Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Fearless Content for Bold Business Owners with Geoffrey Klein

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Fearless Content for Bold Business Owners with Geoffrey Klein · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  I created the 11th commandment, know thy audience.
• 0:03
  That's what matters when you're creating content because nobody cares about what you do.
• 0:08
  I tell businesses I talk clients.
• 0:09
  I'm like, by the way, no cares what you do.
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  And I'm like, what do you mean?
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  No.
• 0:12
  We're good to go off.
• 0:13
  I said they only care about what you can do for them.
• 0:17
  3, 2, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
• 0:25
  Ending small business failure.
• 0:28
  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with the number one small business spurt, Melinda
• 0:34
  Emerson.
• 0:34
  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:39
  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
• 0:43
  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
• 0:51
  Have you subscribed to the small beshed podcast?
• 0:54
  Well, it's time.
• 0:55
  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners, bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
• 1:01
  small business.
• 1:02
  And just 20 minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel your
• 1:08
  business forward.
• 1:09
  Be sure to subscribe to the small beachhead podcast today.
• 1:16
  Welcome back to the small business chat podcast.
• 1:19
  I'm Melinda Emerson, your host.
• 1:20
  And if you're watching us on my Facebook page, please like the fade and share this late.
• 1:26
  We wanna make sure that all small business owners know about the great advice that you can
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  get or the smallbiz chat podcast.
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  You can also watch our show on my small busy YouTube channel.
• 1:38
  So please go over there and subscribe so that you never miss another episode of the small biz
• 1:44
  chat podcast.
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  Now it's time for me to introduce my guests Jeffrey Klein.
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  Jeffrey is aka Mister Purple.
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  You're gonna hear more about that in just a minute.
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  He's a tenant speaker, an adjunct professor, a visual content producer, and the author of the
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  new book, the content beast, create the story driven content to connect with your audience.
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  Jeffrey helps people and organizations communicate more effectively through the power
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  of story.
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  He currently serves as president CEO of 9 dots, a visual contact company that helps businesses
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  share their message and connect with their audience with more information, go to
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  9.media.com.
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  Jeffrey, welcome to the small bizchett podcast.
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  Melinda, it's lovely to see you do, and I am honored and feel privileged to be here.
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  Oh my gosh.
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  Well, thank you so much for being here.
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  I I really am excited.
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  I got a chance to take a preview of your book, and I know how good it is.
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  So I'm so excited to talk to you about it.
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  So first of all, give us your story.
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  How in the world did you get the nickname, Mister Purple?
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  I definitely I mean, my audience is like, looking at you going, okay.
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  This guy, purple.
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  So tell me how did you get this get this name?
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  Uh-uh.
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  I'll give you the the easy address because I wear and and I'm surrounded by purple tie.
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  My I've leaned in from a kind of brand perspective.
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  I believe, you know, in personal branding, and this is mine.
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  There there's kinda three reasons why I I wear purple every day.
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  I've got 9 or 10 pairs of purple shoes.
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  I got a purple water bottle.
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  And I knew my wife Need a file date was okay with it that when we had our front door
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  repainted a dark purple.
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  But for me, I love the purple color.
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  I always liked is my favorite color.
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  I think I'm influenced.
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  It was my late mother's favorite color, so I love that every day I wear it or think about it
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  It's kinda honoring her.
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  And then my wife is British.
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  I'm also do dual citizen.
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  And so, purple is the color of Royal So I'd like to say it's my way of honoring the
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  monarch.
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  You're the only one left that wants
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  to honor the market.
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  Anyway, so let's talk about this.
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  Why is content so hard for small businesses?
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  I think it's because it's not what they used to do.
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  So whatever your business is, you're focused on doing that, whether you're an accountant or
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  whether you're a plumber or whether you're a neurosurgeon, not nurse.
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  And so content isn't the thing that you think about much.
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  Or you haven't done it much.
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  And so I think there's one of the big first place people fear.
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  They're afraid of making content because they're afraid They're gonna do it wrong or
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  they're gonna mess up or people aren't gonna watch it.
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  And and I think that stops a lot of people.
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  You have some people who have, I like to call it the perfection trap.
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  Which is they won't put out content until it's perfect.
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  Kadoop will never be perfect.
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  It just isn't the reality.
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  And so I love the concept of imperfect action.
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  You know, take action and just be bold.
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  So I think there's an element of small businesses.
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  What businesses are already being created by running a small business, you've already proven
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  that you're fearless in some ways.
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  And so I think with content, you just have to apply that same kind of fearlessness as well as
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  a strategy and and and thoughtfulness about it because I think there's a way to do content and
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  there's a better way to do content.
