Episode 34: How to come up with new content and product offers

podcast May 21, 2020
When you're marketing online, you need valuable content...and let's face it, you need a lot. I always suggest that you create a bank of content ideas which in a nutshell is a big ole list of ideas. 
You can use a notebook or an app to capture your ideas so you can save them for later. This is helpful when you're planning your content throughout the year or when you get stuck coming up with ideas. 
So, where do you get ideas for your social media content? I have a few strategies that will help you not only come up with content ideas, but perhaps new product or service ideas as well. 
I break it all down in the episode, but here they are in a nutshell. 
  1. The questions people ask on your posts and in your content
  2. Look at the conversations and questions inside other Facebook Groups (search key words, and watch threads)
  3. Inside of your day to day operation
  4. Use Surveys and Polls and pay attention to results
  5. Pay attention to Insights (podcast example, video insights)
  6. Interview people, especially those that are fit your target audience
Here are the six different ways for you to listen and pay attention.
  3. Inside of your day to day operation
  4. Use Surveys and Polls and pay attention to results

Listen to the Full Episode:


Links Mentioned in this Episode: 
Episode 6: Five Powerhouse Apps Every Small Business Needs

Full Transcript: 

Hey there you are listening to the DIY marketing school Podcast. I am your host and your marketing coach, Melanie Diane Howe and today I'm going to share with you six different strategies that will help you come up with new, amazing content, but also, maybe your next product offer or service.

All right, you guys, we're gonna get this show on the road. I'm so glad you guys are here. If you're new Welcome to the show. And for all of my loyal listeners, welcome back. I appreciate you so much. So today we're going to talk about how to come up with new content ideas. Now, I want to also say that these strategies are also going to help you develop new product ideas, pivots, in your product, pivots, in your services, whatever your offers are. So I don't even if you're you You know, if you're an established business, and you know you are looking for new content or looking for new ideas in regards to how you can service your clients, these strategies will apply. Now, I also want to say that if you are kind of like a baby business, you're new, it's your businesses in its infancy, or you are actually getting ready to start a business, then I've got strategies for you to for the same stuff, we need to always have a content Bank of ideas. So for example, this podcast, you know, I have a bank of ideas where I can always go back, look at the ideas, pluck and pull what I want to talk about, especially in regards to timing. So sometimes our content needs to fall into a calendar. That makes sense from a season standpoint. So either your business is seasonal, and you need to talk about different topics in the actual seasons. But there's also seasons in your business.

