1324: How to Accelerate Your Content Production w/ Diana Mitchell

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:09.310 Welcome back to BB growth. I'm Dan Sanchez with sweetfish media, and today 2 00:00:09.349 --> 00:00:12.789 I'm joining with Diana Mitchell, who is a digital marketing consultant that works with 3 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:17.350 many be tob brands and a podcast host yourself. Dana, I'm going to 4 00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:21.980 kick it off with a fun question. What was your AOL screen name back 5 00:00:22.059 --> 00:00:26.820 in the Sh this is real. So I had a couple. One was 6 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:31.059 P oneal twenty one, and that was because I was a huge Achas fan 7 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:34.579 and it was the mid S, so it's just glorious time. And then 8 00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:40.729 one was faith fan ninety six, and that was because another emerging star at 9 00:00:40.770 --> 00:00:44.810 the time was faithful, and now I feel old but weird. I've thought 10 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:48.009 about that perfect I love a well screen names. They say so much. 11 00:00:48.649 --> 00:00:52.520 Today we're going to be talking about ways to accelerate your content production, but 12 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.399 before we do, Dan, I saw that you had been interviewed by Oprah 13 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.600 not once but twice recently. Can you tell us a little bit more about 14 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.430 that journey you went through over this like covid pandemic season we've been in, 15 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:08.870 and how did you get into that? Yeah, it's funny because I would 16 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:11.629 never call myself a huge Oprah Fan, but I mean, who is it 17 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:18.030 in awe of Oprah really and I saw that she was doing a web series 18 00:01:18.269 --> 00:01:22.939 through quarantine to help people focus on their health, their wellbeing. And even 19 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.659 though it's not really my thing, it was kind of like what the beginning 20 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:29.780 of May, like that dirt when people were really starting to feel a little 21 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:33.689 bit down and stuck in quarantine. So like I'm going to watch this and 22 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:37.890 they followed up with the tendis asking questions about the next show's theme. I 23 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:42.129 responded and my inner marketer kicked in a little bit. So I shared my 24 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:45.849 thoughts and feelings, but I really try to make it sound interesting. And 25 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:48.840 next day and I was on the phone with the producer kind of just went 26 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:52.840 from there. I went into marketer mode and and they they liked what I 27 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:55.799 had to say. It's so funny. You say you like you put on 28 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:57.200 your marketing hat to like go and do this, and I find I do 29 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:02.069 you like once you're like thinking and reading and just speaking marketing all day. 30 00:02:02.069 --> 00:02:06.629 It's hard to not have a marketing Lens. I've literally been accused of being 31 00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:09.110 a spammer when I'm writing a message to my brother recommending a product he's like 32 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:12.710 did you get hacked? You know, because you end up just writing in 33 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.620 such a way that makes it's just marketing, you know. You end up 34 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.539 connecting the dots that way. So I love that story and now I need 35 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:24.060 to go find that Oprah segment and watch it and see Youtube. It was 36 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:30.129 very thrilling and just hearing literally I remember I had a call, we had 37 00:02:30.169 --> 00:02:34.289 a test called with the producers beforehand and they said and then operal Sate Dianea 38 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:37.810 Mitchell, and I said and then I'll pee myself a little bit, like 39 00:02:38.009 --> 00:02:40.370 jokingly, and nobody laughed, but whatever, it was authentic. I like 40 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:46.280 Oprah said my name like this is still mind blowing, but yeah, there 41 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:49.960 you go. Diana and I've been talking a lot on Linkedin, commenting on 42 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.199 each other's post and I've been loving the content she's been putting her out out 43 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:58.120 around how to make it easier to produce more content. I know that something 44 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.069 that's at the sweet fish team have been like banging the drums on, like 45 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:05.830 produce more content. But, to be honest, content productions hard. So, 46 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:08.949 Dianas you've gone to your clients, what have you seen as some of 47 00:03:08.990 --> 00:03:13.180 the things that have been making it hard for them to produce it consistent content. 48 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:16.539 I think the the number one challenge people face when it comes to creating 49 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:21.620 content is that they don't think their content creators. It's all in the mindset. 