Jordan
Your personality is the thing that's not only going to set you apart from other competitors, because there's tons of people out in the world that do things that are similar to what you do, but there's not another you. So not only will it help you stand out amongst competitors, but it will also help you form really deep bonds and connections with your audience and with your customers.
Ashton
I'm Ashton Smith. And I'm Jordan Long. And we're coming in hot. We're seventh generation entrepreneurs with a passion for fusing creative expression and business fundamentals to help entrepreneurs powerfully expand their companies.
Jordan
Legacy Creator is a show for creatives, big thinkers, and visionaries who are doing business differently. Together, we unpack topics to help you embody your creative identity, develop as a leader, and powerfully grow your business.
Ashton
In a nutshell, we're calling you out and calling you higher.
Jordan
Y'all, let's just be real. Before we even dive into this, we just had the biggest tech issue. The freaking computer froze up while we were recording. We got 30 minutes into recording an episode and it was fire. And then all hell broke loose and we had to literally shut down the computer manually with the power button. Nothing was working. And I was like, this is fine. Everything's going to be fine.
Ashton
And I was just silently pissed off. This pregnant woman has no time for this ish right now. She's like, that was the biggest waste of time. Oh my God. This is the most colossal waste of my time. Honestly though, I always say that my biggest pet peeve is if I feel like my time has been wasted in any way, whether I'm behind a slow driver, I have a technical issue, someone in business doesn't respect my time. I'm just.
Jordan
It's so funny because I feel like when I fly off the handle, you bring me back to like reality and vice versa. You were like so mad and I'm like, everything's going to be okay. Like this is just a learning lesson. We will not do this thing again. We will make sure this is right and set up. Now we know. We know what the issue was, and we took care of it with the help of Joshua, our tech advisor.
Ashton
tech guru, trying to get Zen again. But you know, I actually feel like that's a beautiful, a beautiful sentiment as we go into our conversation today, because we're going to be talking about all things marketing. And we're really excited to bring this conversation to the podcast officially, because we feel like we've been living and breathing this topic of effective marketing within our community, through our content, inside of our membership, with our clients. And we really want to talk about what is specifically working right now in 2024. And we believe in the days ahead and the years ahead. And I think we say this in a lot of our episodes, but so much has changed in the online space over the last few years. And because of a lot of those changes, the way that we need to market, in order to effectively find the right people and sell and build our client base is entirely different. And now more than ever, the need to embrace challenges and adapt Um, is more important than ever, which is why I find it funny that we just had to embrace the challenge of losing an entire podcast recording. We love that. We absolutely love that, but it's so true. We are constantly coming together and talking about what's working. what's not working. Sometimes things feel like they're a mystery and you just got to keep pressing in and trying new things. And it can feel really frustrating. It can feel overwhelming. You can feel like, am I the only person who is like not getting it? Like, why is this particular thing that I've been doing for years, no longer effective when it comes to marketing? Um, you are not alone. And part of our job description and, you know, just being an entrepreneur, but also being in the online space and using social media to grow our businesses as we have to constantly embrace the concept of just adapting, um, and problem solving. And you're never, ever going to fully arrive at like the thing that's going to work forever.
Jordan
True. Ain't that the truth? I mean, I felt like there've been so many times I've had conversations with Ashton and I'm like, I just want to like crack the code on our freaking strategy. Cause like this I thought was supposed to work and it's not working very well. And I would just get so frustrated thinking that there was like one answer, like an end all be all eventually I will crack the code and I will know like this is working really well and it will just continue to work. but that's not the case. There's not like one answer. And it is just a process of like continually adapting your strategy, even though it can be frustrating sometimes, it's just like, everything's always changing. So like we have to keep changing the strategy to like accommodate, you know?
Ashton
Yeah. And if you stop adapting and stop changing, and stop problem solving, you're going to be left behind. So if you feel like you're still trying to press into things that worked really well in the past from a marketing perspective, and you're not happy with the results, it could just be that you need to adapt and you have to embrace change. And like, for those of us that. don't like change like me, that can go really hard. But if you're going to be in business, then you better just go ahead and accept that things are always going to be changing. These are things are always going to be ebbing and flowing, shifting. Um, and you have to be able to rise up and continue to be flexible and like morph and adapt with those things. So today we really want to pull from, you know, what are we seeing working really well, not just in our business, across our clients, businesses in this space at large. Um, and we want to present some of those things to you guys so you can take them to your business, to your marketing, test them out, try them out. Um, And before we get into all of that, we do want to lay the groundwork just with some context. Um, because as things have changed in the online space, the biggest thing that we've seen change is buyer behavior. The way that people are buying is so entirely different than it was five years ago, even one to two years ago. And so in order to accommodate those changes in your consumers, in buyers at large, we have to shift your marketing. So let's talk about what's changing when it comes to buyer behavior.
