There’s a huge pull to try to do it all and be everywhere. And while putting yourself out there online is important, it is possible to do it without the overwhelm…and without hiring it out.
On this episode of the podcast, I’m chatting with Abby Herman of The Content Experiment about creating a minimum viable content marketing strategy. I have to warn you that we do talk about “shoulds” in your marketing because there are some things that you should really be doing if you want to get visible online.
Listen closely because not one of us does this perfectly, and Abby shares one of her “oops” moments when it came to an email sequence that she had running on its own. And I share my own Twitter “oops” moment that I blame on my ADHD.
Don’t get overwhelmed by content this year. It’s okay to find what works for you and then grow your content strategy from there. In fact, I think that’s how you “should” do it! (See what I did there?)
About Abby Herman:
Abby Herman is a content strategist and consultant for service-based business owners who want to gain visibility for their businesses with personalized content strategies and implementation. She specializes in idea generation and content strategy and delivery so her clients can keep on doing what they love in their businesses, making the marketing piece feel easy. Abby is the voice behind The Content Experiment Podcast, where she features guests and solo episodes to talk about business growth and mindset, content strategy, and visibility. You can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Links and Resources:
- Revive Old Posts WordPress Plugin
- One Week to Your Welcome Sequence
- Ask Your Audience Challenge
- Inner Circle Membership
Time Stamps:
[3:25] – Amber’s uptick in content publishing
[4:20] – Your biggest barrier in content creation
[5:25] – You don’t have to be in “all the places”
[8:30] – Amber hilariously reports herself to Twitter
[10:20] – Which platforms should you focus on?
[11:55] – Minimum viable content marketing
[13:14] – Protect yourself with your email list
[15:03] – Provide value to your email subscribers right away
[15:50] – Nurture your subscribers on a regular basis
[16:52] – Be sure to check in on your emails (Abby shares an oops)
[18:01] – Where will you publish your pillar content?
[19:30] – Recap of the “shoulds”
[24:06] – You don’t have to keep up with the Joneses (or the Porterfields)
[26:40] – Repurposing and updating current content
[30:01] – Abby’s training on surveying your audience
[31:27] – Two pieces to minimum viable content marketing that doesn’t involve you publishing your own content
[33:15] – Amber’s love for networking and the benefits of it
[34:04] – What to do if you want people to show up for you
[34:53] – How Abby leveraged Amber’s platform (with minimal time investment)
Transcription
Amber Hawley 0:01
business owners are increasingly being pulled in so many directions, feeling like they aren’t reaching their full potential in business in life despite their type aways. With my background as a therapist, entrepreneur, and as a.com dropout with ADHD, I interview and coach high achieving business owners like you who want to stop struggling for success by using psychological systems, strategies, and the occasional care plantation. This is the easily distracted entrepreneur, your place to slay overwhelmed perfectionism and shiny object syndrome so that you can get done what matters most to you. Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back, and happy 2022. That just sounded weird. But welcome to 2022 people, we are now in the second week of January, which if you’re like a lot of people means you’re finally ready to start looking at planning for 2020. Because a lot of us have the best of intentions and think, Okay, I need to make my goals and set my plans and get things organized. And then it’s like the holidays, and then you have holiday hangover, and you’re exhausted. And that first week is just like catch up and rest. So now you’re actually ready to do something about it, which is perfect, because I have the best guest with me today to help you plan all of your content. I have the wonderful Abby Herman with me, who is the CEO of the content experiment, and she is going to be helping you with all things content related.
Amber Hawley 1:45
Welcome, Abby.
Abby Herman 1:46
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate it. I was like, I know, chat.
Amber Hawley 1:52
I know. I know. I was like no pressure, like all things called literally everything, all of your knowledge distill down into about 40 minutes.
Abby Herman 2:00
Perfect. That’s about that’s about how long it’ll take and no longer.
Amber Hawley 2:07
I was like, I could give you a good solid 25. Awesome. Well, yes, I’m very excited to have you and why don’t you give the listeners a little bit more information about you and what you do?
