Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Fwd: The 'content' IS the value.




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: The 'content' IS the value.
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 16:02:09 -0400
From: Andy Jenkins & Mike Filsaime <training@marketinggenesis.com>
Reply-To: training@marketinggenesis.com
To: Steve <stevescott@techacq.com>


You've heard the phrase "Content is King"?

I guess I'm a pragmatic guy, because every-time that little gem is lobbed into a conversation, I have a tendency to snort.  BTW, that's how you stop a polite conversation.

 

Once they're looking at me, I've no choice but to respond.  

 

"Content is fr*e money."

 

Then the notebooks come out.

 

Here's my take on Content:

Content is an interchangeable currency that entrepreneurs can spend with reckless abandon to fuel a business to profitability.

 

  • Content is what builds your Reputation & Brand

  • Content is what you use to earn and claim Authority

  • Content is what you use to get Traffic or put in front of a paid Traffic Stream

  • Content is what you use to get Leads

  • Content is what you use to SELL your Content (Or other products) to Get Profit - and sometimes, they are the same thing.

 

Mike and I have a vast "Content strategy" - and in this email, I want to share how it works in our business.

 

Here we go - let us travel  back to the 80's to drive this point home.  We're gonna need a soundtrack...

 

You can listen along by using this link:

http://grooveshark.com/s/I+Ran+So+Far+Away/6nIXOH?src=5

(Click it - you know you want to)

:-)

 

If you were cogent in the 80's, AND you were present to the rise of Cable TV, you might remember a stunning new communications 'technology' that marked the time - The Cable Box.
 

Yeah Baby - you remember it now, don't you?  That's THIRTY SEVEN channels tethered with an utterly reliable 'wired' connection to your Zenith (LOL!) If you were still in the gestation phase of existence, you just need to know 2 things here - button #1 was MTV, and everyone wanted HBO.
 

 

That's right!  HBO was the BOMB!

It's where I first saw Ridley Scott's "Alien" - and of course, Sigourney Weaver's famous (pre-laser hair removal) "Lemme just step into this space suit while wearing only a thong" moment.  I knew I was witnessing a watershed moment.  Then my parents came home…

 

Anyway - about once a quarter, HBO would conduct something called a "Free HBO Preview" weekend.

Starting early Friday morning and going until midnight on Sunday, button #10 suddenly WORKED! Rejoice!  It was mentioned in the local "newspaper". Vacations were built around these weekends. "We're having a BBQ and watching HBO - come on over!"

 

It was HBO's most successful (And diabolically simple) subscriber acquisition strategy.  And we can learn a LOT from it.

 

HBO used their Content to Sell their Content.  It worked like this:

 

Frame around Content.

Two very attractive, nicely groomed Yuppies (Male and Female) welcomed you to the HBO Free Preview Weekend.  "Coming up next is…", and

 

The Content.

...then, you watched a movie.  

 

The Close

"We hope you enjoyed this exclusive screening of…"

Then a  3-5 minute segment of said Yuppies chatting about all the good stuff on HBO. Plus, we have a special offer! Right below us, you should see a toll-free (HA!) number for your cable operator.  Say you want HBO, today! And just so you know, the Free Preview ends [in a couple of hours]...

 

It was among the first soft-pitch "Calls to Action" widely used on TV. It also might have been the Genesis (Bada Bump) of the contemporary version of the Product Launch.

 

Here's how we use content to market.

Quick Content Creation and Marketing Strategies:

Ripped from our play-book, here's Two Content Marketing strategies we use:

 

The "HBO Free Preview"

Stole it right out from under them. We've done entire campaigns based on this strategy.

  1. Pick a couple chapters or videos from your product - make it your BEST Stuff

    1. (BTW, if you ever wondered why Mike and I break up our training content into 7-15 minute 'Episodes', it's because those short chunks get watched 5x more to completion than longer content, AND it makes it easier for us to create "Free Preview Episodes").  

  2. Create a short "Value Introduction" for each one:

    1. Explain what they're getting.

    2. Tell them why it's important

    3. Call out 2 or 3 highlights from that content that they should pay special attention to

  3. Present the Content (Again, Yank it straight from your product)

  4. Value Close - meaning, at the end of that Content Segment, recap the BENEFIT of what they just got.

    1. Tell them what to do with the information! How can it transform their life?!?

    2. Show them how to get MORE help (You don't need a toll-free number, but you need something for them to respond to - like, oh I dunno, an Add To Cart Button)

 

Repeat for every segment of content you're using.