Jordan
Yeah, I kind of want to talk about first like why I think buyer behavior has changed so much. Number one, economic landscape the economy has really shifted a lot in the past few years and just change in general. Uh, and with COVID happening, some people were laid off. Some people just like, were like, I don't want to be doing this job anymore. Like a lot changed during COVID. A lot of people figured out like where their priorities were and like shifted. Um, and another reason why I think buyer behavior has changed as well is because during the COVID era in the past few years, a lot of new business owners came on the scene, which led to a lot more, uh, just like of noise, a lot more going on a lot more options. Um, and I think because of all of the options of like, here's all these different experts you can work with, here's all these different businesses you could support and buy from. Um, because of all the options, I think buyers, I think buyers became like overwhelmed in a way. It's like, there's too much, there's too many options. Um, so few things about buyer behavior that I've noticed kind of that have shifted over the last few years. Number one, buyers are a bit more skeptical, um, because there was like this influx of new, Novice maybe like baby entrepreneurs coming on the scene around the time of kovat There's just a lot of maybe promises that were made that might not have been kept You know, I know everyone starts somewhere everyone, you know getting into entrepreneurship you have to start somewhere and you have to start maybe on like a lower scale lower level, but I think a lot of new business owners came onto the scene making a lot of promises that they were like, I can help you with this. I can help you with this, but they may not have been able to like live up to that and fulfill the promise, which I think led to a lot of customers being burned and just got like a bad taste in their mouth. Like I'm going to like keep my money now. I don't want to give it to anybody else because this bad thing happened to me. Um, so I think in general, buyers are just a lot more skeptical about like their investments and who they're giving their money to. Another thing, the buyer cycle is taking a lot longer. If you break it down with the like three steps of like attract, nurture, and convert, I think a lot more people are spending a lot more time in the nurture phase, like customers just need more time, they need more time for their connection with you and your brand to be like developed and nurtured. And they need more time to build the trust and connection with you before they just like hand over their money, you know. And with changes in the economy with changes in the culture over the past few years, people are just conserving their money a lot more. Like they, they're a little bit more like standoffish and hesitant, rightfully so. Cause like, they don't want to just flippantly like throw their money at just anyone, you know? So that buyer cycle is taking a lot longer. And then the last thing here, buyers are also a lot more picky and intentional about who they're spending their money with. people want to spend some more time properly vetting you and your services, your offers, your products. They want to know that when they do give over their hard earned cash to you, that you're going to actually take care of them and not just like take their money and run. You're there to like support them, you know? So people are taking a lot more time to give over their money, but also they're taking a lot more time to vet. They're taking a lot more time to properly vet you and see if they want to actually work with you. If you are the right person for the job or if someone else might be a better fit for them.
Ashton
Yeah. Buyers are just a lot smarter than they used to be. Um, you just have to think about how much has changed and the overall, even just energetically how different things are now versus 2019 and 2020. You have an influx of people that enter the space during COVID, they have a lot more time on their hands. Um, they're very, you know, eager to go build their side hustle and build their business and finally pursue their passions because they have this new awakened awareness about what they want to do with their life on this planet. And that's where a lot of people started their career. They entered the online space and energetically, they were just so much more all in. And not to say that people were necessarily dumb, but they were just a lot less careful and a lot less intentional about the vetting necessary to make investments. And I would even be someone that would fall into that category with the investment that I made into an ad specialist. back in 2019 as well. Um, energetically people were just saying, take my money. Like I have so many screenshots in my phone from that era of time where people literally would say like, Hey, I have been waiting to reach out. I am ready to work with you. Like let's do coaching, take my money. And that was also interwoven into a lot of people's marketing as well. So energetically things were just so different. And now so much time has passed. Things have really like leveled out a lot and people have developed a lot more wisdom and intentionality when it comes to vetting. And so like Jordan said, even with the lifestyle marketing, that used to be one of the trigger points that led to a sale. Whereas now lifestyle marketing I think is still equally as important, but in a different way. I think it's one of the first things that allows people to find you and connect with you. And so that's kind of the initial bond and connection point. That's a huge transition. So if you're going into your marketing strategy and you're thinking, I'm going to put out a ton of lifestyle content and I'm going to show how amazing my life is and that's going to lead to the sales. that's not how people are buying right now. Um, so you're going to be really frustrated with that, but if we bring it in more intentionally, we make it a piece to the larger puzzle. And we realize that that's going to attract a lot of people. So you can start building that initial rapport and nurturing those relationships. That's going to be a much more effective approach. So Now that we have the groundwork laid and you can kind of see a little bit about how buyer behavior has changed, why things are different. We want to talk about some things that are really proving to be extremely effective when it comes to marketing right now. Yes. Yes.