Abby Herman 2:22
Yeah, so CEO of the content experiment, I’m a content strategist and consultant for online service based business owners, and we help them figure out what content they need to put out there to the world, what their audience is looking for what helps align with their goals and their offers. So we build out content strategies, and then we also help podcasters. And bloggers get their content out into the world. So we do the content strategy for the blogs, we create the content, and we do the implementation of blogs, social media, email marketing, for both podcasts and blogs themselves. So we do a lot of stuff. And mostly what we want to do is let the business owners do their jobs and make the monies and we take care of the content and the marketing piece so that they don’t have to worry about it.
Amber Hawley 3:15
Whoo, whoo. Those are like the dream words. And if you happen to notice an uptick in not just the quality, but the actual posting of content from me, it can all be attributed to Abby, or team.
Abby Herman 3:36
Oh, yeah,
Amber Hawley 3:37
it’s, I mean, I think that that’s such a huge thing when you are, especially for people who are solopreneurs, or people that are trying to build their business and scale, like having the right kind of support, especially around content and marketing, which is huge, is extremely helpful. And I know that you have lots of valuable strategies for people who maybe are not sure if they’re ready to upgrade, or they’re on the fence or they’re, they want to start kind of doing that process for themselves. So I guess where would you start with people? Like what? What would be the most helpful thing if people are trying to plan out their content?
Abby Herman 4:18
Well, I I think that the biggest barrier that people put up for themselves in creating their own content and developing a strategy for, you know, what they want to put out there is they try to be everywhere. They try to do all of the things because they see other people doing that, you know, we see the big names in our industry all over the place. Well, those people have big teams. So the business owner is probably not the one that is creating the content. The business owner probably, you know, has very little hand in the content itself. So I would say the first thing I always recommend is find out where your audience is and show up there so you can create a survey and survey people Are your ideal clients, a select group of ideal clients? And ask them? Where are you showing up online? How, what kind of content do you want to consume? Where do you want to consume it? And what do you need to know, in order to make a good purchasing decision, and start, start there. So because you really you do not have to be everywhere. And even if you’re newer in business, and by newer, I mean, you’re a solopreneur, or you have a really small team, you have limited time to put towards your business, figure out one or two places for your audience, you know, where your audience is showing up? And and show up there? And then do not worry about the rest of them?
Amber Hawley 5:39
Yes, I mean, and this is something, you know, I’ve talked to some of the people that I’ve coached where they feel that overwhelm, and I say you can, you can, like snag the, like, you can grab the the asset without having to use it, I’m trying to think of a better word for that. So I said, like, go if you’re, you know, if your company name is, you know, Joe Bob, of course, because I couldn’t think of one real company name, not even my own company name. For example, my biz bestie, I grabbed that on Twitter, I grabbed it on Instagram and on Facebook. And I’m actually use it on LinkedIn, too. But I did that to get all of the social media assets, but I have absolutely zero intention of being on Twitter. And because it is super overwhelming to me, but at least I know that it’s there for me, if down the road, all of a sudden, I become like, the best Twitter follower person, like who just falls in love with Twitter, or I hire someone who can help me with that, right? So I think like doing because sometimes people feel like, well, if I take that name, I have to then use it. And I’m like, Well, you can just put something there. You can park something there put up you know, your image or whatever. But like you said, focus on the one thing, I think anytime you do that, it just creates less overwhelm, right?
Abby Herman 6:57
Yeah. And I mean, I did the exact same thing with a clubhouse. So clubhouse came out. And I thought, Oh, God, this is going to be you know, like, just another place to show up. I tried to show up on clubhouse No, thank you. But I did grab a my name there. So that maybe one day I will want to use clubhouse, I don’t know. But I didn’t feel the need to be really active there. Because I thought it was just going to go away. You know, in a couple of weeks, like some other new social media platforms did arrive. And I know that it’s calmed down a lot, people aren’t talking about it as much. So yeah, stick to what you know, and stick to where your people are, and don’t get totally overwhelmed. There is also if you have a WordPress website, there’s a plugin, which I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. Because I’ve literally set it and forget forgotten it on my own website. But it will pull it will pull different posts from your website and publish them for you. So if you feel the need, like, well, maybe my people are on Twitter, I have, I think three to five Twitter posts every day that it just pulls old content from my website and publishes old content. And I’m fine with that. Like that keeps it somewhat active. I don’t look at my statistics, or I don’t look at my analytics. I don’t look at anything on Twitter, I just let it kind of pull. So if you feel the need to do that, you can automate something like that. And then you don’t have to worry about it.
