleading or a keyword farm with zero relevance. That’s not the emotion you want.

When Should I Post Content?

This question gets more into the nitty gritty behind the scenes. It is less about the customers and more about the impact. And unfortunately, there isn’t some one-size-fits-all answer.

For decades, Tuesday and Thursday were the best days to send email newsletters and post new content. There was some flexibility in times and whether Tuesday or Thursday was actually better, but overall, the previous sentence was true. And true for virtually all businesses.

But a strange thing happened when the majority of Americans suddenly started working from home. The whole apple cart was disrupted. There are now far more stratifications of businesses, client approaches and times and days that work. For a little while, Wednesday reigned supreme.

And my guess is eventually things will settle into clearer patterns. I’m not calling it the new normal anymore. Business and office situations have changed and evolved more in the past 12-18 months than they ever have. The closest comparison is maybe the shift in the 1920’s, as Madison Avenue became more important for the post-depression era after World War II. But the truth is, things are still in flux.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the need for consistency. Ideally, we recommend our clients post once a week – at the same day and time. Some spread it out more – every two weeks or monthly. But I wouldn’t recommend posting less than once a month. Otherwise, you lose momentum and what’s worse the Google bots can’t read a pattern and don’t scan your site as often.

How Does Your Content Stand Out?

Really, I’ve covered most of this already. Your content stands out because it’s written for your ideal client, posted on a consistent day and time and addresses the client’s pain in some way.

You get bonus points by addressing the audience directly, in your voice. In that way, you diverge from traditional journalism. Shifting from “all the facts, ma’am,” to explaining things in your own personality and personal style makes the content more accessible.

Personally, I always try to start an article with some sort of story or anecdote that draws the reader in. Sometimes, I have to pull back from that a bit if the story is getting too complicated. But story engages your reader. And if the story connects to what you want to talk about and already generates an emotion in the reader before you get to the “meat” of the post, all the better.

The other benefit is connecting to the person or personality. Remember, you want to address your content towards your ideal audience. This can even come into the voice of the writing. In addition to what I write for the Grow the Dream blog – for our ideal clients – I also ‘ghost write’ posts for several of our clients. My name isn’t on them – and if I’ve done them right, you don’t see my fingerprints on them. Rather, I write in the voice of the client, addressing their ideal clients.

Where Do I Go From Here?

Creating good quality content is not an impossible task. Once you’ve done the important strategic work, you’ll have a better handle on who needs and wants your thing and how to reach them and speak to them.

There is always more you can write about, and you shouldn’t worry about repeating yourself – I do it at least once a month. As the old adage goes, “In the first part I tell ’em what I am going to tell ’em; in the second part—well, I tell ’em; in the third part I tell ’em what I’ve told ’em.” Regardless of who came up with this particular pattern, the lesson of repetition stands. People often need a reminder of what was said or taught before. And it doesn’t hurt your Google ranking either.

But if you’d like some ideas for a variety of other posts, you can find some here.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that in addition to strategy work, Grow the Dream also offers content post writing services like the one I described in the above section. And I’m certainly not the only one – we have a team of great people working behind the scenes – including the amazing Betsy Dane, who delivers incredible copy for our clients as well.

We built our business helping other small businesses grow and expand. We’d love to help you too. If you want to learn more about any of our services, please reach out. Let’s Grow the Dream together!

But how does this affect you as an entrepreneur? Simply put, the continued rise of podcasting can benefit businesses that know how to take advantage of it, just as much as Hollywood does.

Numbers Don’t Lie

If you had any doubt, a recent report by Edison Research shows that interest in and listeners to podcasts are both continuing to rise, nearly exponentially. There’s a reason iHeart radio stations remind you once an hour that their app has podcasts (40% of people who don’t listen think they have to pay).

About 32% of the United States population listens to a podcast once a month. That’s about 90-million listeners to draw from. The breakdown of listeners by gender is almost perfectly 50/50. Ages 18-54 make up 75% of listeners. Podcast listeners are more highly educated and earn more. Some 41% of monthly listeners earn more than $75-thousand a year – almost twice the national income numbers. And the number of people who sample podcasts and convert to monthly or weekly listeners is increasing, while people leaving podcasts behind is sharply declining.