50 00:03:21.659 --> 00:03:24.180 It's not necessarily a schedule thing. I'm not a writer, I'm not 51 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:28.810 a social media expert, and and what they're what they're missing there, is 52 00:03:28.889 --> 00:03:30.409 that you don't have to be a writer and you don't have to be a 53 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:35.969 social media expert to produce meaningful content. That's such a it's such a simple 54 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.129 thing and one that's so easy to fix, but it's a struggle for a 55 00:03:39.250 --> 00:03:43.159 lot of people. For sure. There's been many times where I'm like, 56 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:45.919 I got the wrong degree, like I got a marketing degree. I should 57 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:47.400 have got a journalism degree. That is really what a marketer needs to do 58 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:51.439 these days, right, yeah, what's a marketing team to do there? 59 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.840 They kind of armed with this marketing knowledge, they know how to coordinated, 60 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.590 but then they actually sit in front of a you know, a blank a 61 00:03:57.629 --> 00:04:00.789 white sheet word document to right knock out the blog post. How does it? 62 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:02.229 How do you make it easier for a marketing team? Yeah, I 63 00:04:02.389 --> 00:04:08.590 think that one important tip is to now look at marketing in a silo and 64 00:04:08.669 --> 00:04:13.340 now look at content creation, is just a marketing product involving the team, 65 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:15.500 particularly sales. I mean, I know you preach this, but you know 66 00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:18.420 talking to your sales team and like what are people are questions people are asking 67 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:23.300 you, what are objections you're hearing, but then not just asking them for 68 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:27.490 topics, but going to them and getting their insights into what they have to 69 00:04:27.569 --> 00:04:31.810 say. Like your brand is is the accumulation of all of the thoughts and 70 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:34.889 expertise of your entire team. So why not leverage that and show it? 71 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:38.759 I know a lot of people are really nervous about that, like they don't 72 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:40.839 want to be in the blog because they're afraid and they don't want to look 73 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:45.160 stupid. But in reality, that the wide variety of perspectives bringing at in. 74 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.879 It makes your job easier as a marketer. But it also is really 75 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.759 great to humanize your brand and make your team feel part of the effort. 76 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:55.709 And the the ripple effect of that is your team is more likely to than 77 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:59.829 share the content and become engaged on social media. And so once you like 78 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:03.389 take that small step to involve the team more, you get a snowball effect. 79 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:08.220 and how that gains exposure and clicks and reach for your for your actual 80 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:10.819 content. So one of the things I heard you say was like going to 81 00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:15.379 your sales team in finding the questions that people are asking the sales team. 82 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.100 So that's what source of information. What are some other sources that marketers can 83 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:23.170 go to to find, essentially the questions are the topics that they should be 84 00:05:23.410 --> 00:05:27.329 writing or producing content for. Ye Know, whoever's dealing with your clients. 85 00:05:27.449 --> 00:05:30.610 So I mean that could be a project manager, depending on your industry, 86 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:34.170 it definitely would be your customer success or or customer service team, anyone who's 87 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:38.879 having those conversations. But at the same time, those should be your primary 88 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:43.839 or secondary even tercary. Go to sources. You'd be surprised who has really 89 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:48.000 great insights into customers. It could be someone in product development or an admin 90 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:53.709 whose mother or uses whatever it is you're selling and share this really great feedback. 91 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:56.550 So when you have that kind of again, when you when you don't 92 00:05:56.550 --> 00:06:00.870 like silo off marketing or, you know, insulate yourself from the rest of 93 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:03.819 the team, people are more comfortable company with these conversations saying do you think 94 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:08.459 there's anything to this, and just kind of bringing that out the it becomes 95 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:13.779 so natural once people become comfortable. And for marketers, I think that you 96 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:15.579 can't just say to people, come to us and share. I think we've 97 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:18.449 all done that where we send an email to the team and we think everything's 98 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:23.250 going to flood in and then it's crickets. You need to go out and 99 00:06:23.329 --> 00:06:27.329 have conversations with them, and not just the probing kind, but like get 100 00:06:27.410 --> 00:06:30.649 out there and just start asking questions as part of conversation, not with an 101 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:32.839 end goal. It's going to put people at ease. I don't know what 102 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:36.120 it is. I have you found this a sometimes? The other departments just 103 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:41.040 feel a little nervous about marketing. I don't know why. I think I've 104 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:45.360 always been more proactive and I'm too impatient for people to apply to email. 