Amber Hawley 8:21
That is awesome. That’s great. And we’ll put the name of that plugin in the show notes for people so that they can find it. Although I do have a this is so off topic, but I have a random Twitter story. So like I don’t use Twitter, but like I said, I go and grab, like whatever I need. And I have joined. There’s a lot of amber Holly’s out there actually, it’s kind of weird. But I when I actually ended up this last year reporting myself to Twitter, because I thought it was somebody else like stealing my because the only comment that made was like super snarky about something. And it took me in this is a very ADHD, right? It took me about a half an hour after I reported myself and I was like, Oh, shit, that’s me. Maybe a little activity is probably a good idea. Yeah, that is hilarious. And then I remembered Oh, yeah, the one time I went on Twitter, like some woman pissed me off to say something snarky. It was something political. And that’s why I was like, This is exactly why I can’t be on Twitter. But again, going back to the content strategy, and I think I don’t know if you I’m sure. Well, I don’t know if you’d agree with this or not my feeling too when I talk to people who are feeling that overwhelm and helping them is like go where your clients are, you know, in most clients or most places at this point, but I also think like Twitter, because I find it overwhelming. It’s just not my thing. That’s not a good place for me to go because it will take so much extra effort for me whereas something like Will Facebook was just my wheelhouse, right because I’m old, so I think it’s good It’s like, second nature to me. But like having a place where you both enjoy using it a little bit, and and your clients are there. I think it’s like that intersection, right?
Abby Herman 10:12
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And you know, also think about, why are your people on a specific platform. So if you are working with your corporate executives, like, let’s say you’re you’re working with executives, they’re going to be on LinkedIn, they’re going to be on LinkedIn for the purpose of business, but they’re probably on Instagram for fun, for memes for whatever. So think about the purpose. You know, behind it. Family is on Facebook. So whatever you’re offering whatever your your product or services, think about where are they going to be for that particular product or service and then add to it there, but but then yeah, like, also show up where it feels good for you. Because if you’re going to be completely distracted by you know, all of the political BS that is Twitter. Maybe that’s not a good place for you.
Amber Hawley 11:01
Yes. I felt the same way about clubhouse. I think that’s just knowing my ADHD, like even tick tock. I’m like, Oh, I love tick tock, because it’s everything I love in the world, but I can’t handle it, because I will lose hours to show me have dancing I love I’m the Dance Party Starter dancing music. And then funny, like funny, heartwarming memes. Forget it. I’m just sucked in. And so yeah, I think you got to figure that out and say, sometimes it’s about when you when you have ADHD, especially, it’s like, I know, I can’t handle it. It’s like, I shall not inject that drug. Because it’s just too much.
Abby Herman 11:38
Yes, absolutely.
Amber Hawley 11:41
Awesome. So if, you know, again, so we’re going back to you don’t have to be everywhere. Be mindful of that. Don’t put that pressure on yourself. Yeah. Is there another strategy that you would give to people who in like, how they approach their content? Or what would be the most useful?
Abby Herman 11:58
Yeah, so I know that there’s a lot of pressure to publish content on a weekly basis, and to do your podcast every week, or to do your blog every week, or, or whatever. And you really have to figure out what is the best cadence for you, what works for you for the time that you have for the financial resources that you have, if you’re, if you’re hiring somebody to help you or to do it for you is to figure out what works for you and what works for your audience. So I like to talk about minimum viable content marketing, like the the minimum things that people should, and yes, I’m using the word should our business, if they want to market their business, you know, in a way that is sustainable, and in a way that is going to get the return on their time and financial investment. So I can go through a couple of things that I think every business should have. And yes, should again, the
Amber Hawley 12:57
therapist, the therapist is going to support you in shooting today, like normal. I know, we all know we shouldn’t shoot on ourselves. Yeah, but we are going to shed today. All right, people,
Abby Herman 13:07
