More Clients Less Hustle

14-Day Challenge: The Crazy Little Tweak That Turbocharged My Content with Alison Ver Halen (Day 11)

• Caroline Balinska + Alison Verhalen • Season 1 • Episode 17

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🚨 Calling all entrepreneurs who want to supercharge their content game! 🚨 Don't miss this episode where Alison Ver Halen revealq the "secret sauce" for creating content that attracts, engages, and converts like crazy.  Prepare for your mind to be BLOWN! 🤯

Alison takes us on a wild journey, covering everything from understanding your ideal client's deepest desires (no, not THOSE desires, you cheeky monkeys!) to mapping out the buyer's journey with precision. These are the oft-overlooked yet crucial steps that separate the content marketing masters from the also-rans.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg! Alison also drops some serious knowledge bombs on repurposing your content across multiple formats to maximize reach and engagement. From crafting irresistible video content to generating an endless stream of fresh topic ideas through audience interaction and competitive research, this woman has got you covered.

And let's not forget the juiciest part: uncovering the emotional triggers that drive consumer decisions and learning how to connect with your audience on a soul-deep level. We're talking addressing their pain points, celebrating unique holidays, and basically becoming their best friend (without the awkward sleepovers).

This episode is an absolute content marketing masterclass, my friends. Alison serves up actionable insights galore, including the importance of a consistent content calendar that'll keep you organized and on track.

So, what are you waiting for? If you're an entrepreneur who's serious about taking your content marketing game to the next level, this is a must-listen. Buckle up and get ready to have your mind blown!

Bio
Alison Ver Halen majored in English and Psychology without realizing she was getting the perfect degree for content marketing. It wasn't until a few years after she graduated, when a family friend asked her to write blog posts for his law firm, that she realized she could make money doing what she loves. Fast forward to today and Alison is still writing blog posts, as well as website landing pages and emails, but also integrates SEO and marketing strategy into the content she writes to give her clients their best chance of attracting, engaging, and converting their ideal clients.

Get In Touch with Alison
https://avwritingservices.com/


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to More Clients, Less Hustle, the podcast where we break barriers, defy labels and empower busy entrepreneurs like you to soar to new heights. Get ready to shatter the glass ceiling as we dive deep with experts and transformative coaching calls, unveiling secrets to success and unlocking your true potential. Join us on this journey of growth, empowerment and limitless possibilities. Let's pave the way for more clients, less hustle. I'm your host, Caroline Balinska. Welcome back to the 14 Day Challenge. I have Alison Verhalen with me today and we're talking everything about creating content for your business, content that will get you more leads and more engagement. So I'm very excited with today's episode, and I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot as well, because Alison is an expert and she's going to help us with this topic. So, hi, Alison, how are you today?

Speaker 2:

I'm well, how are you?

Speaker 1:

Very good, I know it's first thing in the morning for you, so thank you so much for joining us, of course, and today I wanted to talk about content marketing strategies and really the importance of it, and today really is an episode about really bite-sized pieces of information. So I'm sure you've got a lot that you can cover, but we'll try to keep it as concise as possible so then people can walk away with something that action plan today. What is content marketing as a strategy? What would you actually explain it as that people should understand?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, when done right, content marketing should attract, engage and convert your ideal clients, which means you have to know who your ideal clients are.

Speaker 2:

You have to know what types of content they're consuming.

