Your Digital Marketing Coach with Neal Schaffer

The Digital Marketing Connection Between Content Creators, Entrepreneurs, and Small Businesses

• Neal Schaffer • Episode 358

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Ready to take your digital marketing to the next level? In this episode, I dive deep into the connection between content creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. You'll learn not only the commonalities between these groups but also the valuable insights on how they can learn from each other. From the importance of thinking and acting like a business to understanding the power of personal branding, this episode is packed with actionable advice that can transform your digital marketing strategy. If you're juggling with limited resources, my insights on amplifying your marketing strategies are precisely what you need.

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Speaker 1:

When it comes to digital marketing, what is the connection between content creators, entrepreneurs and small businesses? I'm going to cover that topic in depth and give you some of my advice from my upcoming book in this next episode of the Digital Marketing Coach Podcast.

Speaker 2:

Hey everybody.

Speaker 1:

This is Neil Schaefer, your digital marketing coach, and welcome to my podcast. We are now in the month of March. Because my background is in B2B sales, I always look at things quarterly, as my bonuses were normally tied to quarterly sales performance. We are now in the third part of Q1. I hope that you have been able to achieve a lot of what you plan to begin at the beginning of the year.

Speaker 1:

As you know, I have been really focused on my book and actually this is the first time with my book that I'm targeting a specific audience. I'm sort of niching down in some ways, and I want to talk about that and how it relates to really everything that I teach in this podcast and everywhere. Before I get to that topic, which I already teased you about in that teaser before the intro, I do want to cover my AI tool of the week. This week I want to talk and, by the way, I want to apologize because it looks like I covered the same tool two weeks in a row which was Adobe Express. Obviously, I love Adobe Express a lot, so I think that came out, but today I want to talk about an AI tool that you've probably heard me talk about on this podcast. It is a tool called Phrase. You can go to neilshapercom. It is an affiliate link but it does come with benefits and you can check it out. What Phrase does is based on your keyword. It will go out and look at the current real-time Google search results. I think it takes about the top 20 results. Then it basically uses natural language processing and semantic analysis to try to grasp of those top 20 results, what are the keywords, the content, themes that is the commonality as to why these posts are ranking so high in Google. That is just incredibly invaluable information.

Speaker 1:

Normally, if I was going to write a blog post, I would go out and I want to make sure that I have my basis covered. I don't necessarily write about everything that I see out there on the internet because you see outdated information, incorrect information or I just have a different perspective than what some other people may be blogging about. But that analysis allows me to make sure that my blog post is on track, that when people are searching for that keyword, there is a defined search intent and there are topics that I need to make sure that I cover. That is why I do not publish a blog post and I even have my guest bloggers. I can create a page for them in my phrase account and they can access it for free. In other words, you could hire a writer or have someone on your team or have multiple people collaborate over the same blog post in phrase and allow them to reach the maximum efficiency for SEO optimization. That is the way that I use phrase.

Speaker 1:

It also has its own AI content writer. It also integrates, I believe, with Google Search Console, google Analytics. It has a lot of bells and whistles. I really just focus on that semantic SEO aspect and I use it not just for new blog posts but actually to optimize old blog posts. Currently, 25% of my blog posts are republished versions of blogs that were published at least one, sometimes two, three, four, five years ago that I am updating Once again. Neilshapercom slash phrase F-R-A-S-C. I hope you'll check it out if you have a need for that type of tool. I want to say it's more, I suppose, machine learning than specific AI, but it does have that AI content writing feature as well that is embedded inside it. It will check to see if you have content that's very similar to what's already out there on the Internet and then with one click you can actually rephrase that title or heading so that it is uniquely your. That is a cool way of leveraging that AI functionality inside this SEO tool, alrighty.

Speaker 1:

So today I want to talk about this topic of entrepreneurs, content creators, small businesses and the commonality between the three. And I talk about this because when I was writing my book which man? I finally got the first cover comp that I actually liked. So the cover is coming together. That literally becomes the face of the book and obviously, when I announced the book, it'll be through that cover. So it's coming. I know I keep teasing it out, but it is coming.

