Category: content marketing strategy

Over the last 18 months I’ve invested a lot of time and cool hard cash in courses, programs, services and coaching. As I went through the shift from corporate to more online clients, I knew I had a lot (and I mean A LOT) to learn.

Some of these experiences were phenomenal. And others…were an unbelievable waste. Calling what I received crap would be extraordinarily generous on my part.

Going through this process, so many times I thought….

Are my expectations out of alignment?

Am I being unreasonable?

Did I just make a bad choice?

I’ve been turning it over and over again in my head, because that’s what introverts with an internal locus of control do. We assess and process. We assume it’s something with us before we seek other input.

Then I talked to my business buddies. During those conversations, I was shocked, frustrated and even a bit angry. This conversation has happened over, over and over again in the last six months.

Because it’s not just me. I am not alone. And I am sure as hell not the problem.

There’s an epidemic of straight up crap in our midst, and my friends, I am so damn tired of it. Creating shitty products, delivering (or not actually delivering them) services or being a unethical lame ass, is NEVER going to be okay.

At this point, you may be thinking, what if this is something I’m doing? I’m willing to bet if you’ve read this far, you aren’t the kind of shyster that is going to participate in these shenanigans.

Am I going to go on a crusade to put an end to this? No. But what I can do is open up a dialog about what’s simply not okay so we’re all more aware and we vote with our dollars.

Pull up your chair. It’s story time. I bring you three reputation killers that I’ve dealt with first hand…

Reputation Killer #1: Poor or Non Delivery

Even writing that title sounds crazy to me. But this is a true story. One that I personally have experienced.

Picture it. Premium 1:1 service. Big promises followed by something my 10-year old could have prepared. No personal investment – which is what I paid for – by the service provider. The end product that was so cookie cutter it hurt to even read it. As of today, this service has not been delivered in full, despite my follow-up.

When clients give you feedback, you need to listen. Yes, sometimes clients have been known to be wrong, but when I’m telling you that you’ve not delivered and am quoting things from your sales page back to you, we have a massive problem.

This person is ruined in my mind. My respect flushed down the toilet along with the money I invested. And the kicker? When people I know, like and trust ask me about my experience, I tell them point blank not to bother.

Lessons Learned. Big old lessons learned here starting with no late night activity on PayPal. Talk to your friends BEFORE you make an investment of this level.

And dear service providers, do what you say you are going to do or the damage to your brand may last a looooong time. I am willing to bet my one experience has cost this person $10k or more in business, but if I’d been happy, she would have generated that income and then some.

If you can’t deliver the goods, you have no business being in business. That’s not unreasonable. It’s factual.

Do what you say you are going to do. Period.

[Tweet “Do what you say you are going to do. New blog post by @magspatterson.”]

Reputation Killer #2: Bait and Switch.

This is a tricky one, but hear me out. When your face is on your website, you have a personal brand. People have a reasonable expectation of the program being designed by you, working with you and so on.

Especially as a small online business.

So when I find out that you are only the name and not really the talent behind any of it, your cred goes down in my mind.

Do I think you should have a team in place? Yes.

Do I expect a personal phone call from you? No.

But I damn well expect that you are involved. Not spending 363 days a year on the beach while I get passed off to your

junior coach/writer/the person really doing all the work with NO warning beforehand. Let’s just say, I get a little pissy.

If you have a team, if someone else is going to be involved, you need to educate your clients in advance about what they can expect.

Bait and switch just isn’t cool. That’s why in my agency days every single person on the account team was known to the client and interacted with them at some point. When anyone is giving you money, you need to respect them and disclose how your business is actually run.

Lessons Learned. Before you invest make sure that you understand who you are really working with. Ask who your day-to-day contact is. And find out who’s brain will be all up in your business so to speak.

Reputation Killer #3: Lies, Exaggeration + Overselling It

Consider this the laundry list, but this all comes down to the fact that people are smarter than you realize.

Newsflash: Even if you are reallllly smart, people will eventually do the math and figure out your game.

[Tweet “Don’t oversell it. People can do the math. @magspatterson explains reputation killers”]

The most common place this happens is with experience. I get it, it’s understandable that you want to look your best so that people want to work with you. But there’s a fine line between spinning your experience and completely overselling it.

Years ago I had a coworker, same age as me, same education who somehow claimed to have 4 more years of experience, when she actually had 2 less years as she started college later on. Never did figure that one out, but trying to get a competitive edge by exaggerating the facts only weakens your position.