I’m not going to go into all the numbers, but I encourage you to check out the full Infinite Dial report. They didn’t do a follow-up survey this year. But if you consider the balance of people’s additional free time at home versus those who listened during their commute, I’d wager the numbers stayed the same.

Story Works

Additionally, we know from other market research that in today’s world more than ever, consumers want to know and have a relationship with companies they do business with. And nothing builds relationship faster or more efficiently than story.

There’s a joke in my household that DJ Khaled’s only contribution to projects is coming in and shouting his name. But much like the Kardashians, he has built a brand just on being himself and people being drawn to his personality and transparency. He is his story – authentic and real. Whether you’re a fan or not, you know exactly who he is.

One undeniable key to success is to embrace and tell your story – just as consistently and authentically as DJ Khaled and others. It’s one of the reasons Tik Tok took off here. Instagram and Facebook may have started and branded “stories,” but Tik Tok defined the way people share their lives and stories.

But I’m not here to talk about social media. Hopefully, if you’ve been reading this blog or following our #StrategyStream, you know that content is king. Podcasting takes that content – those stories of you and your business – and jacks them up to the next level.

Content Capitalized

Blog posts are great, essential and can convey story brilliantly. But the human voice can convey much more meaning through tone and inflection than the printed word ever can. One of the other reasons Hollywood is drawn to podcasts over original screenplays is because they don’t have to read them. They can hear them. If they lack imagination, the written word might not convey the emotion of the story. But when they listen, it comes through without even trying.

The same thing is true for your content. Whether you’re working B2B and speaking to other business owners, or B2C and reaching consumers, most of them don’t have time to read. The exception being those who are looking for answers to specific questions, which is why we target them. But as listeners, they hear the emotion, inflection, passion in your voice. And that’s worth a month of posts – especially if you’re doing the podcast weekly or more frequently. Another bonus – podcasts also help build your search results.

You already know the stories to tell. You’ve been writing about them. You’ve built them into the DNA of your customer interactions. If you did our recommended strategic work, you’ve already found ways to integrate who you are and who you serve into the story of your company. So share it.

And no, it doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re repeating yourself. Many people who listen to podcasts do so because they lack time or interest in reading. And if your story is compelling, you can tell it many times over without boring anyone. In fact, doing it on a podcast, again allows your passion to bleed through into their ears. And little is more compelling and attractive than passion.

Learning Curve

I have some good news for you. If you are one of our clients, or just have been following along and doing the strategic work on your own, you are ahead of the game. One of the biggest hurdles many new podcasters face is what to talk about and who their audience is. You already know that. And if you don’t, check out our past #StrategyStreams or drop us a line. We are here to help.

Technology is the other hurdle you may be facing. Both I and our fearless leader, David G Johnson, have a background in radio. So it’s easier for us to talk about and institute podcasting. While we aren’t recording new episodes, you can always check out the past episodes of The Grow The Dream Show. Or, if you’re like many entrepreneurs and suffer even a little ADHD, you can check out David’s current podcast, Kick Some ADHD.

But if you don’t have that background, you can check out these posts on Launching a Podcast for less than $200 and How to host your Podcasting files for low cost. For newcomers to the podcasting world, I recommend you sample a few. Listen to how they structure their podcast, figure out how you want to go, and dive in. The enemy of procrastination is action. Which is why I’m going to bring this article to a close and go work on my personal podcast.

Podding Along

However you slice it, storytelling is an essential for business success. And podcasts can be a part of that story telling strategy – and help hone your storytelling skills. Brevity is the soul of wit, as Shakespeare can tell you.

Podcasts can promote your business, and help establish your credibility and your value in the business world. The stories you tell give you a leg up on the competition. After all, even if there are 100 companies out there that do what you do, your story makes you unique. And people need your uniqueness.

If you’d like help getting your podcasting off the ground, or would like to improve your strategy and content game period, I hope you’ll reach out. Small businesses are the key to our success and we’d love to help you with yours!