these are like best practices. So the best practices for, you know, making sure that your marketing is working. So one of the things that every business should have. And this goes for literally any business is an opt in of some sort, to attract people to your email list, which is something that every business should have. So I know that there’s a lot of talk about, well, my my list is not my list isn’t active. They’re not reading my emails, they don’t like emails, they’re not looking at their inboxes No, they really they are and you like and collecting email addresses? Is it actually a way to protect yourself? So we all have seen and experienced Facebook shutting down and Instagram not working? And then there’s all this panic about? How am I going to market my business when Instagram isn’t working today? Well, if you’re relying on Instagram to market your business or any social platform, if that is your primary way of marketing your business, that is not a good thing. You need to have an email list so that you can so that you can reach your people where they are in their inboxes you can you can contact them directly. So have some sort of opt in that allows that gives people a quick win. And by opt in I don’t mean like a downloadable checklist that used to work it doesn’t necessarily work anymore. People are more sophisticated. They want something a little bit more so maybe it’s a you know, 1520 minute masterclass, maybe it’s a series of videos, maybe it’s a training or a mini course or some sort of workbook or something like that, or an e book a fillable ebook, something like that gives them allows them to win something to win at some challenge that they’re having. And then that allows you to collect their email address. So that’s one thing that the opt in and the email see What are the I’m sorry, the email list. And then a welcome sequence would be the next thing. So have a welcome sequence, once they opt into that thing, they give you their email address, they opt into the thing, a welcome sequence. And that is what is going to help them get to know you better, it’s going to you can spotlight some of your free content, you can give them another when you provide value, you know, and eventually, you can direct them to some low level offer, like I have a $17 training that I offer. And I have a $24 masterclass that I offer in part of my welcome sequence. So that’s so you’ve got an opt in, you’ve got your email list or sending a welcome series of emails. And then the next thing that every business should have is a way to nurture those subscribers. So this is all related to email, right? So a way to nurture your subscribers, so don’t just let them sit there on your list. People are forgetful, we get distracted, we have other things going on in our lives, both in business and in personal. And so nurture those subscribers on a regular basis. So if you’re publishing a podcast on a weekly basis, that is a great opportunity to email your subscribers and say, Hey, I have this new piece of content, you’re gonna hopefully be a little more, you’re gonna give them a little more than that, but send them to that new piece of content on a regular basis. So that’s all kind of the email piece that really it sounds like a lot, and it might feel overwhelming. But honestly, the opt in and the welcome sequence, once you have those setup, you can just let them run. And I would recommend going in and checking on them every six months or so. So funny. I actually had somebody email me yesterday. So we’re recording this in December of 2021. In March of 2021, I hosted a summit. And I did not go in the end to double check on my emails that were going out. A woman emailed me yesterday and said, Hey, I signed up for the summit, and I want to buy the All Access Pass and one place it says $49 and one place it says $149. You know, what’s the deal? And I was like, oh my god, that was nine months ago. So I said, you know, that was nine months ago, I’m not hosting a summit march like March 2022. But I’m happy to honor the $49 price, I’ll get to the links so that you can sign up and you can get the recordings. But yeah, I do recommend going through and checking, because I had to figure out where in the world did she get this?
Abby Herman 17:40
You know that because I didn’t update my emails. So yeah, so I do recommend doing that. And then I talked about nurturing your subscribers with content with, you know, the new content that you’re creating. So this goes back to, you don’t have to be everywhere. So I have one place where you’re publishing your own. I call it pillar content. So it’s the content that you own. And I consider a pillar content, a blog, a podcast, or a YouTube channel. And the reason why those are the three pieces of pillar content that I like to talk about is because you own those pieces of content, you own your blog, because it’s on your website, nobody can shut shut it down. Unless you don’t pay the hosting fees, nobody’s gonna shut it down, you own that content, your podcast is getting pushed out onto all the different podcast players, you don’t, you know, you don’t have a lot of control over that. But you do have control over the content that you’re publishing, and the show notes and the summaries and all that that you’re publishing on your host what you’re paying for. So you own that. And then YouTube is a little bit different because it’s really a search engine. But but you still own that content, you don’t have a lot of control over what it’s going to look like or how you’re publishing it. But it’s a search engine. So it’s a really great place to be if you don’t want to blog, and you don’t want to podcast. So have one place where you’re at least one place where you’re publishing pillar content. And if you want to add on to that great, but if you’re newer or you’re limited on time, start with one. And then last piece.
Amber Hawley 19:23
I was like that is overwhelming.
