Write Your Content Strategy! HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE Before you can start down a content strategy path, you need to first reflect on your goal. Why are you creating content in the first place? Clarify Your Offer … Make a Sale ... Build Rapport Choose the strategy that most reflects the goal you’re looking to achieve and start by reading that. Use the following outline to skim each strategy, or read everything (it is packed with gold after all) 😍 With each strategy, I’ll outline… ● Who that strategy is best for ● What businesses it works best with ● Why it works ● Statistics to back the why ● Explanation of the strategy ● Action steps to get started © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC STRATEGY 1: CLARIFY OFFER You’ll be focused on creating a Brand Video, testimonials and FAQ videos. WHO THIS IS FOR If you are new to business and are still tweaking your offer then this strategy is not for you… move on and read Strategy #2. If you’ve been in business long enough to determine what your audience wants and you have a clear offer but it is only being depicted via text on your website then this solution is a great place to start. BUSINESSES THIS WORKS BEST FOR: ● Brick & Mortar Locations (Gyms, Restaurants, Clothing Stores, Clinics, etc.) ● Real Estate Agents ● Law Firms ● Education Centers or Schools ● Anything where your audience needs to know, like and trust you before they can work with you (ex. Online Coaches or Consultants) WHY THIS WORKS The reason this works is that we want information QUICKLY. We all are FAR too busy to read. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes… ● Imagine you’re shopping for gyms in your local area. ● You quickly Google to find the top recommendations. ● You open five “in new window” that catch your attention. ● You click on the first and give it a quick 1 minute look over before... ● You click on the next window and like the design of this site better so you exit out of the first window. You take about a minute to see what amenities they offer. ● You click on the third window. ● This site has a video on it’s page, do you click to watch? ● Yes, you most certainly do and before you know it, you’ve spent 3x as long on that one website as the others. You also have seen their facility, gotten a feel for the people at the gym and have a clear understanding of their packages. ● If you like what you see, you make a decision to try this one before researching more (because you know enough to make a decision) STATS TO BACK THIS Here is a few additional stats to inspire action with this strategy: ● Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text. (Insivia) ● Video increases organic search traffic on a website by 157%. (Conversion XL) © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC ● ● ● ● ● Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%. (Unbounce) 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. (HubSpot) Videos attrach 300% more traffic and help to nurture leads. (MarketingSherpa) 97% of marketers say video has helped users gain a better understanding of their products and services. (Hubspot) On average, people spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than without. (Wistia) STRATEGY OVERVIEW: FOCUS ON WEBSITE CONTENT ● Brand Video: This 1.5 - 2 minute video takes someone from knowing nothing about you to having the information they need to trust you understand their needs, know what you’re doing, understand your offer and take the first step. ● Testimonials: Within your Brand Video, you’ll include 2-3 testimonial interviews. There will only be short snippets within the brand video from each person, but you’ll need to do a 10-15 minute interview in order to capture those small snippets. Re-purpose that interview by editing it into a stand along video for your website. Here is a video that can help with that or have your clients record testimonials for you. ● FAQs: These are SIMPLE videos that answer any frequently asked questions you get. These can 100% be filmed on your iPhone. Having said that, if you’re going to hire someone to help you make the Brand Video, then you might as well record them during that shoot. ACTION STEP: Watch this video series and follow the steps to planning your video shoot. If you need help, I offer consultations to walk through the exercises. NOTE: Be sure to get strategic about what the b-roll you shoot (the footage that goes over you interview) so that you can re-purpose this footage at a later date. Also be sure to capture the full story of your testimonials so that you can edit together individual testimonials from the interviews, as well as use snippets of it in your brand video. © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC STRATEGY 2: MAKE A SALE You’ll be focusing on producing content for Facebook, Instagram, Amazon or YouTube Ads. WHO THIS IS FOR If your product or service has a long sales cycle that requires client or customer education before they make a purchase then move on to Strategy #3. If you have a product or service that doesn’t require a conversation prior to purchasing then this strategy will work great for you. This especially works well if your price point is relatively low (under $200) and is a product that people are aware they need (ex. Clothes, shoes, purses vs. abstract coaching offer). BUSINESSES THIS WORKS BEST FOR: ● Product based businesses (Specifically E-Commerce) ● Brick & Mortar Locations with Special Sales (Gyms, Restaurants, Clothing Stores, Clinics, etc.) ● Service based business with package deals that are entry level offers (strategy #3 is best if your price point is high) WHY THIS WORKS The reason this works is once again because we are ALL busy and often forget to shop for items that have been on our “buy list”. Social Media Ads help remind us of our desires and save us time from having to go to the store. We like this and are willing to buy, if the right item pops up (aka proper target audience). Put yourself in your customer’s shoes… ● You’re laying in bed scrolling (you should be sleeping, but hey, we’re all addicted to this bad habit…) ● You run across a swimsuit ad. ● You pause for a second to watch the ad. ● In your mind you think, “I haven’t bought a new swimsuit in 2 years … let’s see what they have” ● You click through and arrive on their website where you now parouse all the swimsuits. ● You add an item to your