Let’s dive into the fine art of free content and creating top of mind awareness in your niche…
…and that starts with Super Mario Brothers (yes – the video game.)
I know, I know… what the heck does Super Mario Brothers have to do with internet marketing or making money online at all?
Well, hear me out.
The endless halls of SMB 7-4…
There is a haunting place in the original Super Mario Brothers that is a little hard to shake. It is World 7 Level 4. It’s the final level of that world and it all takes place in a castle.
To get through World 7-4 you must go through the castle in a particular way. If you don’t go through it in just the right way, it endlessly repeats over and over.
Now you have to remember, this game came out in 1985 before there was internet, and you couldn’t easily look up a solution to your problem. So, you were forced to slog through this castle, over and over until you found the right combination of paths.
And it WAS a slog too.
Going through the same areas, seeing the same monsters, same obstacles…
…again and again, until by some grace of the video game gods, or blind luck, you finally hit that combination, things start looking different, and you know something has changed.
Putting out free content can be a little like World 7-4 sometimes.
It’s a slog.
You have to keep doing it to maintain top of mind awareness but it doesn’t make it feel any less difficult to come up with things to talk about…
…and it doesn’t make it feel any less of a waste because you know it’s all free content.
The difference between World 7-4 and putting out free content is this…
In Super Mario Brothers you are looking for the right combination of paths to END THE SLOG…
…in the world of free content to stay on your customers radar, the slog itself IS the right combination.
The fact of the matter is, consistency in putting out free content has a magic of its own.
It will build rapport, trust, and goodwill with your market. You will become like a trusting friend, easy to put faith in.
I want to show you some really great ways to consistently put out awesome free content for your market, that people will not only love, but will also be fairly easy to produce.
That’s the key here. Content that is easily created, relevant, and impactful.
A Surefire Easy Content Strategy
So there are a lot of ways you can approach your free content.
A couple things I want you to keep in mind before we get into our surefire strategy though…
First, remember that ALL free content has a paid counterpart, whether you make it or not.
Get into the habit of asking yourself what the paid version of your content might look like if you DID make it.
If you can’t think of anything to make it better…
…it might be too much for a free piece of content.
If I wrote a blog article on 10 ways to increase my email conversions, the paid version of that article might include video, or maybe it includes 30 ways instead of 10.
I don’t need to make the paid version, but I need to realize the fact that content can be used in more than one way, more than one place, and there is always a paid version.
It’s good to always consider this, because your content will probably stretch a lot further than you think. It’s hardly ever a one and done situation. Especially if a lot of people seem to resonate with a piece of free content you put out there.
Second thing, never neglect the first rule of great marketing.
It’s always about them, no matter how much you talk about you or anything else.
By that I mean, whatever you are talking about in your content, it always needs to circle back around to your audience. Whether it’s some kind of lesson or takeaway or some kind of map or outline for what to do. It always comes back around to your audience.
Okay, so about this surefire easy content strategy…
Every good piece of free content has 3 essential parts.
ONE- The Hook
This is the first line. It’s a way you punch them in the mouth. You’ll spend the rest of your content explaining why you had to.
TWO- Entertainment value
This is usually in the form of a story but could be a joke or a famous quote. It could be a lot of things.
THREE – Actionable Content or a Takeaway
For example, a lesson.
Now, the length of your content does not matter in the slightest.
The free content is 100% about impact.
The goal is to impact people in a positive way that helps them get a couple steps closer to achieving their goals, and to grow your audience.
When you’re creating a piece of free content it’s better to start with the end goal in mind and work your way backwards. It’s not too difficult because you are probably only going to have 2 or 3 parts to this thing.
One: What’s the point of this piece of content?
Example: Let’s say I want to give you a 5-step strategy for building a list.
Two: What kind of story can I relate to list building?
Maybe it’s a movie, maybe it’s a book. Maybe it’s a simple quote someone said about getting started. That’s a great one because it relates to what list building really is. A very important piece of the puzzle and a great place to start.
Okay, so now we have a little plan here. We’re going to talk about a quote some famous person said, and we are going to segue that into a little 5 step plan for building a list.