Abby Herman 19:27
The last piece is so you’re taking that piece of pillar content and you’re sharing it in your regular nurturing emails. You also share it on social media, the one or two platforms that you’ve decided that your audience is at. So so share it there and then don’t and then don’t worry about sharing it on all the places. So, so to kind of pull it all back to make it seem a little bit less overwhelming. You’ve got your pillar content, whatever cadence works for you, if that’s every other week, great. Just figure out a cadence that works for you. And then make it you know, so that so it sustainable for you. So you’ve got your pillar content, you’re gonna share that on your regular, nurturing emails, and you’re gonna share it on social media, one or two platforms. And those are the only things that you’re really like, quote unquote needing to create on a regular basis, you’ve got your OPT in set up, you’ve got your welcome sequence set up, you have your email list set up. So that’s all been like a one and done thing. It’s just have a place where you’re publishing content shared on a couple of platforms, and send an email about it. So easy peasy, right? But it doesn’t have to be like, it doesn’t have to be totally overwhelming. We’re okay, I’m going to create this podcast, and it’s going to be a video podcast. And so I’m going to publish it on YouTube also, and then I’m going to create a blog about it. And that no, you don’t have to do all of that. Make it simple. And, you know, if you’re, if you’re a blogger, and you want your blogs to be, you know, 500 words or less great, just put something out there, it doesn’t have to be super elaborate, and you don’t have to overthink it either.
Amber Hawley 21:08
So you don’t have to write the Iliad. It can be short and sweet. I do think, you know, whenever I talk to people about like, whether it’s setting up the foundation in your business, or like even organizing, initially, yes, the upfront work, it can there’s there’s a lot of pieces to it. But once you’ve created like you said, once you’ve created those kind of sequences and stuff, then I feel like the maintenance isn’t as much and especially if you develop systems for like the newsletter templates, and all of those things to make your life a lot easier. I think it can be, you know, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. But I do like that you’re saying like really manage expectations, you know, about what is how often you deliver, and then make it as simple as possible to to do that. Because, I mean, we all know, we’ve probably heard one training or another where it says, No, it has to be weekly, and you have to do this and everything has to go out on the same day. Because that’s when you get the most bang for your buck. And when it goes live and yada yada, you know, like I know. And it’s like, let go of the idea that you’re going to be in some kind of featured top 20, whatever, Slist or something like that. And just make it easy for yourself. And you can always get there, right? Yeah, that’s something I feel like I’m always talking about. And you may totally disagree with this. And that’s totally cool. I don’t mind. I like a challenge. But when I’m when I have somebody who’s really overwhelmed, I’ll even say, just create a thank you email. And you can add the rest of the sequence later. Because sometimes if you feel like you have to do I have to write five emails now? You know, after they opt in? It’s like, well, no, you can this is the beauty of like modern entrepreneurship, like in the internet, we can always add stuff. And so yes, that would be great if every single person got the perfect experience. Hey, you know,
Abby Herman 23:02
yes, well, and let’s be real to like, we’re not you, we’re not attracting 5 million people to our podcasts every time right? Like it’s not happening. So if you don’t have a welcome sequence to start at that the thought of doing that overwhelms you fine. Yeah, I totally agree, have a thank you email, or just hold off on the opt in and the welcome sequence for now. Get a good cadence on your pillar content that you’re sending out, and then add that later. Just don’t let a year go by what you say. Like, where you say, okay, that’s on my list to do. And then you keep transferring it from list to list. It was,
Amber Hawley 23:42
like didn’t why you’re looking at me when you say that.
Abby Herman 23:46
I do the same thing. Yeah, just Yeah. Make sure that you you get it done at some point. But yeah, you don’t, it doesn’t all have to be perfect. I am a huge advocate of Done is better than perfect. Get it out there. You can always update things. You can always change things you can add, you can take away whatever works for you. Like, it doesn’t make sense to try to keep up with somebody else. I tried to keep up with Amy Porterfield for a while I was like, I’m going to create an opt in for every single piece of content that I put out there. Holy cow. No, I had, I had no team at the time and forget, it was a little overwhelming. But I thought oh, I can do this. And I can still do the client work too at the same time and I totally I’m Superwoman I can do it all. No.
