Most failed because of 7 common mistakes. 

So, we sat down to discuss them in this special episode and discussed how to fix them. 

The video will be particularly useful for early start-ups and small businesses. But some of the lessons apply even if you have an established plan.

It’s a 90-minute watch. Yep, it’s a long one. 

If you’ve not got the time to sit and listen to the full episode, don’t worry. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to split each of the sections into full newsletters and resources with tailored advice for our VAMO-paid community. 

We will also invite you to ask specific questions about your own content plans and put them directly to our team in the private Slack group. 

If you have already nailed your content marketing strategy, you can skip this one. For everyone else, we hope you find it useful 👇

Introduction to Content Marketing

In 1926 a humble motorist guide changed the restaurant world forever. The Michelin brothers published a guide for French motorists. At first, it didn’t include any mention of restaurants or food. Instead, just the typical, mundane information any tire company would share. 

But, after a few tweaks and the addition of a restaurant section, it became a hit. 

And the guide's popularity boosted Michelin’s brand worldwide.

The success story demonstrates the power of content marketing. An approach that involves the creation and distribution of content to a target audience. We think it has the potential to make or break a business. 

Fail to do it, or get it wrong and you’ll:

• Lose customers to competitors

• Damage your brand, and

• Waste resources

But effective content marketing can be a game-changer when it comes to:

• Brand loyalty

• Improved discoverability, and the most important metric

• Cash in the bank.

To help you succeed there are 7 major areas that you need to understand. 👇

#1: What is it, and is it worth doing?

Content marketing is the practice of creating content to convey a certain message that helps you build an audience. The longer you engage in this practice, the more trust you can build with your audience. The theory is that if you have an audience that trusts you, it will be easier to sell to them.

It involves sharing valuable information with your target audience for free, in order to attract them to your business. 

This can take the form of text-based posts or any other type of content that resonates with your audiences, such as humour, comedy, personal stories, or entertainment. 

The goal is to create content that your audience finds engaging and useful so that they see the value in what you offer.

Typical formats we use in our own business: videos, images, social posts, blogs, and newsletters. 

#2: Purpose-Driven Posting

When developing your content strategy, it's important to be clear about your goals. Are you looking to build your personal brand? Generate leads for your business? Increase awareness of your business in preparation for a potential sale in the next few years. 

For example, if you are the face of your business, your content will likely be different than if you are trying to promote your business as a whole. It's important to identify a single, clear goal to focus on so that you can map your content strategy to that goal. 

If you have too many competing goals, it will be difficult to achieve any of them effectively.

#3: Understanding Where to Start

It is important to figure out who your target audience is and conduct research to understand their behaviours and preferences. 

While research can provide valuable insights, relying solely on surveys or focus groups may not provide accurate information, as people may feel obliged to give a certain response. 

Instead, it is better to learn about your audience over time and test different messaging to understand how they respond to content and how they act on their buying habits.

For example, at Learning Heroes (which was online learning) we’d identify businesses that took learning and development very seriously. 

From there, we aimed to find out what their pain points were, so content marketing could be tailored around those issues. 

We observed what types of conversations were they having online, on LinkedIn, and in forums.

This approach allowed us to tap into a ready-made market that could understand and relate to our content.

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Why not take a break from the festive burnout, pull up a virtual seat, and join the boys as they sit down to enjoy their VAMO Christmas lunch?

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Charisma.

Some call it the x-factor but whatever the definition, we can all usually agree when someone has it. And when they’re more boring than a falafel wrap.

In this episode, we wanted to explore how important charisma is, when it comes to business owners and leaders. Is it just something you’re born with? Or can it be taught, or faked even?

We’re joined by the perfect guest to help us answer those questions.

Ash Jones is the founder of personal branding specialist, Great Influence.

He’s the mastermind behind a new wave of industry leaders which includes Steven Bartlett, Gary Neville, and Carrie Rose.

We asked him why his clients value personal brand so much.

Do they put themselves out there because it allows them to build businesses and gain power and influence in their sector, or is it more to do with ego and fame?

And we talk about managed personal brands, and why they can sometimes go wrong.

Ash had some really interesting thoughts and stories to share.

We hope you enjoy it.

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Plot twist: they don’t, but you’ll hear how they both grow their businesses and make their clients more money. 🙌

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Mike and Dan give their views on what works for them, what they disagree with (there’s a lot), and why you need to stop making excuses for lazy content. 

As with everything, the…

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