My rule of thumb is to make the strongest verifiable claim. Push it to the limit of what’s true, but don’t step over that line and become a liar, liar pants on fire.

Same goes for anything measurable. How much money you are making, how many clients you work with and so on. People talk, and people can add. What may have made you credible has now made you look like a fool because you had to embellish to feed your ego.

If you don’t want to talk numbers because you don’t feel like they are strong enough then don’t. Success can be measured in more than list size or monthly revenue. You do not need to justify this to anyone.

Lessons Learned. People are crazy. Even with my poor math skills, I can figure out when shit just doesn’t add up and you are full of shit…which makes your reputation shit in my books. (And peace out, I’m not angry. I just needed to drive that point home.)

What’s Next?

I encourage you to watch for the signals that things are not what they seem, even if that person is a “major name, super important big shot brand”. If your intuition is telling you something, freakin’ well listen to it…instead of automatically assuming the problem is with you.

You are not the problem and you don’t have to be a part of it.

Admit when you are wrong. Do what you say you are going to do. Work with people whose brand is aligned with you and where you want to go.

It’s that simple.

After more than 8 years of entrepreneurship, last fall I started the exercise of writing out my goals every       90-days. Before that my goals were “loose” as I had a very steady business and things were status quo month over month.

Nothing like some instability to snap you into reality and get you thinking about what you really want. The process of getting super clear on my goals means that everyday, every week and every month I’m checking in. Decisions are made against a plan, with a bit of wiggle room for things that happen along the way.

By now you are probably thinking, okay lady, this is hardly earth shattering. Do you know how many people talk about goal setting? (For the record, a lot. In the entrepreneurial world it’s unavoidable.)

The whole process of setting goals meant I got really clear about what mattered and didn’t to my business, especially in my marketing. List size, follower count and all that jazz don’t mean jack if you aren’t making bank.

[Tweet “List size, follower count and all that jazz don’t mean jack if you aren’t making bank. @magspatterson explains “]

Gold Star, Vanity and Money Goals Get Mixed Up

In my mind, those types of “goals” are external ones – they are focused on vanity and things that may not even matter to your bottom line. Yes, they are a contributing factor, but they should not be your only marketing goals. There’s a reason marketing is so closely aligned with sales in the corporate environment, it’s because marketing drives sales.

Maybe it’s crass for me to say it, but I’m assuming you are in business to make money. So all this “gold star” or “vanity” type marketing has to stop.

Vanity Goals: These include list size, follower count, likes, tweets, as seen on logos, podcast downloads or anything else has a number and makes you feel like a big shot.

Gold Star Goals: Completing any task including a blog post, newsletter or anything you are doing but aren’t entirely sure if it is working for your business, but hey, gold star for you.  Cross it off the list and get back to your busy work.

Are all these goals wrong? Definitely not. In fact, they are extremely valid, but if you only focus on these goals, you are missing the point entirely.

Marketing Goals = Money Goals

Anyone who has ever worked with me, knows that I’m the first to say that marketing is an art, not a science. Especially when we get into the unmeasurable – things like awareness and authority.

That shouldn’t be an excuse for not taking a strategic and somewhat ruthless approach to your marketing. So instead of tasks, get really clear on what the goals for your marketing truly are.

Take some time and consider things such as:

• What is my goal for this activity?
• How does it help me further my money goals?
• Is this working for my business?
• What purpose does it serve?
• Do I even like doing this?

Start prioritizing and be brutal. You only have so many hours in the day to spend on marketing so really hone in on which ones have the most impact on your actual business and money goals.  What things are you doing for a longer-term build and do they need to be slowed down or changed up? Clarity breeds confidence which goes a long way to drive your success.

[Tweet “Do you have $ driven marketing goals or ones that are driven by wanting a gold star? – new post from @magspatterson “]

Not Sure Where to Start?

One of the first things I usually assess with my clients is their marketing busy work, in particular content creation. Blogs should be helping you reach a business goal, and hopefully one that helps generate revenue.

Taking a big step back and looking at everything with a critical eye isn’t easy, but it will work. That’s where Content Camp can help! The next session starts June 16th – and we’d love to have you there.

Content Camp is a four week program designed to help you tame your content and be less stressed.

During this self-paced program you’ll learn how to create a master plan for your content, get content out of your head and into the world, pro tips for creating blog posts, videos and podcasts, and get systems in place for all of your content. You’ll also get hands-on support, no floundering about or getting stuck. Plus, we have a private Facebook group for you to ask all of your questions and two live events during camp.