Amber Hawley 24:32
See, and that’s that they and I will say Amy is pretty clear that she has a big team that helps her with that. And that’s where like it became more manageable. Like she had only handling certain pieces, right? Yeah, but but that’s the thing like it can. You can only but I think if you get those foundational pieces, at least it’s there and you can start building off of it. As opposed to if you wait and wait and wait. Then like you said then you’re kind of kicking yourself like Damn, why didn’t I start this earlier? Yeah, you know, I mean, I have the same experience, but, but I do think it’s like breaking it down. And so maybe you say to yourself, like if it law if it is the opt in, right? Once you’ve gotten, like, first of all, if you’re doing a podcast, or you’re doing a YouTube channel or blog or something, if you’re emailing people regularly, that makes sense that that would be the first habit to develop, you’re actually sharing your stuff. And then if you’re going to do the opt in, I could even imagine, like putting, like, every week, you’re like, Okay, I have 30 minutes, and I’m going to write another email for the sequence. So that way, at least it’s scheduled. Or if every week is too much, maybe it’s once a month when you work on whatever your project is for the month, but you have it scheduled. So you know, you can work on it. But at the same time, there’s not this pressure to do it all at once. And have it all like work, right?
Abby Herman 25:52
Yes, yep, totally. And I have a couple of options that are challenges. So one is a one week to your welcome sequence. So it takes you through that process in over the course of a week. And it’s seven videos. And it took me a long time to do that. And to you know, to create it to outline it, I batched the videos so that I was sitting down one day and did them all in one day. And then I have another I have another opt in that is a challenge on creating an audience survey. And I actually did that at live. So I recreated the videos as I was teaching it live, and then use that in my opt in so you can find ways to batch and to to make it a little simpler for yourself to
Amber Hawley 26:36
Yeah, I like that. I have a challenge that I’ve run a couple of times last year, called the your real schedule challenge. Or actually, I think that at some point, we accidentally changed the name to like optimizing your schedule. Whatever. Yeah. But I know for me, I’m just saying this because I’m guessing I’m not the only one that has this problem. So for me, I had that same thought of like this went over so well. People loved it, they were they found it so helpful. I would get emails and like, it was such a great experience. And I thought, Oh, well, I didn’t say everything the right way I should re record it, it literally is on my to do list to re record this to make it more succinct and more like, you know, like shorter, because it was 30 minutes a day for five days. And make it like Matt more manageable for people. So instead of just releasing that my perfectionistic stuff comes up, even though I talk to people about this. And I’m like, Well, I mean, I need to make it better. So I’ll just wait and have that be an opt in later. What are your What are your thoughts or feelings about?
Abby Herman 27:41
Well, I mean, if it’s so the welcome sequence challenge that I have, it’s pretty old, like it’s been around a while and it’s been on my list to update and to recreate. But it’s still out there and people still sign up for it. And I’m okay with that. Like it’s still, it’s, it’s still giving the value that you want to give. It’s just not perfect. That’s okay. Like, get it out there. Let people sign up for it. Let people download it and get the value out of it. And then, you know, six years and now when you have time then you can update it. But yeah, nothing done is better than perfect all the time. Every time.
Amber Hawley 28:20
I just I needed you to say that advice to people and maybe I’ll actually take this advice by the time that your this episode goes live. Maybe this is already, you know, an opt in that I’m providing to people. I probably I actually think it will because I I actually haven’t scheduled because it is a I think it’s my first quarter like goal stuff. But what also helps is in December even though I know we’re recording in December, I released an episode where I give the episode is me giving one of those 30 minute trainings. I couldn’t listen to it though, because I thought oh my god, if I listen to it, I’m going to pick it apart. And I’m going to be like, Oh, I can’t believe you said that. Like why did you say that? Because I’ll say inappropriate things all the time. But I just released it right like I just love like don’t don’t look at it don’t be perfectionistic just let it go. And let just give it away. Just give it away. Yeah, maybe that was the catalyst for me is like just put it out there. Yeah,
Abby Herman 29:20
just put it out there. Don’t listen to it again. Yes.
Amber Hawley 29:24
I know there’s some things I love listening to you like interviews and stuff, but there’s some times I was like, Oh, hell no, I’m not listening to that. I don’t even want to know how bad I sound it
Abby Herman 29:34
it’s like recording a video for a summit and then you have to you have to sit in on the Summit Live as you’re recording as playing so that you can be in the chat. I hate that so
Amber Hawley 29:47
yes, that’s so hard. That’s
Abby Herman 29:50
your whole your whole spiel again and Yeah.