One of the most interesting parts of writing these posts is seeing the numbers – and then looking at where they actually come from. It’s hard to get accurate counts when sites repeatedly repost data from 3-5 years ago as current, or worse, report the predictions made as far back as 2013 as “facts” today. Facebook isn’t the only site with fake news issues.

Regardless, while Facebook hasn’t made it to the point where it’s mostly video and almost no words, the social media sites themselves are constantly adjusting their algorithm to make video more important and visible. Likewise, since Google bought YouTube, video search results have risen in their rankings.

So, even though the numbers thrown around are a little skewed, video content is a dominating force for marketing. And these days video creation is much more democratized and achievable for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

So What Do I Make?

That’s the question isn’t it? Where do I come up with ideas for these videos? Especially if you’re going to be putting out at least one a week. Yes, one a week. So much like our posts on where do content ideas come from, I’m going to break down several ways to target your videos to get them seen, and, with any luck, shared. (And there’s no reason you can’t repost these videos on your business website as well!)

There are four main ways you can target your videos – to Educate, to Entertain, to Endorse, and to Engage.

To Educate:

Educational videos are the closest videos will come to mimicking or matching your content blogs. If you’ve done your strategic work, you know the questions your ideal customer is asking that brings them to you. This is your chance to let them see you answering their questions, briefly and succinctly.

No, do not just make a video of you reading the blog. That also goes for reading your PowerPoint slides during a presentation. Sorry, at least one of you needed to hear that.

Educational videos can also show your customers how to use an aspect or feature of the product or service you provide. It can be as simple as showing them the hot keys in your program, or the simplest way to set up your product. Make them feel like insiders by peeling back the curtain.

Speaking of that “curtain,” you can create behind the scenes videos to let your customers get a glimpse of the life or business behind the great and powerful Oz you are. These types of videos deepen your customer relationships and build brand trust.

Educational videos can also be an opportunity to share your unique take on things – get personal with wisdom, advice, or a thought-provoking idea, even if it’s not directly connected to your product or service. Let your personality shine – authenticity and transparency are key factors in viewer engagement.

To Entertain:

No, you don’t have to become Tom Cruise, dangling off an airplane or the Burj Kalifa to get your customer’s attention. But remember where video content came from – the best material is the most entertaining.

One way to connect – give the gift of a smile! Think about how you scroll through your social media feeds. There’s a reason GIF’s and Meme’s are exploding right now – they usually make people grin – or even better, literally LOL!

If they’re finding your content amusing, they’re more likely to not only engage with a comment or like, but share it across their social media feeds. A few videos like that will exponentially raise your cache on social media – the more popular any of your videos, the more all of them are exposed to viewers.  

Along the same line, inspiring videos can rapidly build your social engagement. How many times when you were in the doldrums of building your business did you pull out Rudy or Hoosiers, or Miracle or click on a Tony Robbins or Zig Ziglar video on YouTube?

Even if you don’t have Will Smith style experiences to share with your audience, it’s likely that your own story is more inspiring viewed from outside. Or you can mine the stories that inspire you and retell them in your videos.

Speaking of Stories… Good storytelling is a vital aspect of your marketing approach in any medium. Sure not everyone is a natural raconteur, but you can learn and improve your storytelling abilities if you focus on it. And, again, feel free to be personal and even show and share your failures – if you dare!

To Endorse*:

Endorsement videos share new products or services being launched, or highlight updated features and upgrades. You could do a trailer for the new launch (it’s actually a publishing trend now), but you can also just sit on camera and show things off without flashy graphics and music.

Promoting sales or one of a kind promotions are also endorsement videos. Let them know about your Black Friday or Cyber Monday specials. The key here is “special.” If you’re running sales every week, or promoting the same special every few days, for a couple of months, like one client I worked with, people will get tired and click off. Urgency and scarcity make these sales work.

*Okay, I’ll admit, my original header for this section was “To Promote,” but I was trying to maintain the alliteration. Sue me.

To Engage:

Of course, this is what we’re hoping all of the videos do. But in particular, asking your viewers a question, posing a poll or requesting direct feedback is a great way to engage your audience. Remember, in the social media ranking, Comments are more important than Likes. Shares are the most valuable social media currency, which means you might want to re-read the “To Entertain” section.