105 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.470 So I usually just grab my I have like a rocket book here and I 106 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:50.389 still use it even at working from home, but I grab my rocket book 107 00:06:50.430 --> 00:06:55.269 with a pen and paper just walk into the sales office and see who wasn't 108 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:57.870 on the phone and just be like hey, how's it going? Good? 109 00:06:57.990 --> 00:07:00.149 What are people saying these days? What's the word on the street man like? 110 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:02.819 What are customers running up against? Just start taking notes. At least 111 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:04.579 that's how I've done it. I don't know, I don't know what other 112 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:08.899 people are doing out there. It's a hardber because when I'm working with clients 113 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:12.899 to I'll ask those questions and in some and you probably can't tell, but 114 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:15.850 I'm a natural chatterbox. I'm like I'd naturally talk to people a lot. 115 00:07:15.930 --> 00:07:20.649 So it's never been difficult to have these conversations. But there's a mental road 116 00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:25.970 box still for people and that you're asking them like what are what are customers 117 00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:30.000 asking you or what problems are they having lately? And what they still often 118 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:33.000 try to do is tell you what they think you should say, and there's 119 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.600 like a really important distinction between that, particularly again, like I see this 120 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.560 very often clients, and it's not their fault, it's a natural inclination. 121 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:46.949 We really want to focus on acts, so their answer will somehow be connected 122 00:07:46.949 --> 00:07:48.709 to acts, even if that's not really what top of mine with their clients. 123 00:07:48.790 --> 00:07:55.709 So there's really such subtle mindset shifts that are impeding your ability to put 124 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:59.300 out content that and you know it will tie it in real quickly to content 125 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:01.220 that works. And I mean that's such a general term, but let's just 126 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:05.139 leave it out there for now, because when you put something out there and 127 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:09.220 it doesn't get the response you want, then you start to think, well, 128 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:11.379 why am I going to bother? And she hit all sorts of rob 129 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:15.250 blocks. But in reality, if you'd put out something that was what someone 130 00:08:15.329 --> 00:08:18.889 needed or wanted to hear in the first place, that the little success is 131 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.889 a little you know, the little endorphin hits that you get when people are 132 00:08:22.930 --> 00:08:28.120 engaging encourage you to create more and makes so much sense. I remember even 133 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.720 interviewing customers. I have to interview them early or not interview them at all, 134 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.120 because after a while they've been indoctrinated into your messaging and why you're the 135 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.879 best and they don't even remember how to say what they were looking for. 136 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.350 They just say what you're marketing messaging told them to say. It's really interesting. 137 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:46.909 Even your custom, some Ers, become kind of evangelists for why they 138 00:08:46.990 --> 00:08:48.629 bought into it, because you sold them, and so they're they're connected to 139 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:52.110 your messaging, but I'm like no, no, not, that's what I 140 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:54.710 said. Gave you. Tell me what you actually thought, and they're like 141 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:58.580 that is what actually thought. On my Gosh Whan. It works too I 142 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:01.659 need to get to them earlier before they like get indoctrinated with the messaging. 143 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:03.940 The follow up questions there are huge. I actually in college, my very 144 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:09.700 first marketing job was in market research for a lot of really big national brands 145 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:13.450 and, like you are so right on that. And and people they think 146 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:18.090 they're being helpful, but it's exactly the opposite. And so those probing questions 147 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.809 in the follow up is when you get to the heart of what the answers 148 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:24.009 really are. And when you get there and you get that authentic conversation, 149 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.519 it's just like it's so exciting as a marketer, but it really is a 150 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.600 business person when you feel like candid, true feedback there there's nothing more generous 151 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.480 a customer can give you other than their business. That's critical. Okay. 152 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.190 So steps for simplifying the process is one, get good topics by finding the 153 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:46.830 questions customers or prospects or asking. So that step one. Once they got 154 00:09:46.870 --> 00:09:50.750 that list of questions are asking, what would you advise your customers to do 155 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:56.620 with that list? Your marketers? Yeah, sorry, the marketers. Okay, 156 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:00.019 then go to people, the people on your team who can help you 157 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:03.740 answer those questions or solve those problems and get their input in a real voice. 