Effortless Content Marketing Success: 3 Proven Secrets!
Solve your content marketing challenges with expert insights.
I'm a big believer in adding value to clients and potential clients.
So, I thought you might enjoy this true story of a young couple in Australia who were trying to buy their first home a couple of years ago. It's a story that shows the incredible power of doing something tiny that hugely impacts your results.
Here's the story…
Looking for a change of scenery, the Touzel family moved to Wagga Wagga, five hours west of Sydney, in January 2020.
After renting in the area for six months, they started looking for a home to buy.
But they soon found themselves smack bang in the middle of a booming real estate market, as COVID-19 caused more people to work from home and look to move out of the city.
"We noticed the prices were really going up," Bec Touzel said. "We were seeing a lot of offers being made that were above asking price because people were so desperate to get in."
"You might see a house advertised for $410,000 but then it would go for $430,000-$440,000."
Before long, the family had made ten offers on homes and missed out each time.
To make matters even more stressful, the lease on their rental property was due to expire in December, and the owner had told them he wanted to put it on the market.
"We were prepping for an open house at our rental and then going to open houses," Mrs. Touzel said, adding that her daughters Abigail, 10, and Jemima, 8, were also getting discouraged after seeing so many open houses.
"I think Abigail was aware of a bit of a deadline feeling with the rental and she just wanted to help out," she said.
During this time, the family went to see a home for sale down the road from their current rental; Mrs. Touzel said, "We decided to go to the open house even though it was a bit over our budget. We loved it as soon as we walked in. "
Mr. and Mrs. Touzel decided to put in an offer on the house despite knowing it was likely to be too low.
After returning from the open home, Mrs Touzel said she found a note on her bed from her daughter Abigail, along with $11.75 of her pocket money in coins.
The note from Abigail read...
"Dear Mum and Dad, this is your money now for the house and other things if you want. Don't take them back they are yours now."
On a whim, Mrs Touzel added a picture of her daughter's note and their offer when she sent it to the real estate agent.
"Within half an hour the real estate agent rang me and said, 'Oh my goodness, that note has had me in tears. I'm going to send it along straight away with your offer,'" she said.
"We heard back within an hour to say, 'Look, your offer is a bit low. Can you come up?' "After some back-and-forth, they decided to increase their offer slightly.
After not hearing back for a few days, Mrs Touzel said she was convinced they had missed out again. "I thought, 'Oh no, we've blown it.'
But then the agent rang and said, 'You've got the house. They had full price offers on the table, one lady is going over asking price – but they can't get your note out of their heads.'"
Mrs Touzel said she was told the vendors had two daughters of their own and remembered going to look for their first home.
The Touzel family moved in just before Christmas last year. Mrs Touzel said they were enormously thankful to the vendors.
"The vendors were so generous – it's really mind blowing in today's world where money is what rules," she said.
Mrs Touzel said Abigail was dumbfounded when she was told about her note's role in securing the house.
"I think she was quite astonished that it had such an impact, but she was very excited as well," she said - "I've kept the note, and we will frame it and talk about it in the future with her."
As I read this story, it was a perfect example of the power of doing something tiny that can have an unexpectedly big impact on your results.
Something tiny that just about every business can do is to create content, particularly valuable content, and combine that with your unique voice (especially relevant to podcasters).
However, content creation is often misunderstood and undervalued. Once you understand its significance, you can effectively attract and engage your audience.
Jeff Dolan, CEO of Wavve, and I chatted about that on the Predictable B2B Success podcast.
We could create many types of valuable content, but for simplicity and specificity, let's use podcasts as an example.
To stand out in the crowded world of podcasting, you first need to make sure you don't create a few of the most common mistakes:
Mistake #1: Trying to emulate successful figures
Mistake #2: Not embracing your uniqueness and strengths
Mistake #3: Neglecting to experiment and take feedback constantly
People make these mistakes because they may lack confidence in their uniqueness and fear failure or rejection. They keep themselves stuck in a cycle of copying others and not finding their voice.
So, here's how to fix it:
Step 1: Embrace Your Uniqueness
The first step to finding success in podcasting is embracing your uniqueness and strengths.
Instead of trying to mimic well-established figures, focus on what makes you different and bring that into your content. For example, Jeff Dolan uses the analogy of a musician, emphasizing the importance of being unique and not just trying to imitate what's already successful.
Takeaway: Your uniqueness is your strength, so don't be afraid to showcase it.
Step 2: Constantly Experiment and Take Feedback
The next step to thriving in podcasting is experimenting and constantly taking feedback.
Instead of getting discouraged by initial feedback, use it to refine and improve your content. As Jeff Dolan suggests, if your content receives little engagement, it indicates struggle, but as engagement increases, the feedback loop shortens, allowing for quicker adjustments and improvement.
Takeaway: Feedback is your friend, helping you refine and improve your content.
Step 3: Find Your Unique Voice
And finally, the last step to reaching success as a podcaster is to find your unique voice.
Instead of trying to be someone you're not, focus on honing your voice and storytelling style. Jeff Dolan emphasizes the importance of sustaining passion and not forcing it to make money.
Takeaway: Your unique voice is what will resonate with your audience, so don't shy away from it.
That's it!
You can learn more from our conversation, which you can hear or watch here.
As always, thanks for reading.
Hit reply and let me know what you found most helpful this week—I'd love to hear from you!
Till next time,
Vinay