Content marketing and inbound marketing for solos
“When you focus on your target client’s challenges and help them solve those challenges, you become the go-to resource and authority.”
Listen to my interview with Marcus Sheridan about content marketing on the Simplify & Multiply show.
Content is king, queen and court jester
Content builds brand awareness and gets you to stand out to your audience, no doubt. But it can also be a huge waste of time and money if not done right, hence, my title. As a solopreneur, it’s your responsibility to create and publish content that gets you out there and defines who you are and what niche you fill. The key with content is a sound strategy and consistent publishing.
But first, let’s distinguish the two:
Content marketing is a tactic where you publish virgin (your own) content to provide value to your target audience and establish authority. It’s a general bucket of anything and everything you can create, post, share and give away for free to showcase your expertise with one intention: to serve.
A solopreneur’s service-minded intention will pay dividends on the back end
Inbound marketing is a term HubSpot’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Halligan, coined in 2005 to distinguish HubSpot’s marketing methodology based on attracting your target audience by providing valuable content and experiences tailored to them. I had the pleasure of touring HubSpot’s Cambridge, MA, headquarters in October, 2018.
What I love about HubSpot is their people walk the talk and really “get” what it is to be social and have a service-oriented mindset. My host (pictured with me) was Jim Ruocco, Senior Customer Success Manager at HubSpot. He noticed in a LinkedIn post that I was in Boston. He LI-messaged me immediately and said, “Hey, Terry, If you can swing by Cambridge while you’re in Boston, I’ll give you a tour of the HubSpot headquarters.”
Well who would say no to that? I rearranged my busy schedule seeing clients and took him up on his offer. I got a first-hand, non-salesy tour of HubSpot and was very impressed. In fact, I wanted to become a subscriber after the tour. Because of the facility and all of the cool stuff they had going on? No. Because of Jim. He was a natural ambassador of his brand and was focused 100% on the HubSpot customer and how committed everyone was to their customer’s success.
What works for solos
HubSpot is a great tool for big brands and enterprise companies. Personally, I prefer to use email automation tools such as ActiveCampaign and a social media management/posting tool such as Buffer. (See Resources section of PappyClub for more info on these).
Solopreneurs need systems and automation once they’ve discovered what works and where to publish their content and engage with their audience. The key for solos is to have a solid content marketing strategy that does the following:
Publishes content that answers questions, educates or provides a tool/best practice to your target client
Helps your target client solve early stage problems, shorten their time solving their problem or any number of ways you can ease their pain
Makes it easy for them to contact you and learn more about you and your business without being salesy
Nurtures them through an ongoing series of touch points (in most cases, email newsletter or outreach) toward a consult or purchase
That’s about as simple a process as you’ll get with content marketing. What many solos do wrong is they create one piece of content and expect it to do all of the heavy lifting for them, such as one ebook or download in exchange for a name and email address.
The more content you publish, the more ways you provide help and guidance and the more you share about your work, passion and your “why,” the better your marketing will work at creating authority, awareness and niche.🍀
A great book to read to understand how this can work in your world is “They Ask, You Answer,” by Marcus Sheridan.