So you know,

for example, really, really In the year and my business people are very much all about planning, content planning, re strategizing, creating a content calendar, coming up with ideas getting organized, right? All this they're like this year's the year I'm going to project manage my business. That's kind of like cleaning house. It's you know, refocus goal setting, right. And so I'm going to talk about those types of things in the earlier part of the year, then people kind of get into implementation. And so then I said, I may teach and talk about actual specific, you know, implementation for your content, Facebook Live other things, right? It just depends your business is going to have seasons as well. You're going to have seasons where you're busy. And you're going to have seasons where you're not as busy. That also could affect your content. Right. So seasons, you know, come and play in lots of ways. But also, you may find yourself needing to pivot needing to shift gears, either something's not been working, or something you've been on. Offering or doing is now no longer as relevant. Something has changed. Maybe there's a pandemic, right, like, a lot of people have had to pivot their businesses or pivot. How will they service clients in order to one stay in business, and to in order to stay relevant. And so sometimes this little process that I'm going to walk you through is great for content. But it also is really good for learning and like pivoting your actual offer, pivoting, meaning how you help people what you can create, and it could apply, it could be something that applies to you right now. Or it could be something that keeps you relevant and keeps helps you stay relevant for the future. And so really, what this all comes down to is a process of listening and paying attention. But I'm actually going to go through six different ways that you need to be listening and paying attention. So that you can come up with amazing content that your audience needs. And that is relevant. Because you might have all kinds of amazing tips and information inside of you. I mean, I have no doubt you have a ton of stuff that you can help people with. But is it what they? Is it what they're asking for? Is it what they need right now. And if it's if you're not talking to their problem, as it is right now, for them, they're not going to be paying attention, they're not going to be listening. So our content sometimes has to have a couple of objectives. Sometimes our content actually brings people along our journey. And so it meets them, you meet them where they are, and you educate them and you can get them to a place where then all of a sudden, they're educated and convinced to a place where they're like, Oh my gosh, yes, give me more. Now I want to hire you or now I want to buy this or now I want that. So our content has lots of objectives. But again, you've got to know what's going on and you've got to be paying attention. so that you know where they are. And so that's what our that's one of the roles that our social media content has, you know, our people are on a journey. And if you just start dropping knowledge bombs about your products and your services and how and why they need them, without actually nurturing them and helping them come along to making that decision themselves, then you're just kind of like a repetitive commercial. I mean, I have so many times when, you know, I've met with, you know, advertisers or you know, people that are in sales, and you know, even even a car salesperson, right? And they walk up and they immediately start telling me what I need to do, they immediately start telling me what I need. And I'm like, you haven't asked me a single question. You know, nothing about me. And maybe what they're telling me is actually what I need, but they're not meeting me where I where I am in that moment. And so You've got to get to know your people. And you've got to get to know your audience and your content, the role of your content is to nurture people along so that they eventually get to a place where they can make a decision. And the ultimate decision is they either need something from you or they don't. And sometimes that don't means they just don't need it right now. Right. So let's dive in. I want to talk to you about this, because I've got six ways that you're going to be able to come up with some content ideas. Now first, before we jump into this, I want to say that you also you need a place you need a way to capture these ideas. Because ultimately, you're going to be this is going to be you're going to go through a system, a series of strategies about gathering information and you need a place to capture this information. So I'm going to say if you're a pen and paper kind of person, then you need a good old notebook and you need a place to capture this information and go back to it.

If you like typing and you like electronics and you like electronics. I just had a weird time. about like, like a CD player or something I don't know. Sorry about that. If you like technology and software like I do, then I highly encourage you to use an app of some sort to capture this information because you're going to have ideas that come at you in random moments in time. And you may not have that trusty notebook with you. So you may actually need to adopt a couple of different strategies. So real quick, I'll just say grab a notebook or use an app like Evernote Trello, even Asana. Okay, so I've got an episode that talks about different apps. And while I love them, even a Google Doc would be fine. But you just need a place to capture this information. I don't care. Grab the Notes app in your iPhone. For all it really matters. I'm just saying, you need a way to write this stuff down and capture it so that you don't forget it. Because eventually