Jordan
Amen. Yeah. I think the center of this conversation and all the things we're touching on today ultimately have to do with building trust with your customer base, with your audience. And I think one of the biggest ways that you can really start effectively building trust with your community is by implementing human-centric marketing. And I pulled a quote from a blog post I found on a website called Minderist. I can link it in the show notes for you if you want to read it. But it was all about human-centric marketing. And I just thought this was a great way of describing what this is. So they said, human-centric marketing is a trend aiming to connect with consumers as people, not just as buyers presented with products and prices. So human-centric marketing is all about the individual in your customer base. So I know you might have like a lot of customers or you might have like a small pool of customers right now, but human centric marketing is all about how can we speak to the individual kind of like an ideal client avatar, but how are you speaking to the actual individual, not just the ideal client avatar? Because I think, uh, for me at least sometimes when I, when I just think about an ideal client avatar, I'm thinking of something that's not really real and tangible, Whereas if I'm thinking about particular people in our community, like actual people, I'm thinking about their faces, I'm thinking about their names, I'm speaking directly to them. Like that's more of that individual connection and that individual conversation. Consumers don't want to feel like they're just another dollar sign in your revenue tracker. They don't want to just feel like another number or a statistic. They want to feel like they're actually being taken care of. They want to feel like they're actually, being spoken to by a real person. They want to feel that connection because they want to be seen and understood as a human being because all of your customers are real human beings. They're all people on the other side of the screen. And I think sometimes with the nature of the internet, I can feel like there's a bit of a disconnect and like we can see our customers as maybe like they're just like not real or like they're elusive. Like they're, they're just out there somewhere, but they're real people, you know? So human centric marketing is all about connecting with the individual. And I think there's a couple different ways you can do this, either one-on-one connections, one-on-one touch points with your real customers, like maybe conversations in the DMs or email conversations, but really connecting with them and speaking with them on an individual level. But I think this can also be applied to your overall content, your overall marketing strategy, um, learning how to speak to the individual through your content. And I think one of the easiest ways to do this is by just using like second person pronouns, like you, yours, yourself. Like you're speaking directly to the person on the other side of the screen. And if they are, um, a best fit customer, if they are someone who is aligned with who you are, what you offer, they're going to really resonate with what you're saying. And they're going to feel like they're actually being spoken to because you're actually speaking directly to them. Kind of like, I'm speaking directly to you right now. I'm saying you, I'm saying yours, like I'm talking to the person listening, you know? Um, so that's just like a very easy, simple example, but. figure out how you can incorporate more of that, um, individualized touch point. Like how can you speak to the individual? How can you see your customers on an individual level and speak to them like they're real people with real emotions and desires and pain points and like, they're, they're real people. So like, let's start treating them like that. You know, one note we wanted to put in here though, is like, I know that AI is, on the rise right now. It's really important for a lot of business owners and it's, it can be very helpful. It can be an, a helpful tool for content repurposing, uh, coming up with ideas for content, but AI will never ever replace human touch ever. And I wanted to give a personal example here because recently we started using swell AI, uh, to repurpose our podcast into like shorter pieces of content. The program does like so many things, like you can repurpose your video podcast into like short form video clips, or you can get it to generate like content ideas based on the podcast episode. Like there's so many capabilities in Swell AI and I just, I've been loving it so much. But one reason why I've been really loving it is because they have this little chat bot thing in the bottom right corner and Most of the time, I don't really message chatbots because usually it's like AI generated. And I don't feel like I actually get that much help from those chatbots. So I just don't usually do that. But when I first started using swell AI, I encountered some sort of tech issue that was just like, it wasn't anything on my end. I knew it wasn't. And I was like, something is wrong here. I need to like speak to someone about this. So I just thought I'd try out the chat bot and I messaged them and I got real responses from real people. And I bet, I'm sure they probably do use some level of AI in their chat bot system, but it's, it's real people. And I'm pretty sure it's like, because all the conversations I've had, it feels like I'm speaking to someone real. I can see their faces. I can see a picture of their face. I can see their name. Um, usually I will speak to one individual. I can't remember his name right now, but I will speak to him first. And then if, if he can't figure it out, he will just message me and say, I'm going to get the team on this, the tech team or whoever on this ASAP. And then someone else will pop in the same chat. I can't remember his name. I think his name is like Max or something, but he'll message me back and be like, we got our team to look at this and hopefully it's taken care of. Like they've been so helpful. And it makes me feel like I, as a customer and being so supported, they're going above and beyond to make sure that I'm having a good experience. They're also very, very kind in their messages. Like if they, if I ever have to message them for a tech issue, they're like, I'm so sorry, this happened. We're on it right away. Like they just take care of me as a customer. It makes me feel like I'm actually connecting. Whereas on some other websites, they have chatbots that are like strictly just AI and I don't feel like I get anything out of it. So that's just to say like AI will never replace human touch ever.
