I don’t make guarantees very often when it comes to marketing, but I can tell you without doubt that this is what works.
1. Create helpful content.
It has to be genuinely helpful (not salesy), and based on the questions and problems your clients have. Read this book.
Ideally you are focusing this content on a niche market, a very specific audience. The more specific the audience, the faster your results.
Eventually your goal is to be creating 2-3 pieces of new content every week.
Oh – and make sure the whole team is involved.
2. Share it everywhere.
You don’t know yet where your most popular platforms are going to be. Share it on all the socials. In video. On your website. In guest blog posts. At events. In emails.
Keep sharing it (don’t stop).
Make sure the whole team is involved in this, too.
3. Repurpose it (different formats)
Once you’ve got a topic that people are connecting with, take the same content and put it into a different format.
If you started with a blog post, record a video explaining it. If you recorded a podcast, get it transcribed and turn that into an article. Turn a blog post series into a PDF guide.
You can create 20 pieces of content from one topic.
4. Track everything. Look for your patterns.
Record all the data: website visits, social media engagement, video views, event registrants, emails viewed, proposals sent (number and value), turnaround time for proposals, average fee value…everything.
Then, review it in connection with the content you’re creating in steps 1-3, and look for your own unique patterns.
Don’t copy others: your clients are not theirs.
5. Adjust and repeat. For 2-3 years.
You’re creating relentlessly helpful content over this period of time, with a focused target audience (not just “business owners” or “people who value accounting advice”, but something very specific).
You’re creating 2-3 new pieces of genuinely helpful content every week.
Your entire team is involved.
You and the team are persistently sharing it on all the different platforms.
You’re tracking everything and noticing your own unique patterns, and adjusting based on what you learn.
It’s not just me: here are 9 others who say the exact same thing.
It works. Every time.
The only times I’ve seen it not work is when you skip steps, or skip really important elements. Like, you create lots of content, but it’s generic. Or you create helpful content, but it’s not focused on a particular audience – you’re trying to appeal to the whole world. Or you give up too soon. Or you do it all on your own.
Keep going. It absolutely works.