you're going to organize it you're going to go back to this list. It's your content, Bank of ideas, or your bank of content ideas, excuse me. Alright, so here we go first. strategy is honestly the one that I probably tell people the most. And that is to pay attention to the questions people are asking you in your own content. So, you know, this is one of the reasons I love doing live q&a is inside of my private Facebook group, my free community, I will post you know, every, every once in a while, say, Hey, I'm gonna do a live q&a about you know, any kind of software apps that you guys want to talk about in regards to marketing, or, hey, this live q&a is gonna be about XYZ. And sometimes I just do this, let's just do a live q&a, anything related to business, small business and marketing. And I will get lots of questions. And I love doing this. And I love capturing the questions because these questions are being asked by my audience. And so if they have these questions, while I can answer those questions during a, like a live q&a, well, I can also take that question and I can dive deeper and I can create a podcast episode answering that question. Or I can create a social media post or a blog post or anything, a video, whatever you want it to be. And so, questions that you get asked are gold now what I love also is when you get the same question over and over again. So I'm going to give you a fun example. There is a friend of mine Her name is Luria, Petrucci and she is the CO owner of live streaming pros, her partners, David Foster, and they are amazing. They do amazing stuff. And they, they basically help you take your live streaming to like a super professional level, like high end equipment, high end technology, high end software, you know how to set up your studio, you know, all this really amazing stuff. I've learned a ton from them. But I tune into a lot of their live streams that they do and they get asked questions, they'll they'll talk about a specific topic, but then they always get questions and they actually open it up for questions many times. And the funny thing is this, they get so many of the same Questions. So one of the things that they do in their live streams is they do a 10 minute countdown. So you tune in, you know, if you get notified, it notifies you It says live streaming pros is live right now. And you go, and it's actually a countdown timer. And it's this really cool transparent little wheel cycling through and it's 10 minutes. It's a 10 minute countdown, but it's like there, there's music playing and it's transparent, which means you can kind of see through it. And then there's like Luria dancing, literally dancing for like 10 minutes getting herself ready to go and it's, it's kind of entertaining, but also the music is like fun. Now, usually, you know, their audience has become accustomed to this. So they kind of know to expect the countdown, but they're also always attracting new people. So most of their existing audience they already know about this countdown and they know exactly how they have the create the countdown they know the technology, they know about it because they talk about it all the time. And the reason I talk about all the time is because they get asked about it. A lot. Time. And then you get new people to come in. They're like, Whoa, how'd you create this countdown timer. And so what they have done is many times, they actually will just, they have they created a training video and they're like, this is the countdown timer. This is why we do a countdown timer. This is the strategy behind the countdown timer. And here's a little demonstration on how we do the countdown timer. And so they not only have created a piece of content to answer the question, but here's the other thing. And this is kind of goes back to me saying, you know, this, this strategy will also help you create new offers. So I was actually texting with Lauria and I was like, Oh my gosh, you guys need to create, like digital assets and sell them like little packets, create, like the overlays, you know, like templates, but create like the countdown timer, for example. Can you just like create those and sell them? I mean, people would buy them because people are constantly asking you for them. And she was like, that's a great idea. Yes, in fact, I think we're going to do that and the next thing you know, few weeks later Now they sell countdown timers, they've got like five different colors that they offer. And it's just a digital asset. You know, when you use the sophisticated software that they use, you can, you know, pull that into your live stream, and even play the music and all that stuff. And you can have this countdown timer. But the thing about the countdown timer is, if you don't know how to create a countdown timer using like the fancy software, then you can't have the countdown timer, so but you can go buy a countdown timer from them for 27 bucks. So again, they took this question that they got on so like, almost every time they go live and they use this countdown timer, some you know, innocent soul asks, oh my gosh, what's this countdown timer? How did you do that? And so even in the description or in the comments, they would they would just say, Hey, here's a quick demo video we did about the countdown timers. But then they realized people wanted these countdown timers so they created the actual product. They made an offer two for you to buy the countdown timer template. So there's a perfect example of that. They're paying attention to the questions that was repeatedly getting the questions repeatedly getting asked in their, you know, on their, in their livestream videos. You know, people were dming them asking about it, people were asking about it in just comments of their other posts about the countdown timer. And so they took it and they converted it not only to have a piece of content that's super helpful and practically goes viral, because everybody wants to know about it, and then also into a product offer. So I love that example. And they have I asked her I was like, how's the countdown timer sales? How's it going? She's like, oh, they're going like hotcakes. I'm like, Yep, exactly. You know, so and they're working. Now they're working on some other things, too, because they're getting these questions and people don't, and they either don't want to or they can't create these things themselves. But because they get asked about them. They get asked so many times, it's kind of like they validated man, people want this and need this. Let's solve this problem for them. Let's create a solution. Let's create an offer. So that's a I love using the questions thing to not only come up with content, but also So remember, it can also create product. And so I've done that in my own business before.