Speaker 1:

But when I started writing the book, I realized that I didn't want to serve big brands with big budgets and lots of resources, because that's never really what my consulting has been about, or my blogging, or when I am training or educating. I realized that my strength is really in helping those with limited resources best leverage digital content influence or social media marketing, Very similar to I'm sort of engaging with my own audience, with myself, right, because I am also that way and that's always been this perspective that I've had. And when I look at the business that I am bringing in, it is more from small and medium sized business and startups than it is from large brands. Not to say, I don't get business from large brands, but I do feel that large brands tend to work with larger agencies and New York Times bestselling authors. So it is just the reality of what it is. Now, for those of you that have heard me talk about this before, I am like the unnitched person. I have sort of niched up from beginning with LinkedIn, going to social media marketing, somewhat of a niche with influencer marketing, and now I'm really covering all of digital marketing. But within it I realized what big brands are looking for and what smaller businesses are looking for are very different and I really want to hone in on that smaller market, in which it's actually a huge market, right, probably 99% of businesses are small businesses, startups, what have you? So that's why, when you see the subtitle of the new book, it will be focused on that sort of smaller business entrepreneur market.

Speaker 1:

Now what's really fascinating is I talk to a lot of content creators. I'm a content creator myself. As an author, I am one of the oldest content creators, because it's not just visual content, it's textual content as well. Even podcasters are content creators and recently going to Vid Summit in the fall of last year and then PodFest early this year, I realized the missing piece of content creators that a lot of people that I follow are talking a lot about and I am talking a lot about and I know that some of you might be content creators is the fact that you are entrepreneurs. You are businesses.

Speaker 1:

Right, I am a business and therefore, when someone reaches out to me and says, nio, I'd love to be interviewed on your podcast, I am lending them my platform, I am lending them the trust that I have built up with you and therefore I have to think like a business. What is the business benefit to them? What is the business benefit to me? Or a company who says out to me we'd love if you featured our tool on your blog. Well, once again, I'm lending my SEO juice, my platform, to a company. What is in it for me? I am a business. I need to pay my bills, I need to pay my own health insurance, I need to send my kids to school, right? So I think that for the content creators that are listening, if you think like a business, you are less likely to undercut and undervalue what you provide. Content is the currency for everything I talk about and people are just at an advantage. It is what we do for a living if we are content creators versus businesses that are trying to get better at this or want to tap into your influence, whether it be in social media, in podcasting or on your website.

Speaker 1:

So when you think like a business, it also helps you say you know what is my time spent if I'm a podcaster. We'll take that. For example, is it worth it for me to not only have to conceptualize I think that's a word this podcast episode and actually record it and rerecord it and then edit it and then promote it? It is a lot of work. What are the pieces there that I can outsource? I am a business. There is no way, if I want to generate a million dollars in revenue, there is no way that I can be in full control of every single piece of my business. So when you think about it that way, you begin to see where you add strategic value and where you can outsource to experience professionals around the world that offer value in what they do. That can free up your time for more strategic things. So thinking like an entrepreneur gives you those two advantages. It allows you to build the business. It also allows you to be more important or place more importance on your precious time, which is the most important asset that you have, as well as when others wanna collaborate with you, and the more out there you are as a content creator, the more you'll see those come your way. You'll wanna be very careful about protecting your business, your community as well as your reputation, right? So I think that what's missing in the content creator pieces is that thinking like a business especially the outsourcing piece, I think, is huge and it's something that every content creator has to consider early on, as well as all these other things I talked about.

Speaker 1:

So, this book that I'm writing, obviously it's offering digital marketing advice. So, even if you are a podcaster, well, what is your product? How are you generating business revenue? Do you have multiple streams of income? Do you have different business units? I consider every stream of income that I have a separate business unit. What is the profitability plan for each of those business units? And therefore, you need to use digital marketing, just like any other business needs to use digital marketing, right? So that's the content creator. If that's you, now we have the entrepreneur.

Speaker 1:

Now the entrepreneur might be a small business owner, might be a startup owner, might be a content creator, but entrepreneurs obviously have to promote what they're doing. They have to promote their businesses, and I guess we can sort of put entrepreneurs in small business and small business owners in one bucket. Now the commonality is they get, they need to do digital marketing. They might not understand the content creation piece, and what becomes really important and this is a topic of another book that I'm very, very early working on is the concept of personal branding. How do a lot of small businesses or entrepreneurs get out there? How do you create content? How do you gain visibility? Often it has to be done through a person. Often the person is the entrepreneur or the small business owner.

Speaker 1:

Now, for those entrepreneurs, small business owners that can get out there like a content creator, this is the ideal situation, and I think of my brother Tersera Wines. He's a maker of wine in Santa Barbara County. Oh, rome varietals. For those that are interested, he recently is doing Pinot Noir as well, great Cabernet Franc, montserrat. Anyway, I won't go into all the different great varieties, but if you're ever in the area, he does have a wine tasting room in Los Alivos, california.