Learn more and register here.

If you’ve been traveling around online circles you’ve probably heard of what’s called an editorial calendar. It’s a simple way to organize your ideas and plans for content creation.

It comes from the journalism world, where magazines would create a calendar to let advertisers know what features were planned and guide the editorial direction of each issue. Content marketers (including entrepreneurs) have grasped onto this concept as a key part of the content creation process, but in many cases it’s been stripped down to an Excel or Google Drive spreadsheet with a bunch of ideas thrown into it.

A spreadsheet my friends is a tool. An editorial calendar is merely a structure to help you get your content created and avoid the phenomenon of “oh crap, I need to write something for my blog” week in, week out.

In short, an editorial calendar should be put in its place in your business. Merely filling it up with ideas and crossing it off your list until it’s time to write your posts is going to give you a lot of grief in the long run.

The idea of blogging is to educate, inform and entertain your readers on a journey to getting them to hopefully buy from you. Creating better blog content starts with understanding WHY you are creating that content in the first place.

Ask yourself this:

• What is my mission, vision and values?
• How does this content support my business goals?
• What is the objective of my post?

Are you a Brand Journalist?

The basis of content marketing is the idea of brand journalism, where each brand needs to be its own reporter. This is why companies like Coke have dramatically cut back on traditional activities like PR and marketing and are focusing on being their own publisher.

As a small business or entrepreneur, brand journalism is essential and offers the perfect way to approach your blogging. Like a journalist you can consider what stories you want to share and what you want readers to take away from your posts.

A reporter goes into writing a story with a clear direction and goal in mind, and you should be looking to do the same with your blog posts. If you think like a journalist with a clear direction for your writing, along with research and fact checking you’ll be able to make more impact with your posts.

[Tweet “Are you a brand journalist? Your blog readers will thank you. (New Blog Post) via @magspatterson”]

Rethinking Your Editorial Calendar

If you have an editorial calendar in place, take some time to dust it off and carefully look at your post ideas. If you don’t have an editorial calendar, you need to set up one up so that you have a central place to keep a logical flow for your blog posts and any other content you create.

A few things to consider with your editorial calendar:

• Do your ideas connect with what’s happening in your business right now?
• Do these topics tap into the pain points of your clients?
• Would these ideas make the cut if you had to hand them off to a editor as a proposed story for you to write?

Putting these type of tests in place forces you to consider if your idea is a good enough post for your site. If you are going to invest the time in blogging, you want to make sure that your content meets the mark and plays it’s role in your business the right way.

As you add new ideas to your editorial calendar, take the time to align them with your vision and goals, while meeting the needs of your clients. If you aren’t sure, put the idea in the “parking lot” and come back to it later.

Consider your editorial calendar a tool, not a solution for your content creation. Taking the time to whip your approach to your editorial calendar and blog into shape will make a big difference in the quality and business impact of your efforts.

[Tweet “Whip your blog editorial calendar into shape with these tips from @magspatterson “]

If you want to get more clarity about creating content, I invite you to join the free Content Clarity video series that starts on June 2nd. You’ll learn content creation secrets and ideas on how to come up with ideas to fill your editorial calendar. Plus it’s all about action so three days with a quick video + resources for you to use right away. 

Click here to sign up now.

Picture it. Late 1990s. Single. Urban. Career Girl.

Those were some good times. Living the dream with my $300 Honda Civic that had the worst paint job ever and sounded like a tank. I really felt like I’d “made it” as I got my first paychecks that weren’t earned by the hour checking out groceries.

Let me tell you what wasn’t so hot back in the day. Being on the dating market. Lots of first dates, not a lot of second dates…and way way fewer third dates. If you’ve ever been a single, mid to late 20 something “lady” looking for love, I’m sure you feel me right now.

At the time, my attitude was that dating was a numbers game. You have to go on a lot of first dates if you have a hope in hell of finding someone who is gainfully employed and not a total head case, let alone finding a partner.

In my mind, hiring the perfect person for your business is like going through the process of finding someone to go out on more than a few dates with. Especially when it comes to copywriters.

Working with a copywriter is about so much more than a short-term hire in your business. To summon up some Jerry Maguire, they should “complete you” by helping you make your thoughts make sense and writing words that sound like you, but way better.

Tall order wouldn’t you say?

I know that sounds heavy, but I’m sure you’ve had the experience of hitting up a website and feeling like something was seriously off. Or like the words you are reading sound nothing like the person you know. Even worse, you aren’t sure what the jack they are even talking about as the copy is loaded with big mumbo jumbo nonsense words like transformational life transformations or crap about authentic awareness.