cart and think, “eeeh, I probably shouldn’t be shopping at 11 pm” so you close the window. ● The next day, you’re waiting for a collegue at a cofee shop and you start scrolling … ● Now a second ad pops up from this same company, “Hey, I didn’t see that option before!” Maybe they have others I’d like” so you click through. ● As you look at all the options, you find another you like and add to cart. ● This is saving you time from going to the store so you justify the purchase and click buy... © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC STATS TO BACK THIS Here is a few additional stats to inspire action with this strategy: ● 64% of consumers will make a purchase after watching branded videos on social platforms. (Tubular Insights) ● 52% of marketers say video is the type of content with the best ROI. (HubSpot) ● Almost 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store (ThinkWithGoogle) ● 80% of consumers believe demonstration videos are helpful when making purchases (Blue Corona) ● Online shoppers who view demo videos are 1.81x more likely to purchase than non-viewers (DMB Adobe) ● Nearly two-thirds of shoppers say video has given them ideas for purchases, and more than 90% of them say they’ve discovered these products and brands on YouTube (Google, 2018) STRATEGY OVERVIEW: FOCUS ON PAID TRAFFIC ADS ● Awareness Ad: This is a quick, thirty second ad that brings your audience to awareness that 1) your product or service exists and 2) shows the value it brings to the customer ● Re-Targeting Ads: This ad follows up communication to the above video. What else do they need to know in order to make a decision to buy? Consider what questions or hesitations you tend to get on sales calls and add those into the video. Ideally you have 2-3 of these so you can split test. ● Tribe Videos: These can be awareness ads or retargeting ads that specifically call out a certain demographic or group of people. For example, a tribe might be mothers who have toddlers -- you can specifically position your ad to stand out to them rather than the generic public. The more closely your ad resembles the person who is viewing it, the more effective it will be to capture their attention and get them to buy. ACTION STEP: Review this video to see how others are creating awareness ads. Write 7-11 short copy blurps that previously explain your product or service (for your awareness ad). Write 7-11 short blurps that give further information on your product (for re-targeting ads). Once written, use footage you’ve already shot, stock images or shoot new footage and edit together your ad. Make the blurps easy-to-read text on the screen. © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC STRATEGY 3: BUILD RAPPORT You’ll be focusing on producing content for use on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. WHO THIS IS FOR If you are unsure of what product or service is best for your audience and you’re still in the discovery phase of your business, then this strategy is perfect for you. If your product or service has a long sales cycle that requires client or customer education before they make a purchased then this is also perfect for you. If you want to be seen as a thought leader in your industry and know you have the knowledge to actually be a thought leader (don’t fake it) then this strategy is for you. BUSINESSES THIS WORKS BEST FOR: ● Service based businesses (especially scale-able businesses) ● Group or online coaches ● Online course creators ● Lifestyle businesses (often selling merch) ● Brick & Mortar Locations that want to scale online (ex. Yoga studio that wants to offer online classes) WHY THIS WORKS As consumers, we used to buy from brands, but now more than ever we are buying from people. Think of the times when you had to have the name brand product (ex. designer jeans or Nike shoes). Today, we enjoy non-name brands and even pride ourselves in buying local. The reason we are buying these is not because of the brand, but because of the story behind the brand -- the people who founded it. Additionally, we must KNOW, LIKE and TRUST the people we buy from more than ever before. We are savvy to sales tactics and being “sold” on something that is “too good to be true”. This skeptisism is resolved when we connect with the people behind the products. Their morals and desire to positively impact the world soothes our fears. We even become an invested friend as we watch their success increase online (think influencers). STATS TO BACK THIS Here is a few additional stats to inspire action with this strategy: ● In 2019 so far, 35% of video marketers have chosen Facebook Live as their main channel. (Wyzowl) ● 74% of those using Facebook Live claim it has been a success for their brands. (Wyzowl) ● Facebook Live generates 35% more engagement than regular videos. (Social Media Lab) © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC ● ● ● 54% of consumers want to see more video from a brand or business they support (HubSpot, 2018) One third of the most viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses (Embed Social) In 2018, 97% of marketers stated video helped their customers understand their brands better. (Wyzowl) STRATEGY OVERVIEW: FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ● Instagram Stories: Post on a 3-5 post story on Instagram stories 3x per week. Show personality and the behind the scenes of your business operations. Find a way to enjoy posting on stories and see this as an easy form of video content -- no editing required! ● Live Video: Go live once per week on one platform (Facebook / Instagram or LinkedIn Live - coming soon) Consider this a testing ground for how to content videos that you can later create on YouTube. Choose a topic before going Live and talk about what you know on that topic for 5-10 minutes (longer is always better, but start small). ● How to Content: This content provides answers to the questions you often get asked. The goal here is to produce content that can live on YouTube as a well optimized video so that it can be found by people searching online for answers. This is the best method to establish your brand or you as a thought leader. ACTION STEP: Either go live once per week or post on Instagram Stories at least 3x per week and post 3-5 uploads to make up one “story”. Was this helpful? I’d love to hear your feedback! Message me on Instagram! © 2018 AMANDA HORVATH LLC
