Will Bachman 00:02
If you are thinking about starting to create content on a regular basis, I think it’s worthwhile to go through an exercise where you would articulate at least to yourself, what is your reason why, or what are your reasons why you’re going to pursue this. So that that will if impact how you think about structuring the content, what you call it, who’s targeted at and so forth. But really starting with what is your driving purpose, and I wanted to suggest a number of possible purposes, these are particularly oriented around someone who might be starting thinking about a podcast, think about starting a podcast. But it could just as well apply to you, if you’re thinking about starting a blog or getting active on Twitter, or you’re planning to write a book or create a course, or create any other type of content. So I’m going to go through a number of possible reasons. So number one would just be to learn about a topic, one of the best ways to learn about a topic is to start creating content about that topic regularly. You know, the second reason might be to do research for a longer range project. So some folks I know they’re they’ve written a book, or they’re planning on writing a book. But rather than just biting off that entire massive two year project, you could think about breaking it into smaller pieces. You could start a podcast where you interview people, where their stories will be made into, you know, included in your book. But along the way, you could be doing research for that book, but also, you know, creating some content in the meantime, and potentially build an audience for your eventual project, seeing how seeing what resonates among your audience. Number three, would be developing your skills. So for example, if you eventually are interested in doing some kind of large scale speaking engagements in front of, you know, large crowds, at conferences, or what have you, you might start a podcast where you get used to speaking, at least to an audience online. Additionally, creating content, you know, improving your writing skills, there might be some graphic design element on it, perhaps you’re thinking about creating a series of YouTube videos where we’re, you know, editing the, the video would just be a skill that you’re working to develop. So, as well as if you’re looking to promote your content, promoting your content, you know, that is a skill set that can be applied to other things as well. So developing your skills could be one area that you want. So number four would be around developing relationships. And that could be with a number of different sets of folks. So you could be looking to develop relationships with potential clients that might be the most common, where, rather than just going and knocking someone’s door, calling them up and saying, Hey, this is the kind of consulting I do. Are you looking to hire, buy some consulting right now, it’s a softer approach to, you know, invite someone to create content with you, it’ll be a guest on your show, be interviewed for your blog, be interviewed for a magazine article. And that way, it’s a little bit softer approach, rather than just asking to, you know, if they need to hire a consultant, and that way, as you build a relationship with the person, you get to know what they’re thinking about what their issues are. Now, you could also be thinking about building relationships with potential partners. So maybe not just clients directly, but if you regularly partner with people on projects, this could be a way to get to know potential partners that you want to work together with, or potential suppliers. Perhaps you just want to build relationships with authors whose books interest you or build relationships with cool people. So the content itself is almost an after effect, or a side effect. Not your main goal, but it’s it’s sort of the residue of that relationship building. Number five would be around building a marketing funnel for some paid product. So the content itself might not be what you’re monetizing, but you’re looking to sell a course or sell a book or sell some workshop that you do. Number six could be around establishing your credibility. So if you look at two consultants who have the same resume a very similar background, and are both being considered by a client for a project, and one of them has done 100 podcast episodes on that topic. Let’s call it Post merger integration or due diligence, and the other one is very good at it, but has never, you know, created content on it to show, then who seems more credible to that client. The point is, even if the client hasn’t actually consumed that content, just the fact that it’s been created, you’re going to get a significant benefit of the doubt. So number seven would be around having a reason to regularly reach out to your network and let them know that you exist. You can only knock on someone’s door so many times and saying, you know, I’d like to check in and see what’s new in your universe, like we talked about in Episode 172, of making outbound calls, you could do that so many times. But at some point, that gets a little old. So if you want to continuously remind people that you exist, seemed more socially acceptable, if you are sending out content, and it doesn’t have to be content that you created, you can aggregate content, and create a newsletter with just interesting things from the industry that you’ve read. But it’s certainly even perhaps more compelling. If it’s content that you created. Here’s a podcast episode I did this week. Here’s a blog post I wrote this week, I thought I’d share with you. Number eight, is to just discover what you think. It’s often been remarked that people, you know, many writers have said that the reason that they write is to find out what they think, often you can have some vague idea of what you think. But when you sit down and put pen to paper, you discover that your ideas were somewhat hazy, and that you only really discover what you think by by writing it down. Number nine is to become more observant. So I’ve certainly discovered this, that if you are regularly creating content, and have a place to put your insights, particularly if it’s on some regular schedule, you start noticing more because you say well, I have this hole that I need to fill, what am I going to put in it, you start looking for insights more. So you actually I think become more observant, you have more ideas. Number 10. To help others, you may want to create content, just purely out of consideration for others and wanting to be helpful, you have some knowledge in your head that other people may benefit from, and it’s not for any ulterior motive. Number 11. Maybe you just want to save time, by recording once and for all, some advice that you’ve been giving to one on one to lots of people. So perhaps you’re an expert on some topic, and you’re happy to help others. But you find lots of people keep asking you the same question and you give the same answer. Maybe it’s time to write it down or record it and put it out there. So then if someone asks you the question, again, you can say, Well, here’s a link, I’ve answered that question. Number 12, you just feel a need to express yourself. And that’s fine. Number 13. to monetize that content, either by selling an article or by monetizing a podcast with an advertising, I’d say, Good luck with that. It’s pretty tough to monetize most podcast audiences, except for the very small set of breakout ones, but you never know. And number 14, just to understand what it’s like creating that kind of content, like you might decide to write some articles or to start a podcast and not because you necessarily want to be a podcaster forever. But just to kind of get a sense of this whole world of podcasting, or blogs or Twitter. And just to get a sense of, you know, what’s it like in that space right now, I want to understand enough of it that I can talk about how to start a podcast and what it’s like, for, you know, clients that might be thinking about starting it, even if you don’t want to continue it on for, you know, hundreds of episodes. So that is not a complete list. But it is a starter list of why you might want to start creating a podcast or other types of content, you could certainly think of additional reasons. And I think it’s helpful to get clarity, to write down for yourself what those reasons are. Because that can affect other decisions that you make about the structure, the format, the frequency, and how much effort it is into, and you put into promoting it. For example, if you’ve really decided up front, that it’s about, say building relationships with potential clients that you’re going to interview, or just simply learning about a topic, then you really shouldn’t get wrapped around the axle too much about you know what your audience size is or how many downloads you have, because frankly, those kind of metrics are just vanity metrics don’t don’t actually relate to the reason you started it in the first place. I would just be an example. So hope this was helpful. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. You can email me at Unleashed at Umbrex COMM And this is Unleashed the show that explores how to thrive as an independent professional. I’m your host Will Bachman and Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. You can learn more about what we do@umbrex.com