Ashton
And I think too, with the rise of AI, there's also more demand for the human touch because we feel like things are getting more and more and more technical and less and less and less human. And so then there becomes or that introduces an increasing desire for more human connection. And I think that AI is an incredible tool and it is best utilized as a piece of the puzzle, not as the primary solution. You know, I would agree with you. I'm sure that they have AI. like working in that chat at some different points, but they also, I'm sure have real human beings that are coming in because you can tell just by the nature of the messages, um, and the detail and how you're being responded to. Um, nothing is more frustrating than having to deal with AI when you know you need and want to speak to a human. Um, I mean, I just think about if, you know, I call the bank or if I call an insurance company, like immediately pissed, I already know it's going to take like 30 minutes to an hour of my time, because I'm going to have to fight with this AI or this bot, whatever. I'm going to have to try my darn best to get through to a real person. And so I'll just be yelling on the phone, give me a representative. Like, I want to speak to a representative. And if we feel that way, when we're making a phone call and we're trying to get something done, we're trying to take something off of our list, deal with the problem. We want to deal with a human. Then you can bet that people in your community want that same exact feeling when it comes to your business. And so, although there's so, so much opportunity, there's so much capabilities when it comes to AI and how you can integrate that into your business, or if you're building an application, or, you know, if you want to have that bot on your site, that's never going to replace human touch. ever, especially when it comes to your marketing and your sales process. And when people are giving over a large sum of cash, like they're going to want to speak to a person, they're going to want to hear your voice. They're going to want to know you. They're going to want to feel like they're being treated as an individual and an AI can never create that feeling a menace.
Jordan
So beyond catering to your customers at that human level, how can you bring the human touch back into your overall marketing strategy? I think that this is becoming really important. And I also find that as a consumer, I'm enjoying more of this like human content. Um, you know, I can think of a few accounts that I've followed that for the longest time, it was just like, educational graphics, like carousel graphic posts on Instagram. And I like never saw their face unless occasionally on their Instagram story. And that was okay. Like I was fine. I still followed them and their content was great, but I was like, I kind of want to know this person. Like, who is this human running this account? Who, like, who is she?
Ashton
You know, who is she? Who even is she?
Jordan
But I have noticed with some of these accounts that I follow, um, they've started posting more, human sort of content, they've been incorporating themselves more into it. Like this one account I can think of, uh, she's been posting more reels that are a little bit more laid back and lifestyle based, uh, showing like her morning routine or just like little pieces.
Ashton
What? Beases? I was going to say little bits and pieces, and that became beases. Woo! We're creating new words.
Jordan
Just little pieces of content here and there that throw in her personality and just who she is and showing her face more. And I feel like, as a consumer, I'm just like, I eat that up. And I've really been enjoying more personality-based sort of content. I feel like that content used to perform pretty well. you know, accounts that didn't have really any like faces showing, it was very like polished and perfect. And it almost verges on a little bit lifeless because you don't have the human in it. You don't have the human touch. Um, that kind of worked, I think, and it can still work for some people out there. I'm sure. But I just feel like personality in your marketing is so important and it helps the consumer feel like oh You're a real person and like I'm getting to know you on a real human level And I think about even for us, you know using us as an example recently we've started posting more like lifestyle sort of stuff on Instagram stories and kind of keeping it a little bit more casual because Instagram stories, like in my opinion, should be fun and a little bit more casual, you know? So like, that's just one way that we're kind of like putting more of our like human touch into our strategy right now. But more than anything, your personality is the thing that's not only going to set you apart from other competitors, because there's tons of people out in the world that do things that are similar to what you do, but there's not another you. So not only will it help you stand out amongst competitors, but it will also help you form really deep bonds and connections with your audience and with your customers. Amen.
