Dear Creators!
You are going to enjoy this next interview because it’s filled with juicy details. In it, you will likely read something that inspires you to act in your course creation journey, which is why I’m so excited to introduce you to content creation expert, Mary Kate Gulick, as we discuss all things content creation.
Mary Kate is an award-winning marketing content veteran with 20 years of experience. As the founder of Real Deal Content Coaching, she brings her Fortune 500, Digital agency chops to help experts, coaches and consultants market themselves in an authentic, no-BS way that builds the brand and drives traffic.
We are so excited to have you as the expert in our group this week. Can you please tell us the basics of content marketing?
The basics of content marketing, when you strip away all the extra stuff, is to provide enough value to your ideal client that they’ll raise their hand, give you their email address and say YES, I want to hear from you. From there, you have their blessing to market to them in their inbox, which is still one of their most private communication spaces. That’s what it all comes down to. Show your value. Get permission. Then keep showing value till their buy. You’ve heard people say that the money is in the email list? It absolutely is.
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What types of content do you find business most need to consider? What formats do you recommend?
Businesses really need to reconsider how they’re using video. All of the social platforms are favoring video right now, and it’s not enough to just post a link to a YouTube video to you Facebook page. Businesses need to be using the native video functionality of each platform to it’s best effect. Use FB and IG live to educate. Experiment with IG Reels now that Tik Tok’s future is uncertain. And if you have a short pre-recorded video to share, upload it directly to your social platform of choice WITH captions because most people will see your video without sound.
What advice do you have for someone who is just getting started creating content for a workshop or course?
The advice that I would offer is to build out a minimum viable product version of your workshop or course first. Something that requires about 1/10th of the work. If you can sell to your target audience, then you know you’re on to something and can continue building out the full course. Building a course is a big lift. And there’s nothing worse than spending months building out your curriculum, your platform, your tech, everything, just to launch to crickets and not sell a thing. As far as content, and how to promote the course, I’m a big fan of a short Facebook challenge that brings in new prospects, introduces them to your concept and leaves a BIG obvious gap between what they learn in the challenge and what you want to teach them in the course. On the last day of the challenge, sell the course.
Any tips and tricks to help us pull our best thoughts and words onto the page/screen?
Post-Its are my best friends! When I’m trying to outline a piece of content, whether it’s a long ebook or just the outline for a livestream, I always outline the major points I want to hit in big Post-Its, and put small Post-Its beneath it of everything I need to cover pertinent to that point. When I do this, it’s SO much easier to start writing my script or talking points or eBook because I’m not really dealing with an empty page. I’m just filling in the blanks!
You know, it is important to be consistently posting, but I feel like I always have to coach people out of the idea that they need to be EVERYWHERE. That’s simply not true. You’ll be much more consistent and effective if you go deep on one platform than if you spread yourself too thin, especially in the beginning. As far as favorites, I am really liking some of the new things that Instagram is doing, but my real favorite is LinkedIn. I know it sounds boring, but they’re favoring video SO heavily right now, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Their livestream function is in beta and only available to a few large contributors and corporations, but when that is widely available, it will be even easier. Since my audience has a high level of expertise in what they’re doing, that’s the platform where I’m most active.
Thanks to Mary Kate for sharing details about how to create social content & course content! I feel like there are at least 3 things that we can all do right now.
Join our Facebook Group, if you are ready to dig deeper. Reach out to me hilarylhahn(at)gmail.com, if you are ready to chart your journey!
You can find Mary Kate Gulick inside her awesome group the Real Deal Experts Creating Content