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  But I'd rather people be throwing that stuff at the wall and hoping something sticks than to
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  doing nothing.
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  But sometimes, you know, there's there's a lot of DIY, a building more so now than ever create
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  content, and there's more distribution channels now than ever.
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  So there's no real excuse for not creating content, and there's there's a lot of tips and
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  tools and ways out there.
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  What I try to do is help people so that they can create the right kind of content that will
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  actually connect with the people that matter most.
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  Alright.
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  So all small business owners have the same 2 problems limited time and limited resources.
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  So tell me if that is my situation, if I'm a one to be person shop.
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  How what is your suggestion that I should use to approach a content strategy for a really
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  small
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  I I think the big part is not always about volume, but about consistency so that if you're
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  god law, you don't need to blog every week, blog every month.
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  Make sure that you can it's realistic.
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  I think one of the challenges is they get overwhelmed with, oh my god, it creates so much
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  content all the time and all these different kinds of content.
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  Where do I begin?
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  You know, begin slow and build as you go.
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  Now the choice that every small business has is Are they gonna do it themselves, or are they
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  gonna hire an expert to help them?
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  And with and again, there's more opportunity to get a cullet cheap labor to start.
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  You know, there's tools like Canva now that enable people like me who aren't designers to
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  create pretty awesome social media post without having any design skills in the background.
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  And so I think there's they just have to take a deep breath and then think about the approach
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  they're gonna take.
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  So, you know, they need a little bit of time to think before they start.
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  And I think that can help them a lot.
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  Having a plan before you just start Uh-uh.
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  Yeah.
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  I always joke that anyone could do content, anyone could do social media, but that way,
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  everyone could do it well.
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  And then the difference between people who do it and do it well is by having some sort of
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  plan.
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  When you talk about content marketing strategy, got social media strategy.
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  Strategy just means that you have thinking about it, one you're trying to achieve and how
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  you're gonna do it.
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  It's not that I have to be complicated.
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  And I think people, you know, use that.
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  I think that strategy is as big, you know, almost, you know, Well, I I don't know anything
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  about strategy.
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  Of course, you do.
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  You plan things all the time, you know, whether you're going on a trip or what you're gonna
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  have for dinner.
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  There's some strategy in terms of, well, what do we have in the house?
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  Know, what can I what do I know how to cook?
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  And content's no different.
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  What are you naturally good at?
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  You know, whether you're a good writer, well, then maybe you should block.
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  And if you like being from the camera, maybe like the sound of your voice, and then so
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  there's lots of opportunities to share things.
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  The most important about sharing is making sure it matters to the ones you're trying to re your
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  eye.
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  So what are some of your favorite tools?
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  I know you threw out Tamba, but what are some of your other favorite tools for, you know,
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  video or even podcasting that you suggest people look at?
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  Well, I'm a video guy.
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  So it's for me, it's it's The the best tool is your iPhone because I while I produce video,
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  especially, and there's a you know, we have photographers and the lighting and the sound,
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  small businesses that don't have a budget to do that, definitely, they'll likely do that
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  consistently all the time.
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  I think there's a, you know, That appropriate time for that kind of video, but don't let that
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  stop you.
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  The Iphone cameras are incorrect.
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  Smartphones have better cameras now and some of the, you know, video the the early video
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  cameras that people were using.
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  The two keys about, you know, being able to use them effectively, You can go in for less a
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  $100.
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  Get a good light.
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  Get a good mic.
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  Get a tripod.
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  That's it.
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  So we need those with you that And so there are there are tools, you know, you put you put
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  camera up, you have a mic, and you have good lighting, and then you have to know what you're
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  gonna say.
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  But but I'll give you a tip that is not mine, but I love it.
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  Comes from Gary Baderchuk, Gary V.
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  Oh, and he he talks about content, one of the challenges that a lot of small business and
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  entrepreneurs had is They're they're like, well, I had to create all this content.
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  And you don't actually need to create that much content because what he says to do is rather
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  than create a document, document your journey.
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  One of the things that's truly powerful is that kinda behind the scenes.
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  So whatever's going on in your business, share it.
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  You know, the Greek, the bad, the ugly.
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  That's how you're gonna resonate with people by being genuine about what you're doing.
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  One of the challenges I don't like about social media is that it's like everyone's showing
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  their best self.
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  Well, no one's how is no one's life is as good as it looks on social media.
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  That's throughout
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  Well, you know that social media's people's personal highlight reel, Jeffrey, you didn't
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  know that?