Speaker 2:

You have to know what topics they're interested in. You have to know what your buyer journey looks like, so that every time someone encounters a piece of content on social media, on your website, in your newsletter, wherever it is, you have to know what is that next step that you want them to take. And then how are you going to motivate them to take that step. So a content marketing strategy is taking all of that into account and building pieces of content and putting them in place, kind of like a puzzle, so that you have it all mapped out and so that when people find you, they're going to find the right content at the right time and they're going to take that next step in the buyer journey. And then it's so much easier to convert them and have that sales conversation when they've already engaged with the content that your brand has been creating and they're already educated and they see you as an expert in your industry and they're halfway convinced that already that you're the one they want to work with before they even get on the phone with you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's fantastic, but I'm sure that I know a lot of my listeners will be saying that sounds so overwhelming. It's a lot, but I think that the first thing to take away from that is that there's quite a few parts of that that are sort of the initial stages that you have to set up. But once you have those in place, then it's sort of smooth sailing after that that you've got the template ready and then you can sort of fit the pieces in between.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

So how long do you think it would take? If someone needed to set up that? First stages would you say it would take them six months a week, a few hours Now. With AI I'm sure that it's easier. What would you sort of just to let people know?

Speaker 2:

don't get overwhelmed, because there is a way to get this done. Yeah, it depends on the business and it depends on the person who's doing it or the team that's doing it. If you have a team of people doing it, I always start by asking people you know, what does your buyer journey look like? And most of the time I get a blank stare because they've never thought about that and they have no idea. So that's the first step is figure out a. Figure out your ideal client B what does your buyer journey look like?

Speaker 2:

And I've talked to other people who are like yeah, here's my buyer journey, it's all mapped out. Great, Then you can skip to step two. Right, but yeah, first and foremost is understanding who your ideal client is, because everything comes back to that. The language that you use, the topics that you cover, the types of content you create all come back to your ideal client. What they're interested in, what they want to see, what motivates them to take that next step in the buyer journey. So that should really be your North star is who is your ideal client and just get as much information on them as you can.

Speaker 1:

I find that so true and I'm sure that you and I could have a lot of conversations about this that we get people coming to us. I'm sure you have the same. They come to you and they start saying, okay, so I want this piece of content on Instagram to make me a hundred thousand dollars and it's like, yeah, but what about the first parts of that? And we don't even know all those first stages. So I know that blank stare. I've seen it from people lots of times and if you don't take anything else away from this episode, I want you to hear Alison that when she says that you need to know your buyer journey and how important that is, that is definitely. If you don't have that, then you really can't do. You're just throwing balls in the air and nothing's. You can't catch anything. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah for sure. That's when people get into what I call creating content for the sake of creating content. They know they're supposed to be on Instagram. They know they're supposed to be blogging because they heard from someone they're supposed to do that. They haven't really thought about why they're doing it and how it fits into their larger business strategy. So that's how you end up yeah, throwing.

Speaker 2:

You know some people call it throwing spaghetti at the wall and trying to see what sticks. And it doesn't work that way and that leads to a lot of frustration, a lot of wasted time, because you're not thinking about your ideal client, you're not thinking about your bio journey. So a lot of people throw their arms in the air and say, oh well, social media doesn't work, blogging doesn't work. Well, it does if you're intentional about it and strategic and you stick with it. That's the other thing that's super important. That no one wants to hear is that it takes time. Whether you're talking about social media or blogging or both. It takes time to build an audience and to earn their trust, to earn Google's trust, so to position yourself as a thought leader and an expert in your industry, so that then you can start seeing the results. But it takes a concerted effort for an extended at least a few months before you start seeing those results.

Speaker 1:

No, that's a really good point as well, because I think that's what a lot of people do, is that they go out and they put out a week of content. They get really excited one week and then nothing works and then they go. It doesn't work. And I think it's a lot like you know the old saying of you know, if you're trying to lose weight and if you're not consistent and you think like just eating healthy for a day, and then suddenly you go out and eat junk food every day and you go well, I ate healthy one day. It's that same sort of strategy is like there's a consistency behind it.

Speaker 1:

And, yeah, I definitely see that happening a lot and I think we get burnt out. And I think that's why I named this podcast More Clients, less Hustle because that whole Gary V strategy. You know, if you were Gary V and you had that bigger team behind you which he doesn't pay a lot of his team members I think people need to understand that a lot of the people that work for Gary V don't get paid at all. So if you had a big team like that working for you and you didn't look after your children and you didn't have to do all the normal things that people do, then you know, creating that content and waiting to see what sticks is fine, but when you're in a situation where you can't do that, you get burnt out from it, don't you? It gets for sure.