The hardest and the easiest part of creating engaging social media videos is getting started. So why are you still sitting here reading this? Go! Make a video!

What? Oh, yes, of course, Grow the Dream can not only help you with your marketing strategy and drilling down to your ideal customer, but we can also create content for you – both blog posts and videos. If you’d like to learn more, just reach out and we’ll be in contact!

But everyone else? Some 60-70% of consumers would prefer to watch videos from the businesses they work with. And video engagement is rising across all of the social media platforms at a dramatic rate, much more quickly, in fact, than images displaced text in the early days of social media.

I mean, the iPhone has only had video capabilities since 2009. (Nokia released a video capable camera phone in 2007, but was eclipsed by the original iPhone launch.) Instagram and Snapchat are both less than 10 years old, and Insta didn’t have video sharing options until 2013. So in terms of human or even computer history, the acceleration is quite remarkable.

And Cisco predicts that 82-percent of consumer internet traffic will be video by 2020.

The New 4-Quadrant Approach

In case you’ve missed our last couple of Instagram-centered articles (you can check them out here), you may not be aware that Instagram is growing at a lightning pace. It boasts more than 1-billion active monthly users; 500-million of whom use it daily. It appeals to a demographic sweet spot for many businesses, adults 18-29. And it racks up even higher engagement under 18. And unlike Facebook’s dwindling business returns, 80% of Instagram users actively follow at least one business.

The key, of course, is actively following. While Facebook grows older and businesses yield more and more virtual real estate to Facebook Stories and Groups, if you can effectively engage your customers on Instagram, there’s a great chance they’ll stick with you for life. Studies show at least 30% of Instagram users have purchased a product they first discovered on Instagram.

There are four basic ways that people use videos to interact on Instagram, and they’re all available for small business use as well.

Videos as Part of Your Instagram Feed

This is the original video posting that Instagram launched in 2013. They’re pretty straightforward, and because they’re the old guard of the Instagram brand, they can be in just about any format – square, vertical or horizontal.

Even though some of these are ancient, by Instagram terms, they’re still engaging people and they’re grandfathered in, so you don’t need to go back and re-shoot or re-edit these videos to have them work.

I would suggest that you go back in and see which ones have the most comments and likes, and either respond to some comments that you may have missed, or add a comment. Because of the way the Instagram algorithm operates, doing this will bump the videos back to the top of your company feed. That allows some of your newer clients who may not have seen them to engage. This is especially effective for inspirational or motivational videos.

The stats:

• 3-60 seconds in length
• Minimum 1.91:1, maximum 4:5 aspect ratio
• 1080 x 608 or 1080 x 1350 pixels

Instagram Video Stories

Similar to the now ubiquitous Facebook stories, Instagram stories launched in 2016 as a way to compete with Snapchat stories, preferably without puppy dog ears and giant glasses. Or am I the only one creeped out by those filtered shots?

Because they’re designed to be short, Instagram stories work best for personal stories. A glimpse of the office; maybe someone’s birthday party; even a weekend gathering or team building trust exercise. Of course, just like Facebook stories, you can share a long series of 15 second videos strung together. But that kind of defeats the purpose of the shorter videos and can annoy some users.

And just like on Facebook, these stories disappear after 24 hours.

The stats:

• 15 seconds apiece, may be consecutive
• Always vertical, 9:16 aspect ratio
• 1080 x 1920 pixels

Live Instagram Videos

Spontaneous, raw, unedited fun makes these videos unique – and effective. Live Videos appear as part of Instagram Stories, at the top of the feed – but Live Videos trump the rest and immediately post to the front of the line, with a clear “LIVE” tag to set them apart.

Although spontaneity is part of the whole “Insta” brand, there are advantages to consistency as well. If you know when your users are generally on the site, you can schedule a Live Broadcast of just about anything for them to see. And once they find the value of your live videos, they’ll show up for them on a regular schedule.

