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Blogging and Vlogging – Just Do It!

 

As I speak with potential clients from around the world, it is amazing how similar we all are in the desires that we have to grow our businesses. One of the biggest challenges we see our entrepreneurs struggle with is deciding on the content that is appropriate for them to share. Generally speaking, there is always great content around you as it relates to your business. You simply have to bring that in to a format that others can consume as well.

Easy for us to say, right? We eat, breathe, and sleep content.

I think that you can acquire this skill in some part too. Create an avatar that is the ideal client for your business. Define everything that you can….age, life style, income, likes and dislikes. And then speak directly to this avatar. Think about how you bring this person value. How what your share could help them get past a pain point in their business or personal endeavors.

Then, start blogging and vlogging. Yes, blogging and vlogging. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be consistent.

Here are some interesting stats:

  1. 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.
  2. The average word count of top-ranking content (in Google) is between 1,140-1,285 words.
  3. Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to achieve a positive ROI on their efforts.

We are living in an era where your customers want to see you. They do not want to see your logo or your pushy, salesy content all of the time. You have to earn the right to sell to your customers in today’s marketplace. Blogging and vlogging will help in so many ways. Not only does it help you to keep current information out in the universe, but it also allows you to get seen as an expert by media.  If you continue to prove that you know what you are talking about, then you will start to see the fruits of your labor.

It is a marathon not a sprint! Start today and take a look at the results that come in month over month.

 

 

 

Saying No to the Niche: Throwing Conventional Wisdom Out of the Door

business people edited

 

One of my favorite chats on Twitter is #Blogchat which is hosted by Mack Collier. This chat is full of great nuggets that you can immediately apply to your blog.  The topics vary and the thought leaders that drop in are extremely helpful.  I would highly recommend this chat to anyone that is looking to monetize their blog.

One of the ideas that came out of the most recent #Blogchat was the notion that one should pick their niche to focus on within their business. I had to think twice about if I was in agreement with this idea or not.  I recognize that conventional wisdom would tell you that you can not be great at everything.  Although studying and mastering one topic is a novel idea, but is just not one that I see as beneficial to my clients.  I look at my client roster and think that they need someone who knows how to develop a strategic marketing communication plan, a social media strategy, out of this world events, and being able to speak to the media on their behalf if that is necessary.  I don’t think that a client should feel the need to hire multiple consultants to cover their marketing needs.  I do understand that one person can not literally know everything.  For example, I am not a graphic designer and I recognize that is a service that I will have to hire out for if a client has that need.  I am also not a website designer, but I can provide top notch strategic counsel to someone that needs to develop content flow on their site (to bad I do not have enough time to work on my own site).

Another person that I enjoy learning from is Marie Forleo .  She recently sent out her video to launch her upcoming B-School.  One of the ideas that she mentioned was that she is of the mindset that it is great to be a ‘multipassionate entrepreneur.’ She feels like this idea of designating a niche is completely wrong for some people. (How timely?!?) The comments agreeing with this thought process were in the hundreds (if you have time, take a look at her site). Not that I was planning on changing my mind once I had thought this through, but this video made it even better that someone else that is very successful feels the same way.

I would absolutely love to hear your feedback on this topic.  Do you believe that someone should pick a niche and stick with it or do you think someone can be great at being a generalist? My gut feeling tells me that the answers will probably be slightly generational in nature.  Just a hunch!