In this week's episode of "Inside the Mind", we're going to talk about how to Provide Value while avoiding all the cliches.
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Hey What's up guys welcome to inside the mind where we talk about online marketing strategy, what it is, why it's important and why you should care.
In last week's episode we talked about Misunderstanding your Market, and selling your services at a higher price, and in this week's episode we're going to start part 1 of a 2 part series on creating high quality content.
Now let's just get this out of the way, I'm not going to give you cliched advice like "Provide Value" or "Be Engaging" because every time I say something like that, a T-Rex bites my head off.
(nom nom nom)
Value, and Engagement are all relative.
At the end of the day, your ability to create valuable and engaging content are defined by two things.
Your ability to do research (Value)
and Your skill as a Story Teller (Engagement)
Today, we'll focus on Providing Value, because it's one of those big ambiguous cliche's that are usually explained away with...other cliche's.
Online, there's a TON of content based solely on ideas, opinions or personal bias. And while that has it's place, the content that most people define as "valuable" just happens to be the stuff weaves opinion in with research and is highly actionable.
But Why?
Philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) argued that people best like to make claims about what ought to be on the basis of statements about what is.
In other words, people prefer forming their opinions based on facts.
Think about this for a second, if your work is all opinion, there really is no room for argument, nor is there anything to prove you right or wrong, making it near impossible for someone to have a productive conversation with you.
But when research and facts are weaved into your work, it provides an authoritative and authentic foundation for your opinions. Which gives your audience freedom to form their own perspective, given the data you've provided.
And in case you're the kind of person who's not any good with research, here's a few tips to get you started.
- Have a research question in mind.
- Look For Case Studies, Industry Reports, Surveys, and News articles.
- Don't be afraid to use the library.
- Have a system for taking notes (I personally use a notebook)
- Write a strong thesis. Your thesis is your statement of intent: what do you intend to demonstrate or prove. The stronger your thesis, the more focused your research will be.
- Find an unlikely connection. Look for surprising new ways to illustrate a concept.
- Consult with the experts. Use Social Media Sites and/or email to reach out to experts and ask for their opinion on your topic.
But let's be honest, even the most valuable content feels like it'll melt your face off if it's not engaging....What? No effect?.... hmm
Which is why in the next episode, we're going to talk about the different ways that you can become better story teller.
(Face melt)
Alright, that's all I've got for this episode of "Inside The Mind" Thanks so much for watching.
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