Ashton
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Jordan
The key to like standing out in this current landscape in this current climate really is putting more of your personality into your content. Because like I just said, there's not another you. There's tons of other consultants, business coaches, brand designers. There's tons of other people out there who do things that are similar to what you do, but you're what sets your brand apart. Like I'm not saying you have to like put all of your heart heart and soul into everything that you're putting out. You don't need to share every nitty gritty detail of your personal life, but putting your personality and just showing a little bit more of your face and just showing a little bit more of who you are, like that's going to go so far for so many of your customers and potential customers. Like they're going to actually get to know you a lot better that way.
Ashton
It's so true. Yeah. I mean, if everything is loud, noisy, busy, there's a lot of people like, saying the same exact things because you likely do something that thousands of other people do in a similar way. The best way to stand out is to be you and to show more of that. Like truly it can feel like, really, that's what I need to be doing. Like people want to know my coffee order. It's so weird. But if I think about my behavior as a consumer, My answer to that is yes. I want to know your coffee order. I want to know, what do you do in the morning? And what does your workday look like? And how do you actually help your clients? What does that process look like? Behind the scenes stuff like that is so great. And what do you do in your spare time? What are you doing when you're not working? Those are things that allow you to form an initial bond, which leads to the ongoing development of trust. So that kind of leads to the next thing we want to talk about, which is the importance of variety in your content. Um, so if we think back to 2019 and 2020, the big content type that was really moving the needle the most was educational content. It was like, The more free value that you can put out and the more of your best stuff that you can put out, the more you're going to stand out because we have to remember, where were we at this point in time? This was the era of the webinar. It was kind of like when the webinar was like dying a little bit, you would sign up for a free event, you would show up and it would be almost like an hour long sales pitch. That was how people were showing up in the space at that time. So if you were to come in at that time and bring all the value and all the education and actually teach people versus just sell to them, but then connect that to a sales conversation that made you stand out. because there wasn't yet this influx of value and information that we're seeing today. Right? But now things are entirely different. Like Jordan said, the space continues to grow. People are putting out so much education and value. There's a lot of information. And so that can create overwhelm and it doesn't make you stand out in the same exact way that it did five years ago. So we want to make sure that you are bringing a nice variety when it comes to your content. Every individual in your audience is at a different point in their customer journey and some of them want to connect with you on a human level. Like I would argue that lifestyle content is equally as important today as it was five years ago, but it serves a different purpose. so back in the day you could have a feed full of like i'm sipping a margarita on the beach and i'm making 100k a day and people would be like that's awesome i have no questions take my money you know whereas today people are like I don't know about that. Tell me more if that's really happening. How is that happening? How long did it take to get there? What's your profit? You know, what are your expenses? There are a lot more questions, but that type of content acted as the trigger point to a sale. Whereas now lifestyle content, people don't want it to necessarily always be as like salesy as that. Um, or as what's the word I'm looking for? Click baby as that. Um, they truly want to see more of you and more of your life, but now it acts as more of the initial touch point for them to find you connect with you and start building like, no, and trust with you. You know, they want to see, do I like this person? And the way that they establish whether or not they like you and they vibe with you is through your lifestyle content. So it serves a different purpose. It is equally as important, just in a different way. So through your content, we want to think about not only how are you educating, but how are you entertaining people? Like we've put out some content recently. with memes, with, um, content that was a little bit more controversial and started conversations. Uh, it was creating entertainment for people, um, inspirational content content. And then of course, you're going to want to weave in promotional content as well. Um, but people are going to need multiple touch points from you, from your brand in order to go throughout that customer journey and build trust that actually leads to an eventual It's not just going to happen through one type of content. Um, it's going to happen through a nice variety. So how are you bringing forward a well-rounded strategy and different content types to cater to all of those different needs and all of those questions that people are having along their journey with your brand?