 

Case-Study of an HBO Free Preview Campaign:

During the Genesis Labs Launch, we ran a test.

 

Once the cart was open, we set up a "Free Episode of Genesis Labs" landing page.  We executed the "HBO Free Preview" strategy.

 

We gave away an entire Genesis Labs Segment, which are about 8-12 Episodes Long.

 

That meant, at least 8 "Value Introductions" and 8 "Valve Closes".

 

It was a GREAT Segment - some of our best stuff - and we used a very simple frame to create our call to action:

 

"This is the kind of quality content you can expect from Genesis Labs.  To get more episodes like this, click on the "Get More Episodes" button below this video"

 

It ended up BEATING the Video Sales Letter.

 

The "15 Questions" Strategy

NOTE: I want to preface this by sharing with you my opinion on content creation:

 

The most effective Content is simply your answers to important questions from your market.

 

This might be the easiest and most effective content you ever create.

You can use it to create:

  • White Papers

  • Free Reports

  • Webinars

  • Launch Content

and for all the Marbles…

  • A real, honest to goodness BOOK.

 

Here's the process:

  1. Record the answers to your 15 questions.

  2. Get it transcribed

  3. Edit it

  4. Fancy-it (Make it into something pretty)

  5. Give it Cover Art

  6. Give it Away

Lets say that every answer takes you about 10 minutes.  By the time you're done answering, that's 150 minutes of content.

 

One hour of spoken word equals about 40 PAGES of written word.  In the above example, that's about 100 pages of content.

 

Now, you've got a 100-page book that answers the 15 BURNING QUESTIONS your Market has.  HELLO!

 

What questions do you answer?  Obviously, it's very dependant on the subject matter, but (as always), here's a little cheat sheet to get you started.

 

  1. What Success State does the User want to be in?

  2. Why does Success Elude them?

  3. Why is "Conventional Wisdom" failing to help them?

  4. How did it affect you? Your Story. Who are you, Before success and Now that you've achieved your success?

  5. How did not having success drive you to search for a solution? What were the consequences of not having it?

  6. What was the first hint you discovered that lead you to believe there was a better way?

  7. What was your first small victory?

  8. What was your first set-back? Why did you almost give up?

  9. What second discovery did you make that renewed your motivation?

  10. Why did that work?

  11. What was it, in detail? How did you use it? This is your new plan.

  12. How did others respond to your new plan?

  13. How can others DO what you've done?

  14. Examples of Others doing what you discovered

  15. The aftermath. What is your life like now? What do you hope for them?

 

You'll notice that those questions will completely and utterly draw from you EVERYTHING that your market needs to know about the VALUE of your Business, Your Products, and You.

 

Again - the CONTENT is the VALUE.  The content is currency.  Imagine your prospect on the receiving end of your heart and soul.  I promise you, they WILL respond.  Be yourself, and there's no competition.

 

XOXO

 

Andy and Mike


 

P.S. IMPORTANT!  There's a mental block most content creators have - it's called the "Albert Einstein Assumption".

 

It's where you think you've got to be a Genius to create valuable content - or at least, be Einstein Smart for people to pay you for your content.

 

This is fundamentally NOT true - and it NEVER will be.  EVER. I know this is an issue because I used to feel the same way. There's a bible verse that goes something like "God Speaks Even from an Ass".  LOL!   Remember, you are you - and no one in the world has your perspective, you experience, or your battle scars.  

 

The fact is, you have NO IDEA what One Little Thing you say could empower a person to achieve great things. I'm surprised every single time someone responds to my content - and I'm usually surprised by what little tid-bit actually gives them value. So - KEEP CREATING and sharing.

 

P.P.S. This will help. I want to share a book with you - it's free (With an Opt-in), and it's a remarkable story about how a guy with Stage 3a cancer decided to create some content that became a bestseller - in 30 days.  And he did it with an iPhone and about an hour a day in between chemo sessions.  The book will show you the 5-steps he used to create his content and publish it to the masses.  The lessons on content creation and marketing in it are priceless.

Click here to get the download.



 

 

 

 


 
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