Speaker 1:

But just a great example and I talk about my brother on this podcast sometimes, cause it is a great example of a small business owner who owns a winery and he goes to wine tasting dinners and he is the face of his brand. He doesn't have his picture on the bottle, but it is his personality that when people come to the tasting room he could talk hours and hours about wine in an engaging way and it is his personality that is selling the wine when people touch him physically, right, or see him on social media. So that is the thing. It is the people, it is the people inside your company that can create that emotional touch. And if it is not the business owner, I don't know who better it can be. So this sort of taps into employee advocacy or employee influencers. So if the business owner doesn't want to become the face of the business, doesn't want to be out there in social media, well, who can it be? Sometimes it's the community manager, right. Sometimes it is the lead tech person, sometimes it's the intern.

Speaker 1:

But I do believe and I get asked this a lot, neil how can, if recently, in my use of the extension class, the first week sort of introducing influencer marketing and the overwhelming majority of my students are actually from France on an executive MBA certification class and they were saying well, neil, if the algorithms seem to favor people for a variety of reasons, I mean, what can businesses do? And it's like businesses can try to humanize their content, but at the end of the day, it's a logo. The best way to humanize your content is to actually have a human present your content and to have a human face of your brand, and that human is always out there on social media and is building emotional connections, building friends and, in that way, is building business, and I think that is the missing link. When I look at I talked about the missing ingredients of content creators being successful. Now I look at the entrepreneurs and small business owners and small businesses and they are missing that important ingredient. So when you put the two together, you know the original subtitle of this book that I'm writing was you know what content creators can learn from entrepreneurs, what entrepreneurs can learn from content creators and what big brands can learn from both of them, and that is really the the concept that I wanted to share with you. So, no matter which bucket you're in, I Think that you have work to do and I'm hoping this new book will give you direction.

Speaker 1:

I really want to continue this conversation. If you want to get more, you know, advice based on what I'm talking about here, I would love to hear from you. You always have an open invitation to email me. Say, neil, I listen to your podcast episode. I had a question. I need some advice. Obviously, I do have my digital first mastermind community, which is a paid community, which I am looking at opening up to new members. But I am also looking at building more of like a patreon topic community where I come in once a month I answer your questions and It'll be for basically like one or two cups of coffee a month. So if that is something that interests you, that's like Neil, I'm not ready for your mastermind community, but I'd love, just once a month, to be able to tap into it to and ask me anything, to be able to get answers to my questions. I'd love to hear from you. So once again, it's Neil at Neil Schaefercom. You should know I am the real Neil, so it's spelled N-E-A-L and Schaefer is S-C-H-A-F-F-E-R. I really want to do my best to turn this into a two-way conversation. So I'd love to hear from you, but if not, I get it right.

Speaker 1:

A lot of podcast listeners might be more introvert. Maybe you're not as active on social media what have you? And I love the podcast listening experience as well, and I often don't reach out to podcast house, but I'll tell you. Recently I've been listening to the creative pen podcast, which is for authors, writers, and I'm looking for advice in self publishing, and I did reach out to Joanna and she replied back today and you know, just a wealth of information, advice. So I want to. I really respect that and it inspired me to say the same thing to you. So feel free to reach out to me. If not, I get it. No worries, I, as always, I can see the numbers. So I am really appreciative for everybody that subscribes to this podcast, wherever you are, every review, every time you share this in social media. Thank you so much, man. You know I hear some other podcasters go Well, I'm only gonna do it to episode 400 or 500, but there is so much to talk about and the space continues to evolve and I think when I launch the book, there's just gonna be a lot more, a lot more things to talk about and a lot more development.

Speaker 1:

So Next week I am going to be talking on episode number 359, have a very special interview with someone that is gonna talk about how marketing Automation can exponentially level up your digital creator or small business. You'll notice the content creator, the small business and I was looking for people to interview Visa v, my upcoming book, because I have a separate chapter on marketing automation. Marketing automation is killer. The smaller your business, the more important it is for you to have, so I'm really excited about a dedicated episode on that. Obviously, you'll have to make sure you're subscribed. This is going to drop on Wednesday, march 13th, so be in the lookout for that. But until then, this is your digital marketing coach, neil Schaefer, signing off.

Speaker 2:

You've been listening to your digital marketing coach. Questions, comments, requests, links. Go to podcastneilschaefercom get the show notes to this and 200 plus podcast episodes and Neil Schaefercom To tap in to the 400 plus blog post that Neil has published to support your business. While you're there, check out Neil's digital first group coaching membership community If you or your business needs a little helping hand. See you next time on your digital marketing coach.