Jordan
And just to tie in like human centric marketing with this idea of like content variety, everyone in your audience is different. Every customer is unique. They have unique needs. They might have different motivations. Some people might really want to see a lot of social proof and like testimonials. That might be a really big factor for them. Like they want to know the numbers. Or maybe there's another customer who is more driven by the inspiration and inspirational pieces of content and things like that. Everyone in your audience is different and unique. So I think when you have the variety of content, you're able to speak to like a wider variety of people. You're able to speak with your clients and your customers on different levels. And it just makes them feel like, I don't know, there's more variety going on. It's a, it helps keep them on their toes. I think as well to have like a variety of content, it's not just the same thing over and over and over again, which that can work for some people having like the same sorts of graphics over and over again, like repetition is definitely important, but it just provides a nice, uh, variety, a good like experience for them when they're scrolling through your social media page, you know,
Ashton
Yeah, which is also important when you're showing up amongst thousands of other people. And that's where that entertainment comes into play. If you're bringing forward these different types of content, then people are more likely to not just notice you, but actually kind of stick with you and stay with you throughout each content piece. And there's always something new and fresh for them to come back to. Amen.
Jordan
I love that.
Ashton
I say that like after everything you say, but I'm just like, yeah, I'm like, man, I'm doing so good.
Jordan
Literally.
Ashton
Oh my God. Okay. So the last big point we really want to talk about here is long form content mixed with short form content. I really wanted to have a little conversation about long form content, because I mentioned this in a blog post we put out, which I am going to link in the show notes, if you'd like to read it, it goes really in depth into some different marketing trends that we've seen work this year, and that will probably be working into the future into next year and the year after, you know, but I personally feel like long form content is still very much relevant and important. Personally, I also think that long form content is like on the rise and going to make a big comeback in a big way in the upcoming years. Um, so that's just kind of like a personal anecdote there, but I do think a blend of short form content and long form content is really, really important in building trust because You have short form content, which is like bite-sized pieces of content, Instagram graphics, short form video. That's kind of like how people might find you. That might be how you are attracting new people. But the long form content is where a lot of the trust is being built. The long form content, if it's good, if it's full of value, if you're actually putting effort into it, if it's good, people will stay around for that long form content. And like, We really wanted to like start this podcast kind of out like out of a personal desire to do so. I know that Ashton had thought about it for a long time. Like one day we're definitely doing a podcast. Like it was just kind of like, of course we're going to do that at some point. But we love the podcast so much because we can go in depth and we like to go in depth. We're not very like surface level people. And I think a lot of what we talk about as well requires us to break it down. We need to add context to some of these conversations. We like to dig deep. So having the podcast is like the perfect way for us to do that and to talk about things that we're not only wanting to talk about, but that we're seeing going on in our communities. We're seeing that's going on with our customers and our clients and with our audience. So the long form content is really where the nurturing happens. It's like our customers can just like subscribe to the podcast and listen to all these episodes every other week. And like, we put our heart and soul into these podcast episodes and to our outlines. Like we really think through like what we're talking about and it's so fun for us, but like, that's a great way for like, a customer to see what we're about. If they're vetting us, maybe. They're like, hey, I'm just going to go check out their podcast and listen to all of their episodes and see what they are about. And you can also watch it on YouTube and see us and who we are and our personalities. I think podcasts are just like, I think that's why podcasts are so big right now, actually, when I think about it.
Jordan
Also, there's a deer in the front yard. And I just wanted to say that because it's so cute.
Ashton
I know I was getting distracted. I'm pretty sure that's Mandy. Oh, she's pregnant. She's pregnant.
Jordan
Just like you're pregnant. But like I was saying, I do think that's one big reason why podcasts are so popular at the moment, especially video podcasts as well. Like a lot of people are putting their podcasts on YouTube because Why not? I mean, if you're doing the podcast and you're recording it, put it on YouTube. That's a great way to spread the podcast out. But I think that's the biggest reason why is because it's a way for people to actually connect with you. I find that I'm really enjoying video podcasts. I will put them on when I'm getting ready. I feel like I'm having a one-way conversation with this person or they're talking at me. I can't really talk to them. It's just so fun to like, feel like I'm in the room with them. And like, that's kind of the reason why I think so many people love the internet at large is because it drives the connection, like with strangers all over the world, you know, like I watch podcasts by people who are like, all the way across the country and like California, I'm like, I would never probably meet them otherwise. But like, I get to just sit in on their conversations and like, see what they're about. Long form content is so important in your overall marketing strategy. Like if you don't already have like at least one long form content, like anchor piece, I really would recommend looking into that long form content could be anything like a podcast, a blog. can be considered long-form content and blogs are still very much relevant. We still have our blog platform on our website because, I mean, why not? Like you can go in depth into certain conversations on a blog post that you just can't in an Instagram post, you know? And another form of long form content would be like a hefty newsletter. Maybe like that's your long form content piece right now is like you put a lot of effort, a lot of value into your newsletter. You send out to your email list. Like that's a great example of long form content. So long form content, super important because this is not only how you get people into your community, but it's how you get people to like buy into your bigger mission. as a brand. Once people get bought into your mission, once people consume enough of your long form content, they get to know you so much better and that will likely lead to more conversions. There's a baby deer.