Speaker 1:

And what would you say? Do you have any specific mistakes that you see people making when it comes to trying to create content?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, that's a big one is, like we said, creating content for a week or a couple of weeks and then not seeing immediate results and giving up. And I hear this all the time from people who are like, yeah, I tried it and then it didn't work and so I gave up. And you have to give it at least a few months, preferably closer to a year, and again, always with the being consistent and keeping your target audience in mind and that buyer journey, so that you're making sure that you're not creating content for the sake of creating content. You're not just checking off a box on your marketing strategy. It's what is the goal of this content? What is it going to accomplish for your marketing strategy, for your brand awareness and, ultimately, for the bottom line of your business? You have to keep all of that in mind at all times.

Speaker 1:

And what would you say about choosing the types of content? Besides, like you need to understand who your buyer is, but do you have any sort of specific tips around that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, always understand your ideal client. Everything comes back to that.

Speaker 1:

If people don't like video or prefer writing. Is there sort of something around that as well? That is important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, repurpose your content. So one of my favorite things to do is to make a video, take the audio, turn it into a podcast, transcribe the audio, turn that into a blog post. Now you you've created one piece of content one time, but you're able to get the most out of it by creating three different types of content. So if people want to watch the video, they can do that. If they just want to listen to the podcast, they can do that. If they'd rather read it, they can do that, because there are a few of us out there who still prefer reading over listening to podcasts and watching videos. So, yeah, that is one of my favorite ways to get the most out of your content.

Speaker 1:

Great, great answer. You passed the test? No, there's's no test. I did recall day three of this challenge and in day three, I actually gave exactly that strategy, because I talk about having some sort of success plan and that's exactly the strategy that I give as well.

Speaker 1:

You know, just creating one video and what you can do with that, and these days, with ai it's, I think people do not know the potential and what they're missing out on by creating just one video and you don't need to talk to camera. You can do it as a screen share or you can do it side on or there's different ways that you can film. But yeah, I completely agree that. Thinking about how long have you been in the industry by the way, about 12 years now. So I've been around, for I started doing online marketing 24 years ago, so you know, if you started 12 years ago, what we were doing 12 years ago was just a completely different world, and the possibilities now, with what you can do with one piece of content, like even just one video back then just wasn't getting the traction because people didn't have the ability to watch that much video content. So the power in video is amazing these days.

Speaker 2:

It is, and people are increasingly demanding video. More and more people want to see the video, even for podcasts. I mean, podcasts used to be a bunch of people in a dark room in their basement right speaking into a microphone, and now everyone wants the video to go with the podcast. So now we all have to put on our makeup and get our backgrounds right and all of the things so that we look good on video in addition to sounding good on the podcast. So yeah, keep up with the ever-evolving world of online marketing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think it's a great time to be doing this, though I think it's definitely the best time. There's a lot of potential, and what about finding topic ideas Like do you have any places that people can look or ways to work out what they can actually create? Because I think a lot of people get stuck on that.

Speaker 2:

Back to your ideal client Having conversations, whether it's in prospect calls or client meetings or even networking events, or even if you're at a cocktail party and someone asks what you do and you tell them and they go oh well, what about such and such? What about? For me, these days, it's AI. Everyone wants to know about AI, right? What are those questions that you're hearing over and over and over again? Because if you're hearing them in person, chances are people are looking for information on that topic online as well.

Speaker 2:

So creating a video, podcast and or blog post around that topic is always a really smart idea. Check out the competition. Never, ever, just copy and paste, because A rude, b not effective, especially in the long run. But you can see what topics they're covering and so if they're covering a topic, there's probably a reason for it, so there might be also value in you covering that topic Again. Don't say the same stuff they're saying.

