It’s the aim of every business owner, creating content that actually translates into sales. But are you wondering how to achieve this? In this podcast episode I’ll be sharing my number one piece of advice that I give out more than any other, whether that’s in mini-trainings, DM chats or my paid services.
We’ll be covering:
- Why you need to take content seriously
- My #1 piece of content creation advice
- A fresh take on niching
- 3 steps to get clear on the content you need to create
- Why most ‘Client Avatar’ exercises suck
Prefer to Read? Here’s the podcast transcription:
“How do I get clients or customers online from creating content?”
If you’re primarily based online, when you can answer this question, I can tell you from first hand experience – life in business gets considerably easier.
And while there’s actually a milllllion things I could talk about to answer this question and really, there is no one single thing that is going to be the solution for you – what I want to talk about today is the piece of advice I give out more than any other whether in DM chats or my paid services.
Now might be a good time to grab a notebook as I’m going to be giving you some action points and questions in this episode to help you figure this stuff out for yourself, because you know I’m alllll about Messy Action!
But first, context.
There were nearly half a million businesses setup between March and September in 2020 here in the UK alone and while this amazing, as more and more people choose to take the leap into entrepreneurship it also means that competition is hotting up more than ever.
So while you’ve likely heard this advice I’m about to share with you a million times before, I want you to sit up, pay attention and take what I’m about to say deadly seriously, because the internet is only going to get noisier and it’s only going to become more difficult to stand out and make sales using content creation.
So, what’s this advice?
Get. Specific.
That’s it. It’s that simple but it’s also something that soooo many people avoid because they don’t want to “miss out on clients or customers” or “leave any money on the table” or any of the other excuses which are really just fear dressed up as logic.
If you want to get more clients or customers then you need to be crystal clear on the exact person that you’re trying to serve.
The EXACT SPECIFIC individual that will benefit most from your own unique special way of approaching whatever it is that you’re helping people with or solving whatever problem you solve.
I want you to know exactly who that person is, that if you were to meet at a party and your eyes were to meet across a room – there would just be this instant connection and recognition of “You are the one for me. We are a perfect match and together, we’re going to do something beautiful together. You can feel it, I can feel it – let’s just frickin’ do this!”
This might sound dramatic but this SPECIFIC person that I’m talking about is the one who will value what you do without you needing to explain it all that much, and won’t second-guess your pricing because they KNOW you are perfect for them.
The type of person who quite frankly, will have you screaming HELL YES! THIS is who I set my business up for.
And yes, in a roundabout way I’m talking about niching – but I’m talking about wayyyy more than that.
It’s not just about picking some ‘viable segment’ that makes sense on paper – it’s about defining your soulmate clients and customers that will fall in love with what you do.
ONLY when you know this person, will you be able to make the kind of content that she needs to see from you to buy.
So let’s go through 3 steps together now to help you do this.
Step 1: Think Small So You Can Get Big
If you’re in a stage of your business where you’re either starting out, or haven’t really hit any sort of consistency with your sales – then I need you to think small now, so you can get big later.
If you’re service based, before you waste hours trying to create a fancy offer suite because that’s what some funnel-building course has told you to do – I just want you to think of that one person and shaping your offer around their exact needs. If you’re product based, then I want you to think clearly about that one person you’re trying to help and exactly how your product is going to fit into their lives.
So some questions for you to answer:
- Who is the ONE person you’re trying to help and what is the ONE thing you’re trying to help them with?
- What does their life look like, what kind of person are they?
- How aware are they of their problem, and how obvious is it to them that your product or service is the answer?
There’s a tonne more questions you can ask here, but for now I want you to focus on answering those three.
I then want you to focus on serving this exact person, and making sure your content, your website and every bit of communication is talking directly to them and is relevant to whatever is going on for them right now.
Once you’ve nailed this down and have started making sales, then you can think about expanding although to be honest – I’ve seen million dollar businesses created by simply doing one thing, for one specific type of person and becoming the best at doing it.
This might not suit your personality type, but even if you give this a go for 3months, 6 months and then expand or change from there – I promise it will make creating content sooo much easier.
Step #2 You Have To Put Out so you can Get In
What I mean by this is that once you’ve figure out exactly who you help, and what you want to help them with then you need to metaphorically be making the first move.
You have to be inviting this person into conversation with you through your Stories, your feed posts or however else your getting your Message out there and ultimately letting them know you’re open for business.
Remember, in the relationship between you and your clients/customers – you are the one that has the thing they need. You are the one that has to show you are open and willing to help them.
So your question here to answer is this:
What are the ways that you can actively invite your one person into a relationship with you?
Once you have this list of ideas, start testing them out to see what feels good both for you and for them because remember – if you’re looking to build consistency, you have to learn to make sales in a way that feels GOOD otherwise you’ll build resistance around it.
Also, if you’re into Human Design then you might also want to look more into your specific energy type, and what the associated Strategy is for that.