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  Nope.
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  I don't know.
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  It's like, you know, to social media and say, I was a bad mom today.
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  My kids ate cereal for dinner.
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  Nobody wants to say that.
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  Right?
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  But when people did do, they actually performed pretty well.
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  When people are vulnerable, people you know, actually do like that.
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  And there's another, concept that I really like, James Rubalot, and he's a, a fellow
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  professional speaker As speakers, and I think the spoke is the zone is what we always try to
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  do is prove prove that we're credible.
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  So that's why we have to have our breeze in our names and our awards and all these things, what
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  what people I think really to want is someone who's relatable.
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  And so someone who understands the challenges I'm going through.
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  And so, you know, at at at solabrio, like, well, don't talk about yourself so much.
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  Just it's It's that what's it up for me.
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  You know, I created the 11th commandment, know that audience.
• 10:25
  That's what matters when you're creating content because Nobody cares about what you do.
• 10:30
  I tell businesses I talk clients.
• 10:32
  I'm like, by the way, no cares what you do.
• 10:33
  And I'm like, what do you mean?
• 10:34
  Don't forget to get off.
• 10:35
  I said they only care about what you can do for them.
• 10:39
  This is you can't help that if you're not serving your clients, your customers, They're
• 10:45
  gonna change the channel on you.
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  We will do something else, and and we had a problem with the volume of content.
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  So if you're not having relevant content, consistently, that's valuable to them, be lost,
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  just in my opinion.
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  I couldn't agree with you more.
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  Now what are the things that I I know that you develop a lot of content, a lot of video
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  content?
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  But what is the right way to launch a blog or a podcast or even a YouTube channel if that's
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  what you wanna do to build your brand.
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  They, I think what it is is do you start with what's of value that you have to share?
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  You know, who's your audience and what do they care about?
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  And think about the ideas of what will matter to them and have a little plan.
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  It may be planned.
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  What's the only plan that's, you know, anything you have to get to worry about.
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  And plan and plan and create if you're gonna create those things, whether it's YouTube
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  channel podcast, blog, have, you know, a good form of fight in the can.
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  Before do you release 1?
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  Because if you have 1 and then your oh my god, you know, life gets busy, so you wanna have at
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  least a and it's about having a system in a process.
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  In and out, I think all small businesses, that's where the NIH is a challenge for me is
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  to have systems and and processes in place to make things run smoothly.
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  Well, when you have that, if you say, okay, Thursday afternoon is blog writing time, you
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  gotta treat it in, like, sacred time.
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  Because if you don't protect your calendar that way, you do not gonna get the things done that
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  you wanna get done.
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  I think it's about having a plan being clear about who your audience is, what they care
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  about, and then creating content around what they care about.
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  That's related to what you do.
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  So they their problems they're paying is where you think about, and then you're like, well,
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  how's my product or service?
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  Solid that for them.
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  That's what we want to talk about.
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  Alright.
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  Last question before we go to break, what trends do you see in content marketing that are
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  most relevant to small business owners right now?
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  The trend is is been the same for a couple years, which is video, video, video.
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  I think that it's not it's gaining popularity.
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  Even as we speak, people are are, you know, when I started my podcast, it was audio.
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  I think audio is great.
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  But now knowing no one's gonna start podcast and just keep it to audio.
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  There's no reason to meet you being the, you know, 2nd largest search engine That's where
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  people are getting a lot of their information and and interest.
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  But I think the trend too is, it's funny because I was talking to someone about, you
• 13:08
  know, who was in theater.
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  And they were saying, you know, markers are all talking about the power of story.
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  We've been talking about that for a long time.
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  And I think It's catching up to it's caught up with marketers that, you know, storytelling is
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  what really resonates with people.
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  And now it's starting that it's now to kinda getting to the masses of businesses that, oh,
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  wait.
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  If I tell a story, people will remember it.
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  People will connect with it.
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  So the trend is video story.
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  That's kinda and happens to be what I'm really passionate about.
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  So the usual story, Alan, is is the trend, tell a story, The more you do, the better you will
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  connect with your eye.
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  Thank you so much, Jeffrey.
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  You have really given us some really helpful advice and we will read right back on the small
• 13:56
  bizchett podcast.
• 13:57
  Stay with us.
• 13:59
  Hi.
• 13:59
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady, and I wanna commute to small business lady
• 14:03
  university.
• 14:04
  Our mission here is to end small business failure.
• 14:08
  So all of the courses here are about 2 things.
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  How to become your own boss as funnels, or you're ready to get started with social media
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  support@melindamerson.com.
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  Take care.