Speaker 2:

Put your own spin on it. What is your take on this matter? What expertise do you have to offer? What perspective do you have to offer that is different from whether it's your competitors or someone else? Google Trends is also really good. That's a good way to see what people are searching for, when they start searching for them, which can be really cool and a great opportunity to take advantage of those keywords before they become super competitive, before everyone else kind of jumps on that bandwagon and creates content around that. If you can be one of the first people to answer those questions, it's going to give you a big boost in the world of SEO. So those are probably my top. Well, what did I give Three, four answers for?

Speaker 1:

No, I think that's helpful, because I think some people get so overwhelmed that they just freeze and then they don't do anything at all and they think that they're not skilled enough to give that advice or they think that someone will be better than them. But, like you said, putting that twist on anything makes that different, that's how you set yourself up as a thought leader.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think that's the thing is that at the end of the day, there might be other people doing the same thing as you, but at the end of the day, people choose to work with people based on that team, that person. So it doesn't always, and you shouldn't be selling yourself on the price. Actually, you should be selling yourself on yourself. So, at the end of the day, if someone wants to work with you, then if they like what you're saying, then you're more likely to get them. And, like you said, don't copy other people's information, because that means that you're no longer yourself.

Speaker 2:

Right A hundred percent.

Speaker 1:

And what would be your number one tip for creating effective content, your ideal client?

Speaker 2:

and the buyer journey. So you know where are they in the buyer journey when they're consuming this particular piece of content. What does it make sense for the next step of the buyer journey? How are you going to motivate them to take that next step in the buyer journey and the problem that you're solving for them? There's pain points which people talk about a lot, but there's also which is you know, here's this pain that they're in. This is the problem that I'm solving for them. So some we often in marketing focus on that pain point so we can remind people how much it sucks to be in this position before we go oh hey, there's a better way I can help you out over here. There's also opportunity points where, instead of focusing on the pain, you go hey, wouldn't it be awesome if you could live on the beach and drink cocktails every day and go for a walk and watch the whales? Right, whatever, whatever that position is that you are that dream that you're selling. Start there, start with you know what does this dream look like and how awesome, how awesome would it feel? That's the other thing that I have not talked about.

Speaker 2:

Which is super important to marketing is emotions, emotions, emotions. We are emotional creatures. We don't like to admit it, we pretend we're rational, but it all comes down to how do we feel about your brand, how do we feel about you, how do we feel about this product or service? And then, okay, we'll rationalize that decision based on the numbers or whatever it is that we decide, but it's the emotion that really hooks people and gets them to convert. So always, always, tap into how do you want people to feel with your brand and then how are you going to get them to feel that way? So always, always, keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

So do you have any tips on where people can find out their customer avatar, to find out their buying process, to understand that customer journey better?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's the people that you want to work with. If you've been in business for a while, I'm sure you have some favorite clients and some not so favorite clients. We don't have to tell someone that they're not our favorite client, but you all know who your favorite clients are. So what do they have in common? I was just at a networking event yesterday where we were talking about some of our best referrals and some of our worst referrals, and there were always things in common with the best and things in common with the worst. So what are those commonalities that all of your favorite clients have? And then target that Checking out your competitors as well, checking out them on their social media profiles and then seeing who's following them.

Speaker 2:

And then dig into those social media profiles of your competitors' followers, see who else they're following, see who's following them, see what they're posting about, because that gives you a really good idea, not only in what they're interested in regarding to your product or service, but in the world. Then you know do they celebrate certain holidays? Do they celebrate other holidays? Are they really? Are they Trekkies? Are they Star Wars geeks Like what, where?