Amber Hawley 29:55
I love it. Yeah, I mean, so I know also in the inner circle Institute Kimber, our kind of our theme was around like contents in my membership. And you came in and what were one of the guest expert trainers and you gave your training was about your was about the challenge. Now I just watched through it. Yeah, the ask your audience to ask your audience challenge. Thank you. Yeah. So definitely, if people want to get that little specialized training, they can look into the membership. But and what I loved about that training, though, was it’s another way that you’re helping people kind of get past the barriers or helping them making their their content, creating their own content in an easier way. So I think that was what was nice about the pulling your audience challenges, it’s getting creative, and how you come up with that content. Because sometimes we can get like stuck. And whether that’s perfectionism or overwhelm, or whatever it is so, so yeah, I love that you your approach is just it’s a very, like, let’s let’s make this as easy as possible, but still be useful. Mm hmm.
Abby Herman 31:01
Yeah, yeah. Cuz it’s really easy to get stuck into like, stare at the screen and watch the the cursor blank, think I have to record this podcast episode, or I need I need this blog post or email or whatever, and to not have a clue what to create. And they ask your audience challenge actually walks you through how to figure out like how to grow your content idea list, so that you know what to what to create. There’s also there’s so there’s two other pieces to this minimum viable content marketing that doesn’t actually involve you publishing a podcast on a weekly basis or creating a bunch of social media posts. And so, but they’re really valuable. And they’re really valuable ways to get people to the content that you already have. So one of those is to engage with other people’s content. So it’s really easy to get quote, unquote, Easy Air, quote, easy to create content, and just put it out there to the world and then just walk away. You know, you talked about being overwhelmed by social media and Tik Tok, I’m so guilty of sitting on the couch in the evenings and going, well, let’s be real, I’m guilty of sitting on my office chair in the middle of the day, and watching tick tock videos that I should not be watching. But engaging in other people’s content is a really great way to get seen online, you know, online to be able to get seen by your contacts or your connections, followers as well. It’s just, it’s a really great way to offer additional value so and to just remind people that you know, you’re human, and you have ideas that are outside of your own little niche or expertise. So engaging in other people’s content is really huge. And it makes people feel good to have comments and likes and follows and all of that on their content. So,
Amber Hawley 32:56
absolutely. You know what else I like about that? Well, there’s two things. One is this. Okay, I’ll just go with the easier one first, what I think this is my ADHD brain come up with four things at once. But one thing is it reminds me of while like networking so much or meeting people, like I know, there’s a connotation of networking, but I love networking and meeting people. And when you go to something, even if you go regularly to like, let’s say the same meeting, you know, for allegedly ever meeting in person, again, it makes you top of mind. And so it’s one of those things where like, I see somebody, like you said, even if they’re interacting on somebody else’s post, or I see them in public, or in some kind of group, I’m like, oh, yeah, that’s right. So and so and then inevitably, I feel like that’s when a client or a friend comes to me and said, Oh, I need somebody to help me with this. And I’m like, Oh, that’s right. You know, and I have that person to give us a referral. I think it’s this it works the same way. Like you get to be top of mind for somebody. Right? Absolutely. So it’s marketing as well, or networking as well. And the other reason I really like it is this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is kind of this integrity thing where it’s like if I want people to interact with my stuff and show up for me, and like you said whether even if it’s not complimentary or whatever, but show if I want people to show up for me if I want clients to write testimonials or whatever I need to be writing the people that that I think are so great testimonials I need to be showing up for other people’s social media, and not just being that person who puts stuff out there but never replies. And so for me that’s, that’s it’s just been in my head a lot lately thinking about like, I want to be authentic and I want to have integrity with this. Like I don’t want to just be a taker and never giving right
Abby Herman 34:43
absolutely yes, absolutely. Totally. I love it.
Amber Hawley 34:49
So what is that last should on your list? The other
Abby Herman 34:51
should the last should so you’re gonna engage with other people’s content but then also leveraging other people’s platforms is really important. All So so right now, as we’re sitting here, recording, I am leveraging your platform Amber and your audience, because I’m getting in front of people who don’t know who I am. And you were on my podcast back in December. And so you were leveraging my platform. And that is such a great thing like to be able to connect with people in that way. And then, you know, introduce, I mean, we’re basically vouching for one another, because we’re having each other on our podcast. So that’s it. And there’s other ways to do it, too. So like speaking, being on a summit, you know, going into, like, I went into your Facebook group and and did a training there. So all of those are ways to leverage other people’s platforms that, you know, doesn’t necessarily have to be an ongoing, consistent thing. It’s something that you do here and there as it fits, you know, your schedule, and your goals and all of that. So that’s a really helpful way to get yourself out there and to create content that, you know, I mean, yes, I knew what I was talking about ahead of time. Yes, I have some notes of some things that I didn’t want to forget to mention. But this really didn’t take a lot of prep time on my end, to sit down and have this conversation. So it’s a really great way to get in front of people without a lot of time investment.