When it comes to workshops, I was getting

asked about LinkedIn, by a lot of people, I was talking about LinkedIn and saying, hey, LinkedIn is, you know, exploding right now it's changing, the game is changing over there. It's a really great space. It's a very organic space for you to connect with people. And I got I was getting all these questions from people. And people are like, Oh, my God, really? Like I haven't even been over there. Like, what's changed? What's it? Like? What do I need to do to get back in the game? And so I created a virtual workshop, and I

did it twice. And I, it was great. And I just basically did an overview and taught people and gave them a checklist like, Hey, here's what you need to do. Here's how you can use a platform XYZ, yada, yada, yada, right. And so that was me not only taking it and creating, I created a podcast episode about it, I created a video about it. But I had so much like, additional questions. I was like, all right, tell you what, why don't I go ahead and just teach you how to do this. And so you can be doing this as well. So this is what you want to do. You want to be creating content and then paying attention to the Like the comments, you get one of the best, most engaging types of content, you can be creating facebook live videos, I have preached about this a million times. I hope you know that by now. But Facebook Live, you're going to get engagement, but also create engaging content that poses questions that drives people to want to engage with you. Here's the thing, we want to have engagement, but you're not going to get engagement unless you're engaging, right? And so your content needs to prompt engagement. So find some ways to do this. And pay attention to the comments, pay attention to the stuff people are liking and sharing and all of that. And listen, listen to what they're they're posting, right. Listen with your eyes basically. Okay, so that's the first strategy huge. So every question you get can pretty much be converted into another piece of content, or you can even bundle those questions. So sometimes you might get questions, you know about a specific topic, but they're all kind of different. Well Now you have, you could take a five questions related to the same thing and create a podcast episode, create a video, whatever you want to do. And you can just simply say like, hey, I want to answer five common questions that I get or just say, I'm going to talk about five aspects of, you know, this. And so that is you can also bundle those questions into bigger episodes or bigger pieces of content. Okay, moving on to the second strategy. Now, some of you may tell me, you may say, Well, you know, what, Melanie, that's a really great concept that you just gave me. But I don't get a ton of engagement. I just, I'm new to social media, or I have not really necessarily been consistent, or I just don't, I'm not really getting a response in my content, which could be maybe my contents the wrong content, right. So how do I get these ideas? If I'm not creating this environment where I can get those questions? Well, I've got the answer for you. Your second strategy is to look at other people's content, so maybe find somebody in the same space That does something similar to you, and just kind of look at what's going on in their content. Look at the questions that people are asking in their content, right. Also, get inside some Facebook groups where your audience is hanging out, find out what questions are asking, if you are I mean, the bigger the group, the better the more engaged the group. One of the best ways you can get fine, you know, just do some social listening in there is search, do use the search function inside the group and search some of the key words about what you do. If you're kind of wanting to be you know, learn about a particular type of business owner, then maybe search that type of business. do use the search to, you know, peruse through and find stuff. This is a great way to also get answers to your questions. I mean, it's your own questions, but it's a great way for you to find this content outside of your own. Now, obviously, you're not going to be copycatting and I'm not saying that what I'm saying is just go find some people that are doing similar things to you Who have a great following and who have good stuff and just pay attention? So for me, what I do is, you know, and I'm pretty fortunate, I mean, I'm a marketer, there's a lot of marketers out there. So for example, even Lauria Laurie and David, you know, I love learning from them. But then there are questions that they get. And I'm like, interesting. That's the I keep seeing this question. I keep seeing this question. And it helps me know what questions people are asking about live streaming. Right. And David and Lori are always so awesome to answer. So I'm not only my learning, but I'm also getting insights about what questions people are asking about live streaming. So David and Lauria are, you know, business peers of mine, they are we have some overlap in what we teach and how we teach, but they also are kind of like they cater to people in a different way than I do. And so it's actually a good partnership in just like a peer to peer relationship. We have we're different enough that it's okay. So I'm not like, you know, you know, coming in as like a little leech and like, you know, you know, stopping And stealing, you know their stuff. I'm just simply in there learning from them. And while I'm in there I am paying attention and getting ideas, especially when people ask the more basic questions. So I like I'm more of that di wire helping people get started. They're more like helping people you've already gotten started. Now you're ready to go to like this expert pro level, build his crazy fancy studio and all that stuff, right? So you can find people that are in your space that either do what you do, and just do it in a different way, or maybe in a completely different marketplace. Right. So coffee shop owners, you guys have coffee shops all over the world. You can kind of join hands, listen to each other, pay attention, learn from each other, see what questions people are asking on each other's content. Like, for example, I've follow a number of coffee shops and I see lots of questions people like, what's the best way to you know, do a cold brew coffee at home? I see that a lot. I see. people asking the same common questions around roasting time I see the same common question are not roasting time excuse me brew time I see the same common question. is around coarse versus fine when I when I grind my coffee. So, again, a lot of you can find these questions and other people's content. So that is the the second strategy and even if you're getting like me, you're getting questions in your own, you should still be paying attention inside groups and inside of other people's content for sure. 100% Alright, so the next strategy is, you know, especially if you're already established and you're already in business, and you're already doing stuff, I want you to be paying attention to the like your day to day operations. So I just gave you examples about looking at content and paying attention to questions people are asking in your content in other people's content. But also you should be paying attention to the questions you are getting asked directly or the challenges or the struggles people are having, even as you're working with existing clients or customers. So whether it be a store and if you have a store,