Speaker 2:

What bucket? Do they fit in when? Buckets? And then you can create content that integrates that. I have another content marketer that I follow that did a piece on Star Wars Day where she integrated Star Wars into her content marketing blog post because she knows that's relevant to her audience. So think outside the box. It doesn't always have to be about business. If you can signal to someone that you are a member of their tribe, that will earn their trust so much faster than anything you could say about your product or service, because we automatically trust people who are a part of our tribe. So think outside the box. It's not always about business. Make it fun too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. I actually did an episode of the podcast a couple of weeks ago where I spoke about national special event days and I said how important it is If it's donut day and you love. It is like you know, if it's Donut Day and you love donuts, then talk about donuts, even though you don't like, it's not part of your business or it might be a National Animal Day, and that way you can. It's exactly that get in front of your tribe. People will resonate with that if that's what they're interested in as well.

Speaker 2:

I love that 100%. Yeah, that's another one of my big tips, too, is look at the holidays and see if you can create content around an upcoming holiday, and not just the big holidays. It could be National Donut Day. It could be National Potato Chip Day. It could be as I'm drinking my coffee while we record this it could be National Coffee Day, right. So look at some of those small national holidays that you might even not be aware of, but you can create content around it that's engaging and unexpected. People are more likely to click on and engage with content that they are not expecting to find in that area. So, yeah, absolutely take advantage of that.

Speaker 1:

I'll leave it in the show notes. I'll leave a link to the podcast episode where I actually spoke about that in more depth, because, yeah, I think it's such a no, not enough people do that. I think it's one of those things that a lot of people miss out on those opportunities. So I a hundred percent agree. I wanted to ask you, I wanted to finish up. If anyone's listening and they think, okay, this sounds great, I need to take action on my content. The challenge is all about taking action on each of these episodes. So what would you tell people in one to three steps, what they could do take action on today to make a difference in their content marketing strategy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, if you have not already figure out your ideal client, what is your marketing avatar look like?

Speaker 2:

And then, if you really want to start blogging or video blogging or whatever it is you end up doing, or all of the above, come up with a calendar because, as we were saying, that's one of the problems is people start and stop and start and stop, and it's really hard to get any traction when you're doing that.

Speaker 2:

So come up with a calendar, whether it's every week, every other week, once a month, definitely no less than once a month, preferably twice a month, but whatever frequency you end up coming with, put it on your calendar and make it just as important as the client work that you're going to do, that you're going to publish a blog post, you're going to release a video on this day every again, every week, every month, whatever it ends up being. Make sure it's a schedule that's realistic so you can actually stick to it, even when you're busy, because, yes, you have to keep doing this when you have client work, because that's how you keep bringing in leads, that's how you keep filling your funnel, so that you don't have client work and then nothing, and then client work and then nothing. So have a schedule and stick to it.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Alison. How can people get in touch with you? Do you have any freebies that you can get them to get access to, maybe some resources that they can use?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so my website is AV, as in my initials, alison Verhalen, so that is AV writing servicescom. There is a. If you sign up for my newsletter on there, you do get a free blogging checklist, which is these are all the things you should be doing when creating and publishing and promoting your blog posts. So that's a freebie. I'm also on LinkedIn quite a bit as Alison Verhalen I think I'm the only Alison Verhalen on there, so I'm pretty easy to find and I do have my own YouTube channel, which is also Alison Verhalen.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic. I'll put all of those links in the show notes so people can get access to it and to sign up for your blogging checklist, because if they're blogging, then they might as well do it properly and not waste time on doing it incorrectly. And, alison, thank you for joining us and I'd love to get you back and invite you back for a longer episode later on in the year, because I know you've got a lot more that you can share with us, so I'd love to have you back another time can share with us, so I'd love to have you back another time.

Speaker 2:

I would love that, yes, I could talk about this all day. Fantastic, we need someone too, so we'd love you too.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. Thanks everyone, and this is day 11. There's day 12. So keep watching, because there's a lot more to come still. So, thank you, alison. Thanks everyone. Bye. Thank you for joining me on this episode. For more tips and resources, visit moreclientslesshustlecom and leave a review or comment, so I can continue to help you on your journey to more clients with less hustle. Till next time.

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Caroline Balinska

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