Day 3.1 Your Content Map 2016Planathon.com

Hey everyone, it's me, Maggie. I am about to go on a little road trip and I wanted you to come with me to help me make sure I can get there. So quick run through before I go. I've got my car, so we're good, right? That's a good start. And I've got my hair clean and I've got cute shoes on, so we're pretty much good to go.

Crap.

I need to get stop and get gas. So let's do that peeps. We're here at the gas station. I was rocking out on the way over here. You can see we've got the gas pumps and everything. I'm gonna fill up and then we'll go on our next stage of our road trip. Please stay with me because we got a big problem coming up and I'm gonna need your help. I was getting so stressed out about what was coming next. So I need to go to a restaurant. I've never been there before and I'm not sure how to get there. So let's ask Siri. Siri, how do I get to Succotai on Richmond Road? Siri. Siri. No, no, no, no. What are you doing? Siri, Seriously?

Oh crap.

I turned off Siri. That's why she's not working. How am I gonna get there? I guess I'm just gonna go and I'll check back in with you guys. Hopefully I don't get lost. I am supposed to be in the city now. I took a wrong turn. I'm stuck behind our machinery. Omg I am wiggin out. I hate being late.

Do you see that? It's a flippin combine and tractor that's holding me up. Welcome to my life and I have.

No idea where I'm going. Sometimes your business is gonna feel this way and we're gonna break that down for you in just a minute.

Oh, hey there. I found my way finally. And I wanted to come talk to you about the importance of having a map. Because if you don't have a map and you don't have one of these, it's really hard for you to create content in your business. So I want to talk to you about creating a content map. The idea of a content map is a content strategy. It's a way for you to have everything you need in one place so that every time you go right to blog post your like this, like this and you don't know what to vlog about. Because the reality is that when you're creating content, you need to have a plan and and so whether it be a blog, a podcast, a webpage, or anything else that's in the content or copy category in your business, you need to have a few things nailed. So what do we put in this map? What are we going to do to create our own little Garmina? Yeah, I call her Garmina. I have issues. I name everything. So, number one is getting clear. And this can be very, very challenging. But it comes down to a couple things which I'm going to walk you through. Number one, knowing your message and your story, and story is one of those things that totally trips people out. The story breaks down to four real categories in my mind, at least. Who you are and how you got there. It's the story of your customer, what they need. It's also the story of what you do for your customers or the results you've delivered in the past. It's what people can expect when they work with you. And then the very last part is what you stand for. If you stand for nothing, you're not going to get noticed. You're kind of just going to get glossed over. And without a story, it's really, really easy to be obscure. So if you don't have a story, you don't have a message, and you're not clear on that, it's going to be really hard to create any type of content and for anyone to actually connect with the content, because truly, that is the point of your content. The next thing you want to get clear on is your voice. Now, we talk about this idea of, like, needing to find your voice. Good news, everyone. You have a voice, right? We're using it right now. My muscles are working. My voice box is working. We all have a voice. It's about refining your voice so that you understand how to best use it in your business and in your writing or creating content, whether that be a video or a podcast or something else. So consider things like the tone of your voice. Are you very authoritative? Are you a bit funny? How do you bring those things through? What is your style? Think of your voice as a person. If your voice was getting dressed, what would they wear? Are they French country? Are they French tomboy? Or are they a little bit rebel rocker? You've got to think about what it's going to be that's going to best suit your brand and what that voice is going to come through. And the last thing is you got to be clear on the goal. So here's the thing. Don't we all do this? We create content. We create a Blog, we create a podcast, create all these things because we want to get these little imaginary check marks. And what happens is we lose sight of what the goal of the content is. So whether it's a webpage or a blog post or anything else you're creating, you got to have a goal in mind. What is it you want your reader to feel when they're done, and what do you want them to do? Because creating content with no next step or no goal in mind is not really great content. It could be the most epically helpful post in the world. If it doesn't tie back to your business and doesn't tie back to what you're actually trying to do, it's not gonna work. Right. So how do we actually do this? I got three really quick tips for you. Number one, start with your goal in mind. Reverse engineer it from the goal. So literally work back and backstep it. So let's say your goal is, you know, you have a program coming up. You're gonna do this little mini course on content and creation and everything else. I'm gonna pick something out of my own life. And what you would do then is, ok, some of those specific things that people need to know before they buy this. What are some specific things related to this that I can establish my expertise on to help people get more comfortable and ready to purchase this from me? If you are selling things and having a really hard time selling them, it's probably because your content doesn't support it and people aren't warmed up. So really think about how you could do that. The other thing you want to consider is customer objections or questions. This is an absolute goldmine. Listen very carefully to what your customers have to say if they always are coming up with a question. But what about Google Analytics or what do we do about this video thing? That's a sign that you need a piece of content on it. It's a sign that there's more questions and more for you to explore. And on the objection side, if there's a common objection when you're selling your service, that comes up, definitely start digging deep into that. So, for example, when I was starting to really work on storytelling back in over a year ago, I started talking a lot about story and why it was important. So by the time people got to considering even purchasing from me, I didn't have to get that objection out of the way. And then the last thing when you're creating your content to really consider, and this kind of goes in line with what you stand for, is what do you want to be known for? If you want to be known for having a really strong authoritative point of view or adding this real sense of humor, you want to make sure your content is enabling you to do that. Picking a content type that really lets that happen. Picking things that actually are going to best serve you and your talents and what you want to be known for. So if you want to be known for being a champion for women, being smarter with their money, for example, you're going to want to think about how that actually shows up in all of your content. Because if you can consistently are struggling with creating your content, that can be such a great north star or touchstone for you to go back to, for you to say, okay, you know what, I am off track. Bring me back over here. When you have all these things nailed, you have your very own GPS now. Tips for implementing this. You definitely, definitely need to be able to go back and revisit this periodically. You might do this quarterly, you might do this monthly. Make sure that you're checking in and the content you're creating is aligned with this. When you have a really strong content strategy and a content map, things get a lot easier. You don't end up driving down the highway in Florida asking her husband where the GPS is lost at 11 o' clock at night after traveling for many, many hours and having him say, gee, Maggie, I think it's at home. And both of you have turned off location services on your phone. And then you're pretty close to a divorce and that's the only time that's ever happened in 15 years. So don't let that happen to your content. Turn on your GPS and use it. Create a map so that you don't have to struggle every Sunday night when it's time to write your content. So if you want more great tips and lessons about content creation, storytelling, and taking a stand, you can find me over@maggupetterson.com because, hey, that's where I hang out and that's where it all happens. I talk about this stuff all the time. I'd love to see you over there. Thanks guys.