Ashton
Wait, wait, is that Ruby or is that, Oh, there's a baby deer outside.
Jordan
Oh my God. A fawn.
Ashton
One of them had the baby. I think that's Mandy. That is the smallest fawn I've ever seen. That fawn is like days old.
Jordan
Oh, I want to see it again. Okay.
Ashton
I'm so sorry.
Jordan
That's a really good point, but that was just too cute. I don't know what I was saying, but that's all right. It's going to lead to those conversions. Like that's ultimately what we're getting at today is like trust is the key. Trust is what you really, really need to be focusing on at the moment, building trust with your, uh, current connections in your community, trying to build trust with new connections, with potential customers. That's what's really going to drive people to like, want to buy from you. It's like, they feel like they know you. They feel like they have some sort of relationship. And this is also a really great way to repurpose content, just to throw that out there. If you have a long form content, That's your anchor for like everything else. And we kind of have like a couple different anchor thing, things.
Ashton
That's fine. Anchor things.
Jordan
We have a couple different anchor pieces that we use for repurposing content. I'll just list them off. Podcast is one. We've got the blog. We can also repurpose blog posts into small bite-sized pieces of content. And we also do use like our coaching calls and our membership, Vivid Creative, like We use that to guide some of our content because why not? We're putting so much of our time and effort into these huge content pieces. Why not work smarter versus harder and like break it down into bite-sized chunks that you can put on Instagram or Pinterest or TikTok or wherever you're at.
Ashton
so absolutely absolutely i was just thinking as a consumer right now i am literally spending an ungodly amount of time on youtube but like i'm in my like pregnancy nesting era so i'm like taking baths in the evening with my magnesium salt um and i'm chilling i'm doing my stretches um i have like this circuit i have to do that's like almost an hour to an hour and a half long so you know what, that's my excuse. But I am spending a lot of time on YouTube right now. I found a lot of lifestyle, like moms, newer moms. And I kid you not, I just watched like an hour long vlog the other day, which like a year or two ago I would have been like, girlfriend, no, I spent an hour of my time with you. But like now I feel like I'm actually craving that in a weird way. Like I'll find a lot of people on Instagram cause that's just my platform of choice right now. And then I'm like, I really want to see more from them. I want to kind of hear them talk a little bit more. I want to like, I just want more. So I'll go to YouTube and I'll get into their YouTube channel and I'll watch their vlogs. And that is a testament both to lifestyle content, but also to long form content. And if people are doing that with their casual time, um, how much more people are going to do that? when they're investing in their business too, right? Like people don't just want to see 80 million reels from you for the sake of like, you know, you want to go viral. So we use all these trends and you're putting out all of this content all the time. If it's all short form, it's great for reach and exposure and you are providing that element of consistency and touch points for your audience. no more depth. There's no more layers. There's no way to pull back the curtain even more. And people are wanting more of that feeling before making big investments in their business. And so like Jordan said, you can do this in so many different ways. Um, even if you have one platform, that's long form, and one that short form, we're not telling you to go build out like a 10 part omni-channel marketing plan, especially if you're one woman show. Actually, I highly advise against that. Um, highly, uh, we even, you know, have gotten advantageous at different points in our journey of working together with two people that work on content and we've been trying to do too much. So we would scale back less is going to be more, but if you can blend the short and the long form, I think that there, equally important in different ways and they work together really well. Yeah.