EXAMPLE:
“Start where you stand…”
Napoleon Hill said that, and I think it’s a really great way to look at the fine art of list building.
In fact, a little more of that quote:
“Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill
But I always like to just shorten it to “Start where you stand…”
List building and email marketing is so important to your success online, however so many people struggle with it.
I want to give you a simple 5 step action plan for getting your list started today…
…so let’s do it!
Step 1) Get an autoresponder
Get one that’s been around for a while with a good reputation. No fly by night companies. You can skimp on a lot of things online, but don’t skimp on this one. Aweber or Getresponse are perfect.
Step 2) Commit to a weekly newsletter in your niche
Just commit to writing an email a week to the list you don’t have yet. Try to create impact. Don’t worry about the length. Even if you have nobody on your list you can add them to your autoresponder for future subscribers.
Step 3) Manual outreach
Reach out to friends, family, co-workers, Facebook friends, anyone who might be interested in being on your weekly newsletter. Add them manually. Also ask them for referrals. Do they know anyone else who would be interested?
Step 4) Create a lead magnet
With this one make sure your lead magnet promises easy consumption (i.e., cheat sheet, checklist, 10-minute video), make sure it offers instant results or immediate impact, and make sure you extend the invitation to continue the conversation in your emails.
Step 5) Send traffic to lead magnet
Two great ways to send free traffic to your lead magnet are by utilizing conversational marketing in Facebook groups, and also by using safelists.
That’s it! Easy way to get started with your list building.
And if you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out to me!
END EXAMPLE
Okay, so this is a piece of content that uses a famous quote for a hook to get attention, it talks a little more about the quote for some entertainment value and then it goes right into actionable content.
It’s a formula.
It can be twisted and turned anyway you like, but if you can keep all the components there, you can do really well with your free content.
Never Run Out of Content Ideas
Now we just talked a lot about formulas and formats for content. Ways to put content together that can really create impact with people and grow your audience.
However…
…what about the actual ideas for content.
It’s one thing for me to whip out a simple example for you. It’s another thing entirely for you to put out content a few times a week or a month that consistently creates impact with people.
So, how can you do that?
How can you regularly put out impactful content without stressing out or spending all your time trying to figure out what to talk about?
There are many ways to come up with great content ideas, however, I think one great way to do it regularly is to adopt a mentality of “adding to the conversation.”
What is “adding to the conversation” you might ask? Well, I’ll tell you.
Imagine you have just read a really good blog article, or listened to a really good podcast, or YouTube video, or any other particular piece of content.
Now what you want to do is ask yourself a question.
“Can I add to the conversation of this content?”
For example, maybe you just listened to a podcast about how to drive traffic and you thought they made some excellent points, however, you knew a couple other things that would really help people drive traffic you could have added to that conversation.
So, with your content you start out by acknowledging the original piece of content and shouting out the content creators. Giving a brief recap of that content and encouraging your audience to check out the original piece of content.
But then…
…then you get into YOUR content. That part that YOU wanted to add to the conversation.
Finally, you want to be sure to reach out to the original content creators and let them know you shouted them out and added to the conversation. Drop them a link to your content.
Creating content like this is going to do 2 things for you.
First, it’s going to give you a steady supply of relevant content to draw from. Topics that your audience will already be interested in and will appreciate.
Second, it’s going to highly incentivize the original content creators to share your content, which will grow your audience exponentially.
Simple right? Exactly, but don’t let the simplicity of this tactic fool you.
Implementing this particular strategy will drive massive amounts of traffic to your content and do a lot to build your audience…
…as well as help you form valuable relationships with like minded people in the space.
Practice this special style of content creation and see if you can get it working for you. Remember, action is the key. Imperfect action will take you way further than obsessing over perfection and learning to the point of stagnation.
It’s far better for you to give yourself permission to fail and work on adjusting as you go. Just keep moving forward!
Now, to wrap this up, if you would like to learn more about marketing angles that you can use with your content, check out Promote With Angles. It covers 13 of the most effective marketing angles and how you can use them to maximize your profits with your content marketing. Just head on over to IMPC.ws/pwa if you’re interested.