For example, I am a Projector which is all about waiting for the invitation from others. This doesn’t mean sitting back and handing all the power over to my potential clients however. Instead, it’s about me putting the information out there that empowers and allows them to put their hands up in someway to say ‘yes, I’m interested.’ This hand raise is my invitation to take the relationship further.
If you’ve absolutely NO idea what I’m talking about, Human Design is a modality combining many others that can help us decipher our unique genetic nature. I’ll do an episode talking more about it in the future as it has been a bit of a game-changer for me personally, but if you type “Human Design” into Google it can be a great place to start.
Finally, Step #3 = Ruthlessly repel so you can actively attract
Eesh, this one is a tough one especially when so many of us, are brought up to be people pleasers, particularly if you’re female.
The thought of rejecting someone, of implying that you can’ help them, when we know we probably could is a hurdle that’s hard to overcome, particularly if you’ve never done it before.
But the saying “if you’re trying to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one” is well-known because it’s so incredibly true.
And here’s the thing my friends, if you know someone isn’t quite the right fit, but you say yes anyway – I can tell you now, you are not going to bring your A-game.
Also, there is probably a different product or someone else out there or who would be PERFECT for them – but in you saying yes – you’re not only stitching yourself up with work that you don’t really want to do but you’re also risking having a dissatisfied client or customer.
Even if it goes well and they’re blown away by you, the likelihood is they’ll go and tell all their other friends who ALSO aren’t a great fit and you’ll start to build your portfolio or testimonials based around the work you don’t want to do.
Doesn’t sound so attractive now does it? So, here are the questions for you to consider here:
Questions to consider:
Who are the type of people that are not a good fit for me?
Here I want you to not only think about the problems they might be looking to solve, but also about their personality. About their lifestyle. For example, if you know the work that you do requires a big time or energy commitment to get results – then focussing on time-strapped individuals, who are already low on time and energy are not going to be a great fit for you.
Likewise, if you like to have fun in your work and laugh at the world, someone who is super serious probably also will not be a good fit.
Getting clear on this can also start to inform your content. Taking that first example, if the work you do is a big energetic commitment – creating content that explains this will not only repel the people that aren’t ready for it, but will also signal to those that are looking to go deep and do the work that this is an experience for them.
With the second example, if you like to have a laugh – this is where posting or sharing memes can also be an entirely valid part of your content strategy. If someone doesn’t get it, or gets wound up by you sharing your humour guess what – you’re probably not going to be a match made in client or customer heaven. Whereas someone who gets the joke, well, that’s going to be a much more enjoyable experience!
Another question:
What are some of the things related to my service that I don’t want to do?
This is a little more straightforward here, but getting clear up front, you can again create content that spells this out for people.
For example, I started my business by building websites and would often get questions around SEO which although I knew could make me some good money was NOT where I wanted to go.
Even now, I talk almost exclusively messaging and the perfect complientary topic here would be Marketing a.k.a. how to get your Message out there but honestly, Marketing is not my thing. I don’t want to teach you about how to use Instagram or e-mail marketing strategy. Sure, I can help you think about what to say on those platforms but there’s a clear line for me when it comes to implementation.
It doesn’t get me excited and there are people out there who are AWESOME at it – I would much rather send work their way and make space in my own business to do the things I’m AWESOME at. Make sense?
Now when you’re answering all of these questions, although I absolutely want you to be SPECIFIC – I just want to offer a word of warning.
You only need to be specific about the things that are actually relevant to you.
For example, I will happily work with both product or service-based businesses in my different offers. The thing I’m specific about however, is that it must be a business where the product or service is based around an individual and their gifts, talents, passions, skills, experience or expertise.
I don’t work with larger teams unless it’s a Brand that I am incredibly passionate about, and can see that there is a core individual who holds the vision that I will be working with.
I also don’t give a damn how old they are, where they’re based, where they like to shop or who else they follow on Instagram.
But I do care that they’re open-minded, they are ready to take full responsibility for their message and are action-orientated.
See the difference? This is where most Audience Profiles, Customer Avatars or whatever really fall short so don’t get too caught up in the details that don’t matter, but DO get obsessive over the things that are going to impact the success of your relationship together.
Hopefully by this point, you’re feeling excited to crack open your journal, get super specific on who you’re helping and start creating some content that will actually lead to results.
And if you’re stuck for what to create, just ask yourself this:
What does my SPECIFIC audience need to hear from me today to feel seen and heard?
What is going on in the world right now, and how is this SPECIFICALLY affecting my audience in a way that’s different than everyone else?
For example, if there’s an Instagram outage… does your audience actually care?
We always see the content of “Don’t rely on Instagram alone!” but where’s the content that’s like… “Hands up who else loves it when Instagram goes offline?”
And that’s it for today my friends. It’s taken me X minutes to explain that simple concept but hopefully it’s helped you think a little differently about what else you might try if you’re hoping to make sales by creating content.
Peace out baby, I’ll see you next time for some more clarity-inducing goodness!