people are going to come in and they're gonna ask you questions.

Pay attention to the questions people are asking. Write it down, capture it somewhere. Because the question somebody asks in your store, then somebody on your social media or somebody outside of your store who's not come in yet, is going to maybe have the same question, right? Or the person who calls in and always ask the same questions. Make sure you have content that can mitigate, mitigate those struggles or those objections and answer the questions. So even inside your day to day, when you're working with clients, do you have clients that have the same struggles over and over and over again, you know, are the same roadblocks there over and over and over again, with every client? Well, if that's the case, create content that can help but also, maybe you have a new offer. Maybe you've just discovered a new product or service that you can layer into your existing stuff. If people are having the same struggles and you're paying attention to them, then you can meet the needs of those customers, whether it be in your content or in your offer. Okay, next, the fourth strategy that I have is to use surveys or polls. So you can create a free survey using Survey Monkey, you can actually use Google Forms if you want. Create some questions around some stuff that you're trying to find out. So you can, again, use these free tools or you can kind of use polls. I'm kind of air quoting right now, because with Facebook pages, we used to be able to make polls, they took that feature away, but you can still create a poll by saying, you know, hey, you know, ask a question and then tell people to vote. You could do it by creating a graphic that has like four boxes, and it's like option 123 or four and have people vote on their option could be like an emotion could be anything. So actually survey and pull people and find out stuff from them. You can do this with Instagram stories. You can also do it in a way that is like if you're trying to get a pulse check on emotions, or how people feel about a particular topic. You can actually think Help people. This is a fun one, you can actually have people answer the question with their favorite GIF, or GIF,

however you want to say it. I say, Jeff.