158 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:09.289 And then step three is, you know, Finesse, apply that marketing 159 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:13.730 savvy and the tap of the elements that make content more readable and searchable and 160 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:16.490 all of those good things. I think if I had to put it into 161 00:10:16.570 --> 00:10:22.279 three, actually let's do thus do four, and four would be share the 162 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:26.039 hack out of it in ways that it's going to engage and entice and be 163 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:30.080 a value and interest of people. And that's why I think journalists actually make 164 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.679 great marketer sometimes, because oftentimes the marketer doesn't have to be the expert, 165 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.110 right, they just have to find the expert record, like interview them and 166 00:10:37.190 --> 00:10:41.350 then use that interview to make the content. I remember even I worked for 167 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:45.149 Higher Ed Marketing and I'm like, Oh, I have all the experts working 168 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:48.269 on campus, I'll just have them write the blog post. Know, yeah, 169 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:52.460 I know, I like like doctors and PhD's right, horrible blog posts. 170 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:56.940 And then I found the dirty little secret from Harvard Business Review, like 171 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:03.419 the people whose names are attached the articles are never the writers. They're just 172 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:07.049 the subject matter experts that we interviewed and then professional writers wrote the Post. 173 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:09.250 But that's that's kind of the thing that gets people stuck is they're like, 174 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:11.690 well, I'm not a professional writer, so how do I get this done? 175 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:16.289 So what like with a cup? Customer says that to your marketer says 176 00:11:16.289 --> 00:11:18.039 that to you. What do you tell them? Well, there's two ways 177 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.000 that I approach this. So I get a lot of we talked too this. 178 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.919 I get a lot of request from junior marketers asking for advice like this. 179 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.639 And then I also live it with my own clients and so I make 180 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:33.509 it as easy as possible for people to pick people's brain. And sometimes that 181 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:39.509 barrier is them just not wanting to talk. And so I will send an 182 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:43.830 email and I'll put together five questions, five or six questions that kind of 183 00:11:43.950 --> 00:11:46.789 open the floodgates. And so, you know, talking at about journalism. 184 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:48.899 I'm not a wasn't a journalism major. My my bachelor's is an English and 185 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:54.539 my master's is in pr but I'm a naturally curious person and and I've been 186 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:58.980 doing this for a while. So the questions tend to get huge long answers 187 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:01.259 where I end up having to put it down and then flesh it out and 188 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.649 do all the massaging and all the good stuff, but also to the point 189 00:12:03.690 --> 00:12:07.610 that I was just talking about with follow up questions. I'll say, Hey, 190 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:09.570 I know you're really busy, but you have twenty minutes to hop on 191 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:13.889 a column walk through these questions and and those tend to be the stronger post 192 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:16.120 because, again, you know, when you get someone on the phone and 193 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:22.360 conversationally talking about something that they naturally know so much about, their enthusiasm and 194 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.440 then the little golden nuggets are just their natural byproduct. As long as you 195 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:31.870 can have those conversations, and so that is just like a powerful way for 196 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:37.269 the marketing team to gain access to what they need to craft a successful post. 197 00:12:37.909 --> 00:12:41.389 So essentially you're listening very carefully, not just how they explain, about 198 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.980 the way they explain it. Yes, yeah, you want to be abapture 199 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:46.059 some of their voice in that blog post. Now do you write? Do 200 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:48.779 you publish it as them, or do you publish it the marketers name? 201 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:52.379 No, it's well, I mean that's up to the marketing team and you 202 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:54.940 could do it a couple different ways it. You could bring in a few 203 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:58.409 different viewpoints from different perspectives and different teams. It depends on the topic. 