As a business owner, entrepreneur, or even someone responsible for your company’s marketing, it’s your job to make some noise.
It’s your job to let people know you exist and explain what you do, why they should want it, and how they can get it.
And yet, after 15 years in the business of helping folx who want that, it’s time to let the secret out: most don’t do it. I’m not even saying they don’t do it well, I’m saying they don’t do it, at all.
This represents one of the biggest opportunities in marketing today; doing something, literally, anything at all.
Because too many people and companies are so busy trying to pick what to do, arguing about where they should do it, and worrying about how they’ll do it, they spend years never publishing a single thing.
So today, I’m going to give you the formula I’ve used to —so far— produce:
- More than 1,270 blog posts
- Around than 300 podcast episodes
- Around 450 Youtube videos
- Around 44,600 Tweets
- Around 1,800 Instagram posts
- Hundreds, maybe thousands of Linkedin and Facebook posts
1. Pick a thing to do
It’s easy to look at someone who publishes a lot and think that’s where they started. They didn’t. Trust me.
They started at the beginning…just like everyone else.
They probably started doing one thing and once they found a rhythm, they just kept adding things. It’s either that or they found a way to maximize output without dramatically increasing input — more on that later.
Some choose Youtube as their thing. Some like podcasting. Others are writers.
Pick a thing. Just one and do something…literally, anything at all. It doesn’t really matter.
Pick something that sounds fun.
2. Build a system
Now that you’ve picked a thing, lay out a simple structure. Answer these two questions:
- What topics will you talk about?
Pick roughly 5 big topics and then 3-5 subtopics within those.
Congratulations, you now have a focus of your content. Don’t stray from that.
- How often will you publish something?
Anything less than once per week is probably not enough. Anything more than twice per week is ambitious. As for what day and time you should publish, it’s not that important at this stage. Just pick a schedule that gives you enough time to create and schedule the content.
3. Follow the system and hit Publish
This part sounds easy but it’s actually what this whole post hinges on. You gotta show up, do a thing and hit publish. As easy as that sounds and even though it is literally the only thing you really must do for this to work, it’s the thing almost no one does.
- It’s why most podcasts have less than 10 episodes.
- It’s why so many blogs haven’t posted since Obama was President.
- It’s why so many businesses keep turning to new consultants and new tools only to find themselves without a podcast, without videos, and with the blog turned off on their website until they “get their ducks in a row.”
This is where rubber meets road. If you’ve gotten this far, you must do this work and avoid detours.
If you can’t do this, then you can’t have the sweet level up that comes next.
4. Level Up
It’s only after you’ve been consistent for some reasonable length of time that you can progress to the next steps: Efficiencies and Calls-to-Action
Efficiencies
Smart marketers don’t work harder, they work smarter.
- They repurpose content.
- They recreate content in other formats.
- They use technology to automatically distribute their content and recycle it.
- They find ways to smooth out the creation process with templates, formulas, and production schedules.
You can’t optimize and scale a process that doesn’t exist in the first place. The problem is too many businesses want to be on Level 10 before going through Level 1. This isn’t Super Mario Bros. There’s no pipes behind a wall that will let your warp past the basics.
Calls to Action
I hate to quote or cite Gary V but in this case it’s worth it. Gary wrote a book called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. You don’t need to read the book, because it’s a few hundreds pages to say this: don’t ask for something until you’ve earned the right to.
- The Jab is a setup, it’s something of value.
- The Right Hook is when you ask for something.
What many will do is come out swinging hooks, asking for people to buy. After 5 blog posts of begging, they quit. The reason you need to do the work as described above is because it gives you the right to ask for something because you’ve built trust.
Out of thousands and thousands of pieces of content, I’ve only asked people to do something or buy something a tiny fraction of the time.
Doing Something Great
- Every Sunday, I sit down and write. Every Monday at 9:30, whatever I wrote gets published.
- Every Wednesday, I sit down and write. Every Thursday at 9:30, whatever I wrote gets published.
Armed with a strong sense of purpose, I’ve been able to stick to these processes, among others.
I’m not a guru. I’m not a prophet. I’m not a celebrity, I’m not an “influencer.” I don’t want to be any of those things. I don’t have all the answers, and I will never claim that I do. I’m just a guy, with ideas, committed to a process, and I’ve published a lot of content.
While people and Brands are out there looking to perfectly replicate Neil Patel’s process, or implement every step of Grant Cardone’s how to be a jackhole without even trying 7-week course, they could just be following this very real, very proven system and putting out their first pieces of mediocre content. This way, instead of starting over from scratch in 6 months, they’re building on prior success and failure.
I’ve found that doing something, or really anything, and doing it consistently, is often far more than most people do. By starting and sticking with it, you will get a little bit better each time. While others are still in meetings, trapped under the weight of indecision, you’ll have spent years learning how to be really good at something, all because you decided to just do…something.
