I started a podcast a number of years ago that totally failed. The reason was that it was past where my audience was. Because I helped counselors that are starting, growing and scaling a private practice, but at the time I wanted to make a jump and so I started teaching people how to become consultants. Most of my audience at that time was just starting a practice it was too far beyond them. So I got a handful of listeners but not enough to make it worth my time, so I stopped it.
Sometimes you create content and you totally bomb and you just have to let it go. Other times you really nail it!
5 Secrets
Your Current Audience
Look at where your current audience is at now and what do they need to be successful now? Where are they headed? What’s the natural next step? That’s where your product and your content should be, it should be that natural next step. So when you’re looking at your current audience you want to look at a couple of things: what are their pains, where are they getting stuck how are they staying organized, what is it that they need?
What Questions are You Getting?
Look at the kind of questions that you’re getting when people email you. What do they ask when you do an ask me anything? Keep track of those top questions that people ask and that’s where your content should start. You are then going to look at that content to see what resonates, gets more views, reads or listens and then replicate that because people are resonating with it.
Look at The Advice You Are Giving
Go through all that advice that you’re giving. Think about what the top seven questions your ideal client would ask you if they were sitting in front of you. What are the top seven answers you would give? You also want to be a visionary and look forward. So when I’m working with someone that’s starting a practice, I’m going to plant the seed that they should really work towards a group practice. Because I know that’s going to help them grow their income. When you have a vision for your client that maybe is broader than what your current client has, you’re better able to create content that helps move them faster through that process. This is because your content really is all about saving people time and helping them be more successful.
Schedule Content 2-3 Months in Advance
A lot of people will do an annual content calendar which is fine if you’re a really established business, but I want you to be able to quickly change course if things aren’t working. So over the next couple months what you’re going to do is look at the top questions that you’re getting on a regular basis. Where are those pain points, and then you’re going to schedule out different blog posts, podcasts or videos. You’re then able to let your audience know which topics you’ll be addressing and get them to ask you questions. You can use something like SpeakPipe to get people to call in and leave a message for you or do Facebook live that you schedule an email out to your list.
Find Inspiration Outside Your Field
You want to be inspired outside of your field. I own a mental health practice but I listen to all sorts of great people like Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas, and Jay Papasan. Whatever your specialty is, you need to know what’s going on with that but you need to be out there listening to people and being inspired by people outside of your particular specialty. It’s going to help you think in a way that’s different from your audience because a lot of your audience might just be listening to people in that circle. So you’re going to be thinking outside of that, and you’re going to be able to discover new talent that you maybe never would have thought about.
Go take imperfect action! I don’t know who I heard it first from but imperfect action is more important than perfect inaction. When you have an idea for a blog post, go write that blog post. Or when you have an idea for a podcast, go record it, take action to create content that gets out to your audience. Even if you just pull out your phone and do a Facebook live.
If you want more resources just like this then subscribe to our YouTube Channel or check out my weekly podcast. Go take some imperfect action and get more content out there in the world, the world needs to hear what you have to say, you are an expert in your specific area.
Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC
Joe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years, he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .
