Kris Hughes is a content material technique and storytelling wizard. He:
✍️ Wrote (and bought) blogs earlier than it was cool
👻 Spent years ghostwriting day by day social content material for shoppers, from businesses to CEOs
🖥️ Runs his personal digital technique consulting agency (on monitor to hit 30% YoY income development)
Listed here are Kris’ six ideas for nailing your content material technique — to generate stable, genuine leads.
1. If You Don’t Inform Your Model’s Story, Somebody Else Will
As a founder with one million priorities, content material like blogs and social media posts can look like low-priority objects.
However if you happen to don’t inform your model’s story, another person will make assumptions and inform it for you.
Don’t sit in your arms in relation to content material. Your story and voice must:
- Be genuine
- Really feel pure to you
- Make sense to your target market
Sizzling tip: Check out your opponents — in the event that they’re not doing a powerful sufficient job of telling their story, they’re leaving content material gaps on the desk so that you can capitalize on.
2. Do a Thorough Mind Dump
Spend ~30 days on a “mind dump” train, utilizing voice notes and free-form writing. Report each thought you have got in your model, then cross it on to somebody who’s near, however not part of, what you are promoting.
Ask them what they see from the skin wanting in. What phrases are used again and again? What matters maintain returning? This deep-dive step is significant for 2 causes.
One: “Individuals are their very own worst entrepreneurs,” Kris says. “There’s most likely a ton about your individual model story you’re not telling. The deep dive and outdoors perspective brings this to the floor.”
Second, this train will spin off aligned speaking factors as a way to hit the bottom operating with a transparent technique and financial institution of nice content material — in your individual phrases.
3. Extrapolate 4 Key Pillars for Your Content material
Sift by your mind dump and set up every thought, spicy quote, or matter, into considered one of 4 pillars:
Supply: Kris Hughes / Zanate Ventures
Every pillar provides rise to particular kinds of content material, and alternating between them will make sure the matters you talk about stay diverse and recent, but additionally on model.
For instance, one week chances are you’ll speak in regards to the outcomes you’ve pushed for a shopper (Pillar II), and the following share a few of your founder story (Pillar IV).
And if you happen to ever get author’s block, you possibly can return to your pillars as inspiration and a reminder of what you need to convey to your viewers.
4. Give attention to Group-Constructing earlier than You Put Out Content material
Create a neighborhood from the get-go by interacting together with your supreme shoppers, opponents, and friends by value-driven feedback and messages.
This step will get you snug with the way you write, the way you painting your self, and the way individuals obtain you.
Preserving monitor of feedback you make (e.g., in Notion) can even guarantee you have got a content material concepts financial institution; most beneficial feedback can often be bulked up right into a put up.
5. Now You Can Get Your Content material Out There
Use your pillars, saved feedback, and mind dump to generate content material that’s genuine to your model. Bear in mind to:
📈 Have a transparent KPI: Is your content material to construct generalized consciousness, or drive leads?
📝 Develop a voice information, a useful resource information, and a content material calendar.
Kris is an advocate of scheduling content material to be sure you get it on the market. Whereas the cadence and method of posting will depend upon the platform, consistency is all the time key.
6. Bear in mind: Content material Is A Lengthy Recreation.
It takes time to construct up a fame to the purpose the place your content material drives leads. Preserve at it.
“Many founders are available weapons blazing with excessive power, after which fizzle out after a number of months,” says Kris. You’ll miss the magic if you happen to do. Keep motivated by:
- Setting new benchmarks
- Specializing in optimistic suggestions
- Reusing your top-performing posts each few months
As a last tip, Kris suggests speaking to your prospects when issues are going properly.
Supply: Tenor
“We have a tendency to succeed in out solely when we have to put out fires,” he instructed us. “However getting shopper suggestions throughout the good instances means you’ll discover room for incremental enchancment — when you have got the capability to behave on it.”
Optimistic buyer transformation journeys are highly effective additions to your model story.