204 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:05.610 I would say that it's valuable to write ghost right four members of your team 205 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:09.889 at times, as long as you're not writing it a hundred percent and pretending 206 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:13.600 to read their mind and then they share an on linkedin and someone asked a 207 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.240 question and they can't answer and it's painfully obvious. People expect, especially in 208 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.720 see sweet, people expect them to have ghostwriters, but they expect the thoughts 209 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:26.000 to be original to them. So it's a matter of making it feel authentic, 210 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.149 ensuring that they're part of the process, because if you don't have buying 211 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:31.549 if they're just like, you know, slap my name on it, I 212 00:13:31.669 --> 00:13:35.149 mean you should really back away carefully and advise them differently, because it's going 213 00:13:35.190 --> 00:13:39.950 to be the personal connection. But yeah, as long as you're you're just 214 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:45.419 being clear and up front and getting what you need, put their name on 215 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:48.259 it for sure, as long as it feels authentic. So I like to 216 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:52.100 ask this question about how long should it take to right about one hundred word 217 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:56.450 blog post? Oh Man, you know, that varies tremendously and I'll have 218 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:01.570 clients who a member their team did try to write the post. They're like, 219 00:14:01.730 --> 00:14:03.450 I spent eight hours on this, and then if I were to write 220 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:07.570 something similar and I'm not even you know, the expert. It would take 221 00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:11.960 me maybe two hours or an hour. So it really I hate to do 222 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.879 that in a bed. The question that it really runs the gamut. If 223 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:20.080 you are naturally conversational on this topic. You know what, let me put 224 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:24.269 a little like precursor in front of that, and that don't worry about writing 225 00:14:24.309 --> 00:14:28.629 a blog post. Just type what if you were going to say something to 226 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:30.350 me, if I was if I was going to ask you to talk to 227 00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:33.470 me about whatever the head the title is, type it instead of saying it 228 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:37.269 and then consider that your blog post. Yeah, it's my job as a 229 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:39.860 marketer to make this an effective marketing piece and then, that regard, it 230 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:43.779 shouldn't take you much longer than it would take for you to say it. 231 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:46.620 So I would say that it's reasonable, if you take that approach, for 232 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:48.980 to not take more than an hour or two to write a post. For 233 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:54.929 a marketer to process that data and information, if they've give been given a 234 00:14:54.970 --> 00:14:58.889 bulk of it from the the subjectment or expert and it's not them, then 235 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:01.889 it probably shouldn't take more than ninety minutes. It really depends. For twelve 236 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:05.610 hundred words, I would say that's fair, but I'm I'm also notoriously fast. 237 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.879 So I don't know, maybe there might be market is out. They're 238 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:11.759 going, holy crap, what is the matter with you? Like no, 239 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.399 I'm actually hear this. Honestly, I'm kind of with you. I'm like 240 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.879 no, it's possible, and the reason why I asked and want to see 241 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.669 where you're at. But I'm like no, see, I'm not the only 242 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:24.029 one. Like once you believe that it's possible. It's kind of like the 243 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:28.110 four minute mile. It was impossible until someone did it and now high schoolers 244 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:31.070 do it all the time. You like because it's possible, like you could 245 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:35.059 do it once you know it's possible. It's possible and mental barrier of I'm 246 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:39.460 right on the blog post and it's really huge. I know that sounds a 247 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:43.019 little like whoo, but it's like big. It's huge. Just write down 248 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:46.940 your thoughts on the topic. That's it. We have a general temple at 249 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:50.450 that we pretty much used for almost every blog post. That's kind of breaks 250 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:52.409 it down. It's a way that Google kind of likes to see blogs and 251 00:15:52.529 --> 00:15:56.009 I find as a good user experience. But if we been able to get 252 00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:58.610 it down, it kind of depends on the quality to if it's just informational, 253 00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:02.529 then it can be in an hour. Maybe too. Not, not, 254 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:06.159 not excluding images and the gifts and all the extra fund goodness and publishing. 