Brad Post, Create the Movement: Welcome to Create the Movement podcast. My name is Brad Post.  And I’m sitting here with Josh Rich.

Josh Rich, Create the Movement: Hello Brad, how are you?

B: I’m doing well. How are you doing, sir?

J: Doing great, Brad.

B: Well, we are talking marketing tips today. We’ve gone through some social media things. We’ve gone through quite a few other, you know, paid advertising, analytics. We’re going to be talking about content today?

J: Yeah. Content as a whole. Then, kind of, taking a closer look at blogging today, as well.

B: Okay.

J: So, just to get into it. Content, when we say content it’s a very broad term. It can be anything. It’s not just written content. It could be videos. It could be quizzes. It could be infographics. It could be anything.

B: Okay.

J: Just anything that people see, and ingest, as information.

B: Could be audio podcast?

J: Could be audio. Yeah. It could be anything.

B: Right.

J: And so, whenever you’re creating content for your online presence, whether that be website, social media, whatever, there’s two, kind of, things you want to consider. Two goals you want to keep in mind. Generally speaking, content could, and should, fall into these two categories.

B: Okay.

J: So, the first is to drive traffic to your website.

B: Right.

J: The second one is going to be to sell.

B: Okay.

J: Okay, to kind of break those down a little bit more. So, the traffic one, that’s commonly referred to as clickbait. Just things that people click on, go to the website, see it. So, it’s not necessarily something like a hard sell that you’re doing. It’s just for people to, like, get to know the brand and what not. It’s also, kind of, to rank well, as well, for SEO purposes. To get people to drive traffic to the website. That’ll in turn, kind of, increase your SEO. And so, that’s kind of where you can put some of your key words, as well.

And the second one, like I said, is just to sell. So, that’s where you’re going to be really conversion focused. And making sure that once they’re there, they know what you’re selling, or what you’re doing, so that way they have a clear path to the buying process.

B: Okay.

J: So, make sure, like, generally speaking, it should fall into one of those two categories. If it’s outside one of those, you might need to take a look at it, and reconsider the strategies there.

B: You called it clickbait?

J: Clickbait, yeah. So, just a little topic, like “5 Things You’re Doing Wrong in Your Marriage.” Or, whatever?

B: Post that through social media?

J: Yeah, exactly. People are like, “Oh, my gosh! What am I doing wrong in my marriage? I need to figure this out.”

B: Okay.

J: And so, it’s somewhat of, like, reactionary. Somewhat, kind of, fear mongering. But it works really well. Sadly.

B: Okay.  

J: And, so, one of the first things you’re going to need to decide whenever you’re creating content is, first of all, your topic.

B: Okay.

J: It seems pretty basic, but there’s some strategy behind topic. The biggest thing you want to consider is, “What do your customers need?” You know? You need to figure out what their needs are. You don’t want to just, like, make things they already know, or they don’t care about. So, make sure it’s geared toward your customer. One easy way to do this, if you have a big sales team, of have any sort of information from sales, is to ask them.

B: “What kind of questions are you getting?”

J: Exactly. Frequently asked questions that your sales team get is always the best way to get good content.

B: Okay.

J: Because that’s what people care about. Because they’re asking it. The other way is you can check forums on the industry. You can check social media and just see what people are asking. See what people are confused about. If you can find something that your customers are frequently confused about, that’s a great way to fill that hole and fill that information you recognize as the source of good info...