Lost in Transmission
You're writing your content as if someone's going to read it. And that's the wrong approach.
Huh? Here's why...
Words As Music
Don't Fake It. Make It.
People aren’t interested in your words. They want your ideas.
Anyone can produce words. Even artificial intelligence can kick out fairly convincing-sounding words. But those aren’t ideas. At least not yours.
Ideas are the synthesis of available information, filtered through the prism of your unique perspectives and lived experiences, and delivered with proscriptive advice and personalized guidance. And the best ideas belong to the thought leaders among us.
Are your best ideas worthy of broader recognition? Let’s find out…
Why Start a Podcast?
Why start a podcast?
For fame? Fortune? Celebrity? Unlikely…
If the question were reframed as "Why establish a content marketing platform that isn't about writing and reading, doesn't require video, isn't about SEO...but during which you can captivate the undivided attention of a listener for 30-45 minutes — and at the same time, yield enough content for multiple blog posts, a newsletter, several short videos and one long one, plus the naturally generated text that will improve your website's search engine visibility?"...
Why?
Marketing: For All Intents and Purposes
Why?
It's a simple question. So why do so many ignore it?
The Power of Why is no longer just a clever title for an impactful TEDTalk delivered by Simon Sinek...it's an obligation.
Curtis Hays and I dive deep into the importance of "intent" this week on the Bullhorns and Bullseyes #podcast — both from a messaging standpoint but, importantly, also from a search engine perspective.
So, if you've been ignoring my pleas to "LEAD WITH THE WHY" up until now, that is no longer just evasive procrastination...it's putting you behind your competitors in the all-important search engine competition.
Podcast: LinkedIn Mastery
Jay Harrington is president of the HARRINGTON agency and is one of the country’s leading consultants and strategists in the areas of legal marketing, PR and business development. His particular passion and profound area of expertise is building a network and growing an audience on LinkedIn to generate more and better new business opportunities.
In this podcast crossover event — Tom and Jay also separately co-host the Thought Leadership Project podcast — Curtis and they discuss tips for publishing thought leadership and content marketing on LinkedIn.Together, they explore the engagement metrics on the platform and the effectiveness of using LinkedIn as an advertising platform. They also highlight the importance of understanding your audience and narrowing your niche, as well as the need for sustained effort and consistency in creating thought leadership content on LinkedIn.
Podcasting: Your 2024 New Year's Resolution
If you are producing a podcast to grow your business—and not be the next internet celebrity—you don’t need to appeal to everybody. You only need to serve a very distinct and defined core audience. Unless you’re the next Joe Rogan or Howard Stern, you’re not going to amass an audience of millions. But that’s not the point.
Here’s how business owners and professional service providers can take advantage of the fastest-growing form of media out there today…and have a little fun doing it.
Notification: You Have Notifications Pending.
You’ve Got Maelstroms
Everything's a notification these days.
Are you finding it annoying?
Check in on virtually any social media platform, and you'll be bombarded with notifications, badges and prompts. About...well, just about anything.
It used to be that you'd only receive timely, important and relevant notifications, specific to your own behaviors and actions on any given platform. Now, if some random connection posts something, comments on something, or so much as bats an eyelash emoji online, rest assured, you'll get a notification.
Here’s how you can start taking some of your time and attention back…
Is Your Content Skimmable or Skippable?
Readers Want to Skim; If Not, They Skip
Very few content creators go into a piece of writing with the notion, “I hope readers skim this piece!” But, in fact, that’s exactly what you want them to do.
The binary isn’t between whether readers will skim your article or read it in its entirety; it’s whether they will skim it or skip it altogether.
And thus becomes one of the primary purposes of developing effective content for marketing purposes: the skim. Facilitate that, and you will earn the readers’ trust, interest and engagement. That initial skim, therefore, becomes the introduction to you, your expertise and the subject matter of the discrete piece of thought leadership. It is the portal into a deeper relationship between the author and reader.
The skim is the invitation to delve deeper. Without it, you’re risking the dreaded skip.
"Is My Content 'Thought Leadership'?"
Is Automated Content Truly Thought Leadership, Or Is It Following the Leaders?
Mere “content” for content’s sake is generally not enough to fully allow an individual to differentiate, to establish a credible expert reputation, and to separate oneself from the competitive field of peers and rivals in the increasingly crowded marketplace of ideas. Sure, if you would’ve asked me ten years ago, “Is any content better than no content?” the answer would’ve been a reluctant “sure.” But today, the media are noisier, the voices are more plentiful, and our audiences have never been more distractible.
The good news? Most of the content out there is considered by decision makers to be subpar. There’s your opportunity: to elevate your subject matter expertise into thought leadership, and your thought leadership into new business opportunities. But you likely won’t achieve your aspirations by adding to the content tsunami. You must engage in thought leadership, not just content creation.