255 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.120 That takes more time, but just writing it now, if it's written 256 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:12.080 to be fun and humorous and has that extra writing edge to it, then 257 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:17.000 you're talking like three to four hours. But I do remember hearing of the 258 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:19.590 writers at buffer were killing it for quite as quite a long season, and 259 00:16:19.669 --> 00:16:22.590 they're like, yeah, we started at two days and is able to get 260 00:16:22.590 --> 00:16:26.629 it down to eight hours. And I'm like, Dang, what's the chance 261 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:27.629 that I'm ever going to get down to eight hours? That's all they do 262 00:16:27.870 --> 00:16:30.870 and I have like fifty other task to juggle. Well, yeah, and 263 00:16:30.990 --> 00:16:34.139 you know, I mean I'm not sure I assume this is for Everyon but 264 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:37.419 it is incredibly draining. So whether I took, for our story, that 265 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:41.539 post or two hours or ninety minutes, it is the same amount of brain 266 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:45.259 energy and so it is very drained, just like it's straining doing something like 267 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:48.289 this. So like if I'm looking at my day, I'm not scheduling more 268 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:49.889 than a blog post today. If I'm writing. You know, I have 269 00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:52.769 a small team. That doesn't my my writing too, but I mean that 270 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:56.690 is it sucks the life out of it's very exhausting. I know that sounds 271 00:16:56.690 --> 00:17:00.759 dumb to someone, but yeah, it can be very drea system. been 272 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.440 there, and that's why, if I'm doing blog post, it's the first 273 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:07.720 thing I do in my day. Sometimes I wake up extra early, knock 274 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.480 it out, just leave work early because I'm like now I had to had 275 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.400 to wake up at five in the morning. I'm really knocked it out first 276 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.869 thing, before there were any distractions, because it is creating, create the 277 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:21.150 active creation takes so much energy and effort. So I guess that's another tip 278 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:23.710 in the hat there to say, like, if you're going to get better 279 00:17:23.750 --> 00:17:27.190 at it, do it first things. It does take energy, whether it's 280 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:30.619 a blog or linkedin or anything like that, to get it out of the 281 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:33.380 day for and plus two of its hanging in your head and you're like not 282 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:36.220 really looking forward to it. You're trying to build the muscle, so to 283 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:38.180 speak, of the content creation muscle. Do it first. It's just like 284 00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:41.099 exercise, you know. They say if you get up. They say if 285 00:17:41.140 --> 00:17:42.980 you get up and do it first thing in the morning, it's easier to 286 00:17:42.980 --> 00:17:45.690 build the habit, build the habit. That's the most important thing you can 287 00:17:45.730 --> 00:17:49.130 do is just start creating content and build the habit. You'll naturally get out 288 00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:52.730 of the world. It's such a cliche and everybody says it, but it's 289 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:55.690 true. The more you write, the better going to be. So my 290 00:17:55.769 --> 00:17:59.680 next question is like, how many blogs should a company actually aim for if 291 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:03.680 they're like, you know, midsize company, be to be like what's ideal? 292 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.119 I swear I'm not avading your question, but it's how much, how 293 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:11.839 well and consistently can you put out great content? If you have a marketing 294 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:15.750 team or marketing budget, or if you've outsourced your content marketing, which is 295 00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:19.549 what happens with the companies that ideal with, then it's whatever your budget will 296 00:18:19.549 --> 00:18:25.789 allow to that regard, but I mean at least once a month consistently. 297 00:18:26.069 --> 00:18:29.259 Ideally it's going to be at least once a week, maybe two to three 298 00:18:29.299 --> 00:18:32.500 times a week. And if you start to build that foundation and that culture 299 00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:36.380 where people naturally want to share feedback and they're insight and expertise with you, 300 00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:38.980 it's really not challenging to do that. So if you have an entire outsource 301 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:45.410 content operation or if you have a full marketing team. That's realistic and and 302 00:18:45.529 --> 00:18:48.650 it's really important to just work ahead. I would also say it's important to 303 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:52.490 start with whatever you think is the most reasonable to again build a habit and 304 00:18:52.609 --> 00:18:57.359 also refine your processes. So if you've been kind of scatter shot producing content 305 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:00.799 and you're say, you know what, we've got enough people here, we're 306 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.440 going to start doing a two post a week and we're going to just kick 307 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.960 but it's going to be great. No, that's it's not. It's the 308 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.630 same thing. And you posted something on Linkedin today about buying the course and 309 00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:15.349 going ahead and in aiming high without the foundation stuff. Start with one a 310 00:19:15.430 --> 00:19:18.390 week if you've been doing one a month, and really refine the process. 311 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:22.230 You know when you reach out to someone, how you step, the expectation 312 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:23.579 of when they should get back to you, how long it takes you to 313 00:19:25.059 --> 00:19:29.619 publish and create content, to to promote on social all of those things. 