That's always fun too. So, you know, I love doing that I actually did something similar to this. You know, a few months ago, I was getting ready to speak about personal branding to some people. And I talked about this on another episode. And I went on my personal page, and I was like, Hey, what do you think of personal branding? Do you think you're for yourself as a personal brand? Like, what do you think a personal brand is? And the responses I got was really enlightening. Like, I actually got a lot of surprising responses. The thing that was interesting is when you ask on your personal page, something like that, you know that people so there were certain people that answered and I like wasn't surprised by their answer. And then there were a lot of people who their answers surprised me. Like for example, there are people who are absolutely like in business entrepreneurs, and they did not view their themselves they didn't they didn't see themselves as a personal brand, they're like, well, we're not really a personal brand, because XYZ Like what? You are absolutely a personal brand. You know, I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. So what did that do? I took that information. And it helped me understand even these people who it seems obvious that would understand that concept, also still need to be taught and convinced you are a personal brand. We all have personal brands. And so prior to that had and I asked that question and paid attention to the responses, I would have just kind of assumed that most entrepreneurs and most business people, especially online business entrepreneurs, know that the importance of a personal brand, but it's very enlightening to me that there's still a lot of convincing and education needs to be done around that. So my content strategy around that is I'm going to be creating more content about helping people understand everyone has a personal brand. And so that's an example of kind of like polling people or serving people basically asking the question, and getting The responses, right? Okay, so the next one, and again, you've got to capture this stuff, you've got to have a way to capture the information, whether it be journaling about it, putting in a notebook, or putting a list of ideas in an actual list in an app or something. Right. Okay. And then moving on to the fifth strategy. And this one, I really like this one, you new brand new business people, this one isn't necessarily going to apply to you, but I want to, I still want you to pay attention here because it's something that you need to be prepared to do. It's something I want you to make sure you layer into your ongoing, you know, you know, your business strategy, and this is paying attention to insights. And now insights are you know, obviously, our social media platforms give us insights. So they do give us some actual analytics they give us some insights into you know, what post got got more likes, did it get organic reach, how did it perform right? How many people commented etc, etc, etc. This all So you're gonna have to pay attention to just general insights to like your gut instincts, like just use that your own internal insights as well, conversations you have in your store, you're not going to have analytics about that you're going to have to actually use your gut, you're going to have to pay attention to, you know, the things that work and the things that don't work. And that's essentially what you're doing here is you're paying attention to which topics get the most engagement, which topics tend to get the most response. I have been doing this with my videos, and with my podcast. So I have I'm to a point now where I have done a lot of live videos. In fact, last year, I did two blitzes, and two of the reasons I did these blitzes, or excuse me, one of the reasons I did both of these blitzes was to just get a whole bunch of insights really fast, and it worked. So I was actually able to go back and review 30 days 30 facebook live videos and look and pay attention like Okay, interesting. That topic a lot of people commented on that one, lots of people did like it gave me not only insights into like time of day, you know what kind of video formats were really work really well. But it also gave me a ton of insights into the topics, the same as with my podcasts. So we're in the 30s. Now with my podcast episodes, I can go back and I can see the podcast episodes that have been downloaded the most, regardless of you know, where they are in the timeline. So you know, you would think you're older, your older podcasts would get downloaded, you know, more and more and more, because people are going to like they're there. They're old, they're around, they're going to continue to get downloaded. But that's not the case because as you grow your podcast, obviously more people are going to come in, they're going to listen to the more recent stuff. However, what I know to pay attention to is that if there's an older episode and it continues to grow and spike above all the others well, then obviously that's like, that's a thing. So I'm going to make sure I take note of that, for example, I can tell you that some of my most hot my highest performing podcast

episodes are the one that I did about your profile picture. There is an episode that I shared 11 different tips on how to basically make sure you have a good engaging, quality profile picture for your social media. And that one is by far the most downloaded episode I have. I have another episode that I did that was about how to be a better networker in the flesh. And it was essentially helping people overcome their fears and become just be a better networker. get more out of those events that you attend those events that you go to, to make relationships and to find your people. That was also a very high performing podcast episode. Another podcast episode that is quickly climbing in the ranks is the episode that I did recently about your personal brand, again, tells me people want to be educated on this topic. And so you know I was so I'm so excited to see that that that episode is performing so well. It's where I went into the four dimensions of your personal brand and it really helps you kind of like actually tangibly think through like who you are as a personal brand. And it's I'm so excited to see that I mean, it is going the way the rate is going with it. It's gonna be right up there. I mean, it is up there. It's actually in the top five already. And it's a recent episode. So paying attention to that type of stuff, what's getting downloaded, what's getting watched what's getting commented on what's getting shared? That also is something that will help you know, okay, great. This tells me people want to know more about it. So you can leverage the information by either creating additional content that supports it, or, for example, the profile picture 111 tips, right? Well, I can take some of those tips, and I can convert them into deeper episodes, or I can create a video that gives more how to integrate structions on creating a really great profile picture. Interestingly enough, one of my most engaging facebook live videos I've done recently was about how to take your own pictures without a photographer.