Some businesses live stream corporate events, entertaining meeting presentations, even trips to places like Word Camp seminars, networking brunches and more. Each Live video can run up to 60 minutes. How and how much of that time you use is up to you, but make sure it’s valuable to your customers that will “tune in,” or you might as well be cancelled.

Of course, even after your live broadcast has ended, the recorded video lives for 24 hours, but the more you can engage and interest your watchers during the live broadcast, the better off you’ll be.

The stats:

• Up to 60 minutes long
• Vertical, with an aspect ratio of 9:16
• 1080 x 1920 pixels

IGTV

Now here’s where things get really interesting. IGTV was designed to compete with Netflix, YouTube, and, when it arrives, Quibi. It even got its own IGTV app, although you can still post to it through the standard Instagram platform.

IGTV is set up so you can build a channel, connect with a niche audience, and even offer exclusive content. It’s also designed to work only vertically, instead of forcing viewers to attempt to “Go 90” to get the best experience.

The videos can run up to 10 minutes long – unless you’re verified, in which case the top end moves to 60 minutes. But IGTV is the best place to truly implement a specific strategy to connect with your customer base.

In addition to all the fun, lifestyle and behind the scenes corporate stuff you can share in the other forms of Instagram videos, you can also upload expert interviews, tell stories about your brand, share exclusive tutorials or walk-through’s. You can educate viewers about your product’s features, uses, as well as doing specific Ask Me Anythings (AMA’s), and going beyond the usual approach.

Extra Engagement Tip 1: Respond to your users comments on a regular basis. Doing so builds trust and rapport.

Did I mention the channel aspects? You no longer need to be an advertisement interrupting your customer’s entertainment or educational opportunities. Now you can create them for yourself – and nobody minds that it’s shot on your cell phone.

IGTV also allows you to curate and feature other relevant companies and products, user and influencer reviews, tutorials, and demonstrations. Nothing builds trust like word of mouth, and the right “mouths” on Instagram can reach millions of ears and eyes.

And building a Community is the number one thing small business marketing needs to focus on this year.

The stats:

• 15 seconds to 10 minutes long
• Verified or high-value (lots of followers) brands can be approved for up to 60 minutes
• Vertical, 9:16 aspect ratio
• 1080 x 1920 pixels

Extra Engagement Tip 2: Every week, take a few moments to review your most popular Instagram posts. Then add a comment or respond to a user comment. This pops the post back to the top of your feed and continues the cycle of engagement.

Using videos on Instagram is a fantastic way to continue to build your business’ social media presence and engagement. While I still prefer to read the step-by-step instructions on a task, I am aware that millions of others would rather watch someone following the steps in a video. And I create those videos on a regular basis for Grow the Dream and many of our clients.

Of course, all the old guidelines still apply. You want to be consistent with your brand, know who your ideal customers are, and what they are looking for. In fact, the deeper you drill to find what your ideal customer wants and needs, the more effective your videos will be.

Don’t be left behind – make videos a priority in your marketing plan this year. And if you don’t have the time to do it yourself, please reach out. As I said, Grow the Dream creates and curates videos for several of our clients and we’d be happy to help your business succeed in this area as well.

So in the words of Jack Nicholson’s Joker – “Where does he get all those wonderful toys?” Where do you find all those ideas – not to mention ones for years to come? Well, that’s why we’re here today.

While we here at Grow the Dream highly recommend WordPress for business sites for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being the incredibly innovative code that consistently helps WP sites to rocket to the top of Google and other search engine results, honestly, the information I’ll provide here can go inside any blogging system.

So whether you’re using WordPress, TypePad, Blogger, Tumblr, Joomla, Medium, or any other platform, these ideas will get you noticed by the Google-bots and generate more traffic for your site.

I’ll Take Strategy for 1000, Alex!

I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but the key to finding your best blog topics, as well as honing the less obvious ones will be your strategic work.

Identifying as much detail as you can about your target customer will yield a harvest of unimaginable proportions. You want ideas for your blog? Start by solving the burning questions that your ideal customer is looking for answers to. Kind of like this very blog post that you’re reading now. See how that works?