314 00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:33.539 Document it and that way you can more accurately see. You know where the 315 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:37.900 roadblocks, what's where the hangups were, the things that are delaying your ability 316 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:41.170 to get this content produced, and then you can start to do more and 317 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:45.970 in once you kind of start in snowball. Then it becomes a well oiled 318 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:48.890 machine and every post has value. You know that you're hitting your a game 319 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:53.000 with every piece and it just it really becomes Second Nature Instead of a chore. 320 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:56.440 Absolutely, I think for ten years I try to figure out how to 321 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.160 just get to a blog a week and me I would always procrastinated, just 322 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.279 never do it. And then I had other people doing it. I'm like, 323 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.039 yeah, we're doing when a week. We're killing it. And then 324 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:07.390 the next year too, a week, Whoa, and then and then I 325 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:11.230 finally figured out how to do them all. Well, I got more people 326 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:12.470 on the team to do it, so I started really investing it in. 327 00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:15.230 Then we're like, and I want you to do one a day. So 328 00:20:15.309 --> 00:20:18.150 we ended up producing twenty a week or something like that. And then then, 329 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:22.180 well, you start producing that content that much, it really starts to 330 00:20:22.259 --> 00:20:26.259 move the needle before one or to a week. It's a slow game, 331 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:27.740 but I love it when people ask me that question. I'm like, I 332 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:30.380 don't know, as much as many as possible. Yeah, and you know 333 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:34.500 there's another's been quality, for of course, qualities of the baseline, but 334 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:38.009 the dundum. I mean, if you're putting out fluff because you're putting it 335 00:20:38.049 --> 00:20:41.849 out for content sake, then you're not going to get anywhere and it's actually 336 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:44.930 going to take your energy away from the good stuff. But if you if 337 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:48.569 you can consistently put out good, strong with your o that answers questions and 338 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:52.160 solves problems that people want, then your gold, as much as you can 339 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.000 possibly handle. And I'm the Queen of do as I say, not as 340 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.720 I do. Like I'm so busy craft and content for other people. I'm 341 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:03.920 horrible on the horrible hypcrit but I've been doing better with linkedin. Yep, 342 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.829 Yep, I've certainly been seeing those posts. So what are some extra tips 343 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:14.309 or tricks that the audience can employ to do produce more content faster? Well, 344 00:21:14.470 --> 00:21:18.549 of the simplest way to speed up the process and just stand on top 345 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:22.819 of things is to do an editorial calendar. It's so basic and simple, 346 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:25.619 but there's actually, I have not checked this out. I don't know if 347 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:29.539 you've seen this. There's there's like a content planner. I get adds on 348 00:21:29.660 --> 00:21:33.930 Instagram for it all the time, and there's a digital one and then a 349 00:21:33.009 --> 00:21:37.609 hard paper one, which you remember paper. It's like this white stuff that 350 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.970 you're write on and and I've wanted to check it out just to see for 351 00:21:42.049 --> 00:21:45.690 myself how interesting isn't whether or not I can refer people to it. But 352 00:21:45.970 --> 00:21:49.200 you don't need something formal. You can create a Google doc, spreadsheet, 353 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:53.039 whatever and just have people dump their ideas. You know, I've had clients 354 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:56.759 of like to use air table for that purpose. Like there's plenty of tools 355 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:00.160 you can use and and just map it out. You you could do you 356 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.710 know, you could look at your customers buying cycles. You know, if 357 00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:07.390 you're a seasonal company, you know, okay, so this time of year 358 00:22:07.470 --> 00:22:10.589 we're hitting this themed week and we have a big plush. So then you 359 00:22:10.670 --> 00:22:12.470 just flesh out from the content. You can go on a quarterly basis. 360 00:22:12.750 --> 00:22:18.380 You can map it out annually and then like narrow it down, but see 361 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.619 what works for you. Try it out a month and then say, okay, 362 00:22:21.660 --> 00:22:22.420 you know what, and then you start to see the pattern. So 363 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:26.299 we could do this quarterly. And then there's always room flexibility. You can 364 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:30.529 always add a post with something time that comes up. But having that go 365 00:22:30.849 --> 00:22:33.569 to plan. When you're sitting in from the computer, like you're saying, 366 00:22:33.569 --> 00:22:37.970 and you have no idea what to write, then you've automatically answered that first 367 00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:40.569 question. You've removed that first barrier at well, okay, I'm going to 368 00:22:40.650 --> 00:22:45.039 write about tissue by tissue, but I'm ready my tissue boxes today and and 369 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.759 then that just makes it that much simpler to get started. Absolutely, I 370 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.000 totally agree. I just gave that advice to someone about linkedin stuff. I'm 371 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:55.680 like, you cannot write all your post and come up with the ideas for 372 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:00.109 the post in the same session. The ideations one stage and then have some 373 00:23:00.230 --> 00:23:03.390 time in between and then you write your post, maybe daily, maybe batch. 