• 14:54
  Hi, everyone.
• 14:54
  Welcome back to the small bizjet podcast on Melinda Eversense Smallbiz lady of your host.
• 14:59
  Now I wanna continue our conversation.
• 15:02
  With Jeffrey Khan.
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  He's got a brand new lookout called the Content Beat.
• 15:06
  Alright, Jeffrey.
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  So I wanna talk to you about Reaper strategy.
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  I am the queen of repurposing, but I wanna hear about what you think is a good repurposed
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  strategy for any one piece of content.
• 15:18
  Yeah.
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  I think first embrace it because people think they have to create new content all the time,
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  and you just simply do.
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  My good friend, Annie Shrippman, got advice for her dad, and I love that it was a radio legend.
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  And the idea is to play the hit.
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  Play the hit.
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  So if you've done content that you spend all that time, whether it's a blog or video,
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  whatever it is, share it again.
• 15:40
  You know, we I always like this, idea that queen, the band queen, their best selling album
• 15:46
  was their greatest hits.
• 15:48
  25,000,000 copies sold.
• 15:51
  Not one individual, but it was the one where they took all the best content and they put it
• 15:54
  together.
• 15:55
  So then my strategy is to figure out, look at what's done well, and share it again.
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  So play the hip.
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  That's my my advice.
• 16:03
  Alright.
• 16:03
  So and you can share it in different formats.
• 16:05
  Right?
• 16:05
  So do you wrote a blog post about it?
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  Record a podcast about it.
• 16:08
  Right?
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  That kind of stuff.
• 16:09
  Alright.
• 16:10
  So how measure the success of your content?
• 16:12
  Cause a lot of people out here churn it out content, but how can we really measure that
• 16:19
  this content is moving our brand forward or really driving stale?
• 16:23
  Well, the first thing I would say is you have to be patient.
• 16:25
  It doesn't happen overnight.
• 16:26
  You have to be consistent, and sometimes it takes some time for the audience to finally
• 16:30
  catch up with the your content.
• 16:32
  And, you know, KPIs key performance indicator when you look at those, Well, people are
• 16:37
  posting things.
• 16:37
  They're looking at impressions that they're looking at views, and we can give you that
• 16:41
  likes.
• 16:41
  And to me, those are not the ones you should be paying attention to.
• 16:45
  You know, unless you're really focused on awareness.
• 16:47
  But if you're looking at sales, there's ways to capture that when you're content, you know,
• 16:51
  when using this code, So there are ways to, you know, to send them to a specific website that
• 16:56
  you can bake into your content to to actually track it.
• 16:59
  But for me, there's the expression that content is king.
• 17:03
  I always like to say, well, who's the queen?
• 17:05
  And for my money, the queen is engagement.
• 17:07
  So it's not people just clicking like it's about, well, if they share it, if they comment
• 17:11
  those are the kind of things of you tracking those kinds of things and you're like, oh my
• 17:15
  god.
• 17:15
  This content is getting a lot more traction.
• 17:18
  You can that that's gonna lead to more sales.
• 17:20
  How many calls you getting as a result of the call to action?
• 17:23
  Now what did the that the real measurement is the Action that people take after consuming
• 17:29
  your content.
• 17:30
  That's gonna drive them to make a buying.
• 17:33
  I couldn't agree with you more And, Jeffrey, what is the best business advice that you've
• 17:39
  ever gotten?
• 17:40
  I grew up, but my father and grandfather at the, you know, kinda dinner table every Sunday
• 17:45
  and it was love what you do.
• 17:47
  I think that sticks with me every day.
• 17:49
  You know, we spend a third of our time at work 9000 hours as an average over our length time.
• 17:55
  If you aren't happy and want me to do it, go do something else.
• 17:58
  And it doesn't mean you have to quit your job, then decide how so and build it up.
• 18:03
  And then at some point, Take that leap of faith.
• 18:06
  Well, because if someone who's worked in a business, I didn't eat care of work and now
• 18:10
  working one that I really enjoy, it makes all the difference.
• 18:14
  It makes getting up in the morning and going to work a pleasure.
• 18:19
  And I love the way you can do That's the best advice.
• 18:22
  Find out find out what you love and then go do it.
• 18:25
  I love that.
• 18:26
  I love that.
• 18:26
  Thank you so much, Jeffrey Klein, for being here with me.
• 18:29
  They'll go away, but I want you all to know that when we come back, we're gonna be talking
• 18:35
  about how develop how to develop a pitch that lays with precious volumes.
• 18:40
  We're gonna be right back.
• 18:44
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• 19:24
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