Amber Hawley 36:18
Yes. And that’s especially good for people, if you’re, if you’re still in that place, where you’re like, why don’t I don’t have it in me to do a pot, or I have no interest in doing a podcast or a blog, or whatever it is YouTube channel, you’re like that I think it is a great way because you still are creating content. And when I had somebody where I interviewed them last year, yeah, last well, so it would have been actually 2020. And I interviewed them. And we did it. It was a live stream that we did. And they ended up taking that content and like paying somebody else to like chop it up and release little tidbits on LinkedIn. And I was like, I was thrilled because one, they’re sharing, you know, they’re sharing my stuff, too. So my name gets attached to it. So I get, you know, I get the exposure to her audience as well. But it was able, she’s not somebody who has a podcast. So she was able to utilize that and show her expertise, because she came on and was talking about what she knows about. So yeah, I think it is a really good way. There’s so many ways you can leverage the content when you are on somebody else’s podcast as well. More, like you said, stage or whatever the thing is,
Abby Herman 37:28
yeah, yeah. Cuz you’re hopefully if you’re a guest on somebody else’s podcast, you’re sharing it on your own social media. So you are promoting yourself and your own expertise. And you’re promoting the podcast, which goes back to what you were saying earlier, Amber about, you know, like being there for other people and shouting out other people. And, you know, looking at the integrity of all of it. So yeah,
Amber Hawley 37:49
yeah. And when I think about there have been times where I’ve done interviews on other people’s podcasts that I felt was even better than how I explained it myself one time, sometimes, well, first of all, I just, it’s so much easier for me to talk to somebody, that’s why my therapist, coach, and so but I have it, you can get some really brilliant content out of being on other people’s stuff, because it just it makes you think in a different way, the way they ask questions makes you think in a different way. And so I think it can be super valuable. So I love that one. I think that’s a great one for people, especially when you have when you’re feeling overwhelmed. schedule wise, right? Yes, yep. Absolutely. Well, that is fantastic. I mean, that’s a that’s a lot of that is a lot of obsessions, just to mess with you. Know, I think it’s a lot of really smart, like, concrete ways to start building that consistency. Because, I mean, the whole goal, like you said, the minimal minimum viable product is about, like, let’s create stuff, let’s get your, you know, your thought leadership or your expertise out there. So people actually know what you do, but in a way that feels sustainable for you. So I love that. Yeah, yeah. If people wanted to, you know, stalk you a little bit, find out more, do all the things take your challenges were?
Abby Herman 39:12
So I’m at the, thecontentexperiment.com And I’m on Instagram as the content experiment, and then to grab the challenges. It’s thecontentexperiment.com/welcome for the welcome sequence challenge or slash ask for the ask your audience challenge.
Amber Hawley 39:33
I love it. I love it. Well, is there any other parting? I mean, you’ve given a lot, a lot of great stuff here. But if there’s one last thing if somebody is saying okay, I know that I need to work on creating more content or creating something to be attracting the right clients to me, is there one last nugget of wisdom you would give? Give them are out there,
Abby Herman 39:57
publish something, just put something out there. They’re like, Just do it. Because you know, you’re keeping your information and your value inside your head, just put something out there and get started and know that it doesn’t have to be perfect. I know that that’s really hard, but it just, it just doesn’t, because nobody’s gonna know, nobody will notice. If you go back and change something later, nobody’s going to notice if like something is not exactly as you would normally publish it. Just get something out there and do it.
Amber Hawley 40:27
I love it. I love it. And psychologically speaking, we know that the more you do that, even if it feels scary or uncomfortable, or you feel like you’re going to die inside, the more that you actually just like do that and publish something or put it out there, the easier it gets. So you just just do it. We’re gonna still Nike here and thanks for coming on today.
Abby Herman 40:50
You’re welcome. Thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
The Inner Circle
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