If you’re only doing one post a month, make each one the answer to one of the most important questions your prospective customer is desperately searching for. If you do a weekly or bi-weekly post, break up the questions with some of the other ideas you’ve brainstormed that fit your target client. Just remember to always keep your strategy work at the forefront. Every blog post should in some way be helpful to the people who are most likely to need and use your products or services. And even if the majority of your market is B2B, remember people are still the ones making the buying decisions.

As you complete more and more of these answer blogs, be sure to keep updating your FAQ, and double down on your search engine elevation.

Whether you’re doing one post a month or once a week, you’re eventually going to run out of questions to answer. Or at least it will feel like you do. So here are some brainstorming ideas to stretch your posts out for decades. (You can pass them on to your staff once you get large enough).

Talk About Success – Your Clients!

If you’re just getting started, this might be one to hold off on until later. But really, once you do start having potential clients start on their way to becoming brand evangelists, use a post to highlight their success. The best part is, you get a free pass to brag, as long as you’re not obnoxious about it. You can either write something yourself, ask the client to give you their thoughts (which you’ll edit, of course), or even interview them. Make sure to ask for permission to use their name – most will be happy to give it, and will probably do their own publicizing of that post. If they don’t give permission, you can still use it – it’s your success too – just be sure to make it generic enough, and don’t reveal any proprietary information, so when the successful client sees it, they aren’t upset.

Case Studies!

In the same vein, you can highlight how your product or service has solved the problems your clients had before coming to you. Instead of one, you pick 2 to 3 of the best performers, with provable metrics (you’re collecting those anyway, right?) Case studies can be very persuasive because they’re objective positive proof that what you do or sell works.

As your business grows, you can also compile these success stories and case studies into pages on your site – summarizing the details, then linking out to the individual posts…another small step to Google search domination.

Start keeping a Swipe File!

Yes, much like the wily orange fox on Dora the Explorer (84% of our GTD target clients are familiar with the show due to the age of their children and how long it’s been on the air), you will be grabbing key items from the world around you, newspaper articles you see (physical or online), graphics, other industry emails, trending topics, etc. You can keep these in a physical file, or a computer doc – or even a virtual file drawer on your GoogleDrive or DropBox that you can poke around in from time to time to brainstorm new ideas.

I started doing this years ago for both my business and my screenwriting. I have two paper ream boxes filled with clippings, notebooks and miscellaneous items, as well as over 200 notes on my phone labelled story ideas, with everything from a 10 page free-writing exercise to a single sentence or even phrase that inspired me. You never know what a seemingly random bit from years ago will turn into.

Keep a Calendar Handy!

You can always write posts connected to popular holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter or St. Patrick’s Day. Just find a way to relate them to something your perfect customer would be interested in. And don’t just go for the standard holidays – stand out by finding fun, unusual holidays you can tie your product or service to, like Healthy Breath Day, National Squirrel Awareness Day, and Cure ALS Week. These holidays get less coverage, but you can be more creative and get the attention of your audience.

Bust-a-Myth!

Every industry has myths and urban legends the general public believes that I’m sure drive you crazy. Dedicate a post – or a series of posts over time – to debunking whatever nonsense is out there. Your clients will enjoy it and be more educated.

Trending Tuesday or Thursday!

You’re already keeping track of the innovations and latest developments in your industry right? Look for ways to repurpose those trade publication stories to make them matter to your ideal customer. This also works well for local news stories and events that you can give your unique insight into – and could even lead to getting attention from local journalists.

Live Blog!

All of us have major industry events, leadership conferences or networking get-togethers. Not all of them, but many may be of interest to your target audience – even if it’s just a peek behind your business’ curtain. If you have a Facebook presence – and you should, you can do short Facebook Live video updates during the activity also to build interest – just remember to mention that more details are available on your site, and give the URL (or a shortened one).

You can also post recaps of events or activities. Videos often work well for these types of posts, if you’re capable. And with today’s phones, most of us should be.

Talk to Your Customers!

I know this may seem obvious, but some people stop communicating once they’ve finished the initial strategic work. There may be questions they have or more detail they’d like to learn that you didn’t discover during the strategic work. Staying in contact with the people who have become clients can clue you in to what needs to be asked or expanded upon.