374 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:07.750 I tend to not use content calendars because I never find that unless you 375 00:23:07.789 --> 00:23:11.109 have a really specific reason to publish on a certain date, then why why 376 00:23:11.230 --> 00:23:12.819 limit it to a certain date if you can publish it early, early that, 377 00:23:12.819 --> 00:23:17.180 if later than, who cares? I might teams tend to use like 378 00:23:17.259 --> 00:23:19.660 a scrum style troloboard in order to manage it. We use are TI. 379 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.059 I've used are table a lot too, because you can, I like the 380 00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:26.650 excel view and then switch discrum with the columns and you can move them through. 381 00:23:27.089 --> 00:23:30.009 Yeah, I mean you can just bang it out as you go to 382 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:32.849 its same thing. Yeah, totally. It's whatever works best. For you, 383 00:23:33.210 --> 00:23:34.609 it's for a lake dome. A lot of times I'll get an idea. 384 00:23:36.049 --> 00:23:37.690 So so I try to be thematically appropriate. I'll be you know what, 385 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:41.519 this week I'm going to talk about mistakes. People make a box or 386 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:45.119 whatever the case maybe, but then sometimes at night I'll see something and I'll 387 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.559 be like this is annoying or oh, this really makes me think, and 388 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:51.400 then I'll just go on my iphone and start typing something in a note and 389 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:53.960 then the next morning or whenever it's appropriate, I'll like go back to it, 390 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:56.390 tweak it a little bit and then post it. Find a good gift. 391 00:23:56.869 --> 00:24:00.349 You know, I've had some complaints about gifts lately. It's funny that 392 00:24:00.349 --> 00:24:03.150 you mentioned that. How do people cut? Like? I couldn't have a 393 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:07.029 conversation with family, friends, my husband, anyone without a gift. But 394 00:24:07.150 --> 00:24:11.180 someone said that they automatically scrolled by content with a gift. This just happened 395 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:14.619 to me and I was like what, that's okay. If they don't like 396 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:17.180 the gift, then they were never going to be a good customers and they 397 00:24:17.259 --> 00:24:19.619 probably aren't going to be great to collaborate with your marketer. And the irony 398 00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:22.940 is it was on a post with a gift. If James are on this 399 00:24:23.059 --> 00:24:26.049 call, he'd be like then they're not good, they're not a good fit. 400 00:24:26.089 --> 00:24:29.490 First we finished from Michaels, where we do fun. Fun is our 401 00:24:29.569 --> 00:24:32.650 thing. Where you don't like fun, there's you can go to some other 402 00:24:32.730 --> 00:24:36.970 content production or podcast agency. If you can't appreciate a good Michael Scott Gift, 403 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:38.839 then I don't know what to tell you. You're out. And I 404 00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:41.759 felt like it was so Muney. You do you know that joyful moment when 405 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:45.680 you're at the post you're like, okay, what's something that'll help, like 406 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.160 bring this to life, and then you find the victif you're like you know, 407 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:52.950 that's like flying feeling. It's so good. Sometimes I just start with 408 00:24:52.029 --> 00:24:55.269 a gift and make up a post for it because I like it so much. 409 00:24:56.309 --> 00:25:00.470 It's fair worked reverse to well, this has been an excellent conversation. 410 00:25:00.589 --> 00:25:03.990 Dana work in. People connect with you online to learn more from you. 411 00:25:04.750 --> 00:25:10.220 Yeah, well, I'm on Linkedin, Linkedin in Dina Mitchell, seven, 412 00:25:10.220 --> 00:25:15.539 one six, I have a very minimal website and dynamitchell dotmot and and yeah, 413 00:25:15.779 --> 00:25:18.299 my podcast done launching a q three. It's called MOMS who lead for 414 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:22.329 working moms who are leaders in the business to help them ailans at all, 415 00:25:22.809 --> 00:25:26.690 and so that'll be coming soon as well. Well. Thanks for joining me 416 00:25:26.769 --> 00:25:30.369 on the show today. That Diana. It's been a pleasure learning from you. 417 00:25:30.849 --> 00:25:34.759 Thanks so, so much fun. Thank you. Gary B says it 418 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.759 all the time and we agree. Every company should think of themselves as a 419 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:45.039 media company first, then whatever it is they actually do. If you know 420 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:48.640 this is true, but your team is already maxed out and you can't produce 421 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:52.670 any more content in house, we can help. We produced podcast for some 422 00:25:52.750 --> 00:25:56.549 of the most innovative bb brands in the world and we also help them turn 423 00:25:56.589 --> 00:26:02.390 the content from the podcast into blog posts, micro videos and slide decks that 424 00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:04.220 work really well on Linkedin. If you want to learn more, go to 425 00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:10.420 sweet fish Mediacom launch or email logan at sweet fish mediacom.