Jordan
Amen. And I also just wanted to add a little tidbit of just a personal hunch I have because I'm throwing it out there. We're talking about long-form content. I feel like YouTube is a really great platform. And I wanted to talk about that for a second, because if you've ever wanted to start a YouTube channel, I'm just saying now might be a really good time to start planting seeds there. We've been putting out the video podcast on YouTube, but we've also been doing YouTube shorts and we're getting really good reach. I just think it's a really good platform. I think there's a lot of good opportunity there to reach new people. And I've even been seeing it as a consumer. I think the YouTube algorithm for me, at least, I don't know if it's for everyone, it's kind of adjusted to this point where, um, I'm seeing a lot of smaller accounts getting pushed to me. I'm seeing like in my suggested, it's like this video has like Five views or this video has like 50 views and like I actually kind of want to click on it I'm like, what's this person about like people? I think YouTube is going to make a big comeback. That's a personal hunch I have I just wanted to put it out there I think it's gonna make a comeback in the next year or so Maybe in the next couple years, but I'm just saying if you want to start a YouTube channel It could be a good time to get into it
Ashton
Yeah, we have a couple clients current and past that are on YouTube and they're gaining traction and I feel like it's encouraging when you put all of your energy into a platform and you feel like things are working and you're seeing that growth and I feel like a lot of people are flocking away from Instagram right now. towards platforms like LinkedIn, TikTok is another big one. Not my personal favorite just for personal reasons and YouTube personally love YouTube. Um, and so we're going to be dedicating more of our time to that platform. Um, but yeah, like we're seeing success with it. Some of our clients are so YouTube, check it out. And I feel like, especially if you have a desire, if you have had a desire to start a YouTube channel, or maybe you've wanted to start like even vlogging, maybe you're a personal brand and that's something you're interested in, or you want to do video podcasts. I mean, whatever it is for you, find a way if you can to start now to get ahead of the curve, because we're already starting to see these sprinkles of like, Ooh, This is working really well. More people are coming to this platform. I, as a consumer, am on this platform more. So try to make that transition and kick that off sooner rather than later.
Jordan
Yes. Amen. I love YouTube. I love talking about YouTube. I'm like, y'all, everyone just go, maybe not everyone, but like everyone just go to YouTube. Let's all go hang out there. Let's flock to YouTube. Oh my gosh. All right. So we're going to wrap up with some action items like we always do because we want to get the ball rolling. We want to get some movement happening. So number one here, consider ways to stop overthinking your content and bring more personality into the mix. I felt like a while ago, maybe last year, I just felt like this poll that like strategy was not as important as it used to be. Like strategy is still, still very much relevant. Okay. But maybe pull back a little bit on such high strategic thinking, fuse a little bit of your personality into your content. I think that's performing so well right now. I even follow, um, someone, she was posting about this recently on her Instagram story that like, she's just been showing up as she is. And she's been having like great results from that. She's been having a great amount of sales just from like being herself and like showing what she has to offer, but also showing up as who she is and putting her personality into it. So think of ways that you can really put like the human touch back into your marketing and your messaging and also in your content.
Ashton
The next thing we want you to consider are those content variations. So what I would encourage you to do is go look at your content maybe over the last like 60 days. and almost audit. What types of content are you predominantly putting out? If you don't do KPI tracking, highly recommend tracking your metrics just so you can get a good gauge on what's working, what's most effective. Because Jordan and I are continuously surprised what performs well. We'll spend no time on something, and it will be the best performing content piece of our entire quarter. Sometimes we'll put out a reel that's I don't know. We just think nothing of it and it performs really well. So then we can dissect, okay, what commonalities, what recurring elements can we take away from this to inform our content strategy moving forward? Um, and again, just really asking that question, how can you provide more of a variety in your content? So if you have been leaning more heavily on education, how can you fuse more lifestyle personality? If you've been leaning more on that personality side of things, maybe we want to introduce more of your expertise and more of that educational content. If you aren't promoting your services regularly, do that more because I'm convinced that most of us don't promote our services often enough. So conduct an assessment and audit. If you don't do KPI tracking, highly recommend doing that. So I just gave you like five pieces of homework within one. You're welcome.
Jordan
You're welcome. Last but not least, we were talking a lot about long-form content and short-form content. Figure out ways to combine the two. I think they work really well in tandem if you don't have at least one long-form platform that you're on, like maybe a podcast or a blog. I would consider like implementing that because I think that's where a lot of the connection and nurturing happens for your customers and for your community. So figure out ways to combine both because I think that they're actually very important together. There needs to be a balance between the two.
Ashton
Absolutely. Well, this was the most jam packed and eventful podcast ever.
Jordan
So we hope that you enjoyed.
Ashton
We hope this gave you some food for thought. This sparked some new ideas for you. And at the end of the day, we just want to encourage you to know that although things are changing and yes, you need to adapt. people are still buying. People still need what you have to offer. So don't be discouraged. Be open to being flexible and changing your approach and trying new things. That is what being a business owner is. That is what entrepreneurship is. That is what marketing is. So people are still buying. People absolutely still need you and what you offer. So don't get discouraged, show up, press in and find new ways to make your approach more effective. And we hope this gave you some really good ideas to do so.
Jordan
Until next time! See you later! Peace out!