Look Back to Get Ahead!

Along the same lines, take a look at the comments on your past posts and see if there’s a disconnect that needs to be clarified, a question that is still being asked, or just for inspiration. A comment may trigger a thought in your brain that gives you yet another idea for a useful post. You can also peruse the comments on your competitors’ blogs. Just ignore the comments from the spam sites.

Research Competitors!

I don’t recommend just copying someone else’s blog post, although, to be honest, I see that WAY too often. Having identical info as another business’ site may reduce its footprint, but it won’t do much to make you stand out, either. Instead, research your competitors to get ideas for new topics that you will address in your unique way.

I especially recommend looking at competitors that are just on the outskirts of your ideal client, such as businesses that would handle jobs a little too big or too small for your business. The questions their clients are asking are probably similar to yours but your answers will be unique and aimed at your specific targeted customer.

Ask Reddit Anything!

Okay, fair warning: if you’re an information junkie, as so many of us entrepreneurial types are, you might want to be careful or set a timer for yourself before you descend down this rabbit hole. Reddit calls itself The Front Page of the Internet. Whether that’s true or not, Reddit has scads of information that links to more and more and wider and wider ranging topics. Remember that you’re there to see what people are talking about that you may be able to use for your blog, and when your time’s up, close your browser.

Check out Quora!

A slightly less time-consuming place to explore is Quora – the popular question-and-answer website.  Supposedly some 11-million questions have been asked and attempted to be answered on Quora. One way to use Quora effectively is to search for the questions you’ve already answered and see what similar questions are being asked.

Resist the temptation to answer the questions or correct someone. This site should be used for research purposes, not to improve another company’s website. Since you actually know what you’re talking about, especially for your perfect target customer, answer it on your blog. You deserve to get those eyeballs, not Quora.

This approach also works for Topsy, Ubersuggest, Alltop and Scoop.it

See What Autocomplete sa____

Unless you’ve made a point of shutting it off, you’ve probably noticed that Google tries to finish your sentences, like an overly-friendly potential love interest who wants to prove your minds are in sync. What you may not know, is that the autocomplete answers come from Google’s store of the most asked questions on the planet.

Take advantage of that by beginning a search string and keeping track of what questions it tries to pop out. If they’re ones you can answer for your clients, well, there you go! And you know that the post will be timely too, since it’s based on current search trends.

Go Back to Basics!

You can always blog about a question or answer you’ve already addressed, especially if you’ve learned more about it now than you did back then. We have dozens of blogs on our site that talk about approaching strategic work, and we’re always finding new and interesting ways to talk about it and help people understand it better. You can also reverse an old post – if you talked about the best way to do something, you can flip it around and do a post on the worst way to do the same thing.

This also works great if you do any annual posts – like the best way to start 2018 off right! Sure, some of the content may be similar, but again, keep it updated and fresh to bring people in.

You can also expand on a previous topic, going into more detail, or looking at a different aspect in depth than you did in the original post. This very post was birthed from the need to expand on blog content discussed in an earlier post that dealt with getting links to your site.

Be Honest!

Talk about what you’re doing that’s working and what’s not working. Tell people what risks you took, whether you succeeded or fell on your face and what you learned from both experiences. Again, position everything in light of how your readers can learn from your experience or see what you’re doing for the benefit of your clients.

You can also share personal experiences or behind the scenes information that relates back to your clients’ interests. If you’ve made a bold prediction or announced something new in the past, you can always do a “checking in” post to follow up on how well – or badly – things went.

Being honest is one of the strongest connectors for clients to you and your business, especially in the age of forced positivity on social media.

So There You Go…

Even if each of these ideas only generates one new blog post topic, you’ve added another 15 to the mix. And I’m betting that each one will give you many more topics to work on. If you’re a planner-type, Hubspot has a great free download you can print out to schedule and plot out your blog topics. Spread them out, so it feels like a more organic mix. Before too long, you’ll have plenty of fresh, viable content on your site, drawing in the search engines and your potential customers!