So kind of goes back to pictures, imagery, people want to make sure they have that right. You know, look. And so that tells me people do want to create great images of themselves, and they care about it. So again, these are the insights I'm paying attention to, right. The other thing that you can do when you pay attention to these insights, is it helps you know, hmm, people clearly want to know about this, they clearly want to learn more, can I create a product or service around it? Right? So you know, I think that if, for example, if we ever able to have in person workshops, again, something I have always been working on and collaborating with some other people on is creating a, you know, brand builder workshop, a personal brand builder workshop, and I want to bring in a photographer who could And it takes new headshots of everybody. And the reason I want to do that is because of course, I know that it's important to people. And I know this is an area that they want help. And I know it's something they care about. And so because of that I can bring on this photographer and she can be there and take new headshots of everybody during this kind of like, brand builder workshop, right. And so that's me taking an adding a new offer to something because I'm paying attention to what, you know, people are commenting on what they're saying, and paying attention to those insights. So insights is huge. So if you're new in business, you're new in social media, you're going to be more consistent, you're going to be creating stuff. This is something I want you to layer into your strategy, I want you to be reviewing your insights. Personally, I think you should be reviewing them periodically. But I think if at a minimum you need to be reviewing the stuff at a month on a monthly basis. So every month, spend some time Take a look, pay attention to what's going on, but don't be afraid to look at it throughout the month as well and just pay attention. Okay, moving on to the last strategy. The sixth strategy that I've got for you guys is, I mean, honestly, just frickin have some conversations with people, like literally get on the phone, get on a Zoom call, just talk to people, find some people that are either existing clients, or people that you just know could potentially be a comic client, and just interview them, like, get on the phone and just ask them what their problems are, ask them, vet some of your ideas with them, and see what their thoughts are, get their insights. This is one of the best ways for you to come up with content is to be talking with people. It's live, it's real, it's intimate. It is, you know, authentic, and you're going to get some of the best most enriched ideas by actually talking with people. Now, the thing about talking with people is this. You have to be willing to listen. So you want to talk less and you want to listen as much as possible. But you are going to have to guide the conversation. You're going to have to maybe ask the questions, so that you can get the information you're looking for but I also want you to know that you should be open to the conversation pivoting or changing direction because maybe you're making some assumptions. And then all of a sudden the conversation changes and turns an angle. In that case, I want you to continue to have the conversation and pay attention because it might mean that you could have a new offer or a new pivot in your strategy. And then the other thing I'll say is that you want to be careful who you interview. Ideally, you would find people that are a good fit for you to do business with or work with, so that you can ensure that you're getting an appropriate, you know, connection and appropriate, you know, response and method or style, excuse me, in these, you know, this, this insight that you're going to gather in these interviews. So you wouldn't want to interview somebody who would not be a good fit for you because they're going to give you the wrong language. They're going to give you the wrong thoughts. They're going to give you maybe some similar ideas, but it might not necessarily be in the words that you need to hear. And what I mean by that is because a lot of the words people use when you interview them and ask them about their struggles or their challenges