Hello, disconnect.

When you run a business based on your website, disconnected copy can be so painful that it messes with your business, literally.

The bottomline. You need to be picky when it comes to your copywriter. And I can guarantee you, most people are not picky enough.

Think of it this way. Before inviting them home to meet the parents, you want to take the time to have the kind of first date that you run home to tell your BFFs about because it was the best date ever.

[Tweet “The first date strategy for hiring a copywriter. New blog post from @magspatterson.”]

Before you embark on the search for a copywriter, here’s my first date prep strategy to help you make sure that you have the best possible experience:

1. Get Clear on What You Want

Before you even bother going on a date, you need to be clear on what the plan is. Are you dating for kicks or are you looking for something more?

Before you can really work with a copywriter, you need to lock down on what your brand’s messages are. Get crystal clear on your messages, tone/manner and more before you make a plan for your date. A strong copywriter can help pull that out of your head and shape it, but you need to stop yourself from expecting them to be clairvoyant.

After 13 years of marriage, if I can’t read my husband’s mind, your new copywriter likely can’t when it comes to creating your sales page or new opt-in PDF.

Creating a well thought out map of your brand’s messages and determining a content strategy before you hire a copywriter, can save major time and headaches later.

2. Find the Right Fit

When you are looking to hire a copywriter, you will have a wide range of people to pick from.

As a copywriter myself, I guarantee you there’s a lot of us out there. As the saying goes, with something for everyone. Cute, edgy, darling, uber professional…there’s a copywriter for that.

Selecting a perfect-for-you copywriter is about so much more than going based on a recommendation from someone you trust. Your business bestie may have totally different needs or expectations than you do. They may be more sweet and sassy when you are more rock and roll.

References and recommendations are good to a point, but don’t let it be a substitute for doing your own recon first. If you’ve ever been set up on a blind date, you know where I’m heading. References from “your people” can be like relying on a friend to set you up on blind dates all the time, only to finally realize that her only criteria for picking men is that they are single and have a pulse. Dating fail.

Take the time to do your homework by reviewing the writer’s portfolio and asking for samples. You want to ensure their voice is adaptable or a strong fit with your brand.

If your brand is more traditional, hiring a copywriter with a playful writing style who has no experience writing for your audience may result in copy that isn’t a good fit. (Hey, girl hey, copy just isn’t going to work for your law firm, now is it?)

3. Don’t Let Price Woo You 

When a first date includes a really over the top dinner at a swanky restaurant, it’s easy to be wooed into thinking that your date is better than what they really are.

As humans, we are trained to think that high prices equals high quality. With copywriting, like that fancy date, money spent is not always an indicator of quality.

If you’ve ever tried to hire a copywriter you’ll find prices from $99 to $9999. When it comes to pricing, copywriting is the wild west. It’s open season with people being able to charge whatever they want, whether they are worth it or not.

On top of that, anyone can call themselves a copywriter. There’s a big difference between being a “good writer” cranking out papers at college and actually being a writer with training and experience.

Take the time to dig in a bit and see if the price is justified or if that person is straight up delusional:

• How long have they been writing as a professional?
• What training do they have?
• Are they keeping up with the latest trends and best practices?
• What companies have they worked with?
• Do they understand how to create copy that converts and actually sells?
• What client results or testimonials do they have to articulate the value of investing with them?

4. Understand the Possibilities for a Potential Relationship

When I was on the dating circuit, I had a list. And yeah, I know you had one too, so don’t even pretend you didn’t. My list was focused on my deal breakers, things that simply weren’t going to work for me. (Hint: Having a bus pass and not a car was near the top.)

With your new partner the copywriter, you want to make sure that you are clear on how you can work together. Before you go any further, you want to see if your list matches with what they can offer and how they work.

Ask questions about the process so you have a picture of what to expect with timelines, touch points, delivering feedback, revisions to drafts and more.

Opening up that line of communication in advance helps you get a feel for if their process will work with you and your business and if there’s any hope you’ll make it to date two, three or beyond.

Get Picky. Your Business will Thank You.

Be picky when it comes to your copy and who you hand it over to. Before you dive into your first date, take the time to do a little recon in advance so you can decide if you want to even go there. Your business will thank you.

If you want to check out more on hiring a copywriter, you can check out this video.

[Tweet “Get picky with who you let write your copy. Your business will thank you. via @magspatterson”]