are, are the same words you're going to use in your content when you speak to people, right? So if you say to somebody, you know, Hey, why don't you want to use Facebook Live? And they say, Well, I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of being judged. I'm fearful of what others will say about me. I don't like how I look on video, well, then I'm, you know, you're going to use those words, in your content, you're going to say, hey, you might be afraid of being judged. But something I want to tell you is that we're all being judged no matter what, even if you're not on Facebook Live, right? So like, using that's me taking that person's language and using it in my content, because it's going to relate to them. So the reason why it's important to try to interview people that are a good fit for you in your business. And a good fit for you, meaning a good match for you is because that language is going to be important, right? And so that's the other thing I'll say, so you want to be able to you want to make sure you're willing to listen, and you're willing to pivot and listen to the pivot of the conversation. But then Also try to find people that you're going to interview that are a good fit. They may either be an existing client, or they may be someone that you think would be a really good fit as a client. Right? Okay, so let's recap really quick. So the six ways that you're going to gather information so that you can create amazing content ideas, but also potentially new offers in your business, meaning products or services, right? is one, you're going to pay attention to the questions people are asking on your own posts and in your own content, too, you're actually going to look at the same thing in other people's content, or whether it be inside a Facebook group. What kind of questions are people asking the group? What is the conversation, pay attention, you can do that by searching keywords, and just paying attention to discussion threads. The third way is you're going to pay attention to the conversations and questions that are happening inside of your existing operation. Whether it be the questions you get on the phone, the questions your customers, Addressing the struggles that your current customers are having, right? So inside your current day to day, you're also going to use surveys and polls, you're basically going to get information by prompting the information, you're going to ask the question, do surveys and polls and get the answers. And then the fifth way that you're going to pay attention to the insights, what kind of content is performing, which topics are getting the most traction? Which topics are getting the most action from your audience, whether it be downloads, shares, likes, comments, right? And then you're also going to just get on the phone, sit down for coffee when we can. You're going to get on a Zoom call, whatever it might be, and actually talk to people, interview people, do all the stuff, get their information from them, take the conversation deeper. And some of the ways you can do that is when you do those polls, or you might put something out there people ask the question, you might be like, you know what? This person's always engaging on my content. Reach out to them and say, Hey, I'd love to sit down with you, you know, get on a Zoom call, I'm just, I think that you might be able to provide some insights that could be pretty helpful for me, I'm really trying to work up some programs. And I would really love to hear what you have to say. And I think it'd be really helpful in exchange, I'd like to offer you a free this or sample this or a 20 minute chat or a 20 minute console, whatever it might be. And so you're going to interview those people. So those are the six strategies that I wanted to share with you guys today that will give you new content ideas, and also potentially new product ideas. Because you might be in a position right now, where you need to pivot, we are in the middle of change. Our world is changing. Our lifestyles are changing right now. We're in the middle of this pandemic, and it is creating change. It's creating, buying behavior changes, it's creating social behavior changes, it's creating day to day changes. I mean, the world is in the middle of change. And so in some way, shape or form, you're Business is affected, whether it's being affected in a super amazing opportunistic way, or whether it's being affected in a very challenging way. Either way, you've got to be able to respond. And so you have to change

your messaging, or you got to change your offer, or you got to change both. So I think a lot of you might find these strategies helpful in thinking and looking at new ways to create offers too. So the main objective is content. These strategies have always worked in any business when it comes to creating content. But now when so many of us are looking at this pandemic, and needing to pivot and think about new offers or just tweaking things up, or maybe even creating new businesses, these strategies will work as well for that. So hope you find it helpful. And again, always remember, you've got to have a way to capture your ideas. You've got to have a way to track the questions, pull everything into a document because your brain is going to get full you will forget and when it's time to sit down And batch your content, or sit down and strategize What does the next quarter look like what's the next year look like from a from a revenue standpoint, sit down and look at all these insights down and look at all this information you've captured, and apply it and put it into place and create a plan. And just freakin go be awesome. You know what I mean? Like, seriously, just go for it. All right, you guys, that is it for today. I hope you found this episode helpful. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast, I hope you will, it definitely will make sure that you don't miss any episodes that I create. And if you find any of these episodes, especially this one helpful that somebody else maybe needs to hear, click the Share button, you can actually just share it on social media if you want, which I would love you forever for or send it to somebody in a text message. I do that all the time when I've got podcast episodes that I love and I'm like, Oh my gosh, my friend needs to hear this or this person needs to hear this. I will share it with them. I love sharing these type these types of episodes with people. So if you are one of those people that know somebody that maybe needs to hear this message or You know a business that you wish would pivot or do something. I'd love for you to share this month, this podcast episode with them because I just want to reach as many people as I can, so that we can all stay in business and keep growing and doing amazing things and sharing our gifts with the world. So thanks again for being here. And until next time, I'll see you later and go be awesome.



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