Here’s a quick, but info-packed snippet from our recent content marketing strategies webinar that shows you good ways to make a lot of money through content marketing. Watch the video to get Alice's ONE KEY thing you need to learn to make money from your content.
Debbie Drum: Yeah. Let's go for your answer, for this one, for, what advice would you give to someone who's looking to make money with content marketing?
Alice Seba: Yeah. A lot of people think, okay, I need to learn to write, or something like that. Make videos or something like that, but I think the most important thing is to learn persuasion, and I was gonna say persuasive writing but, if you're doing video and things like that, you'll also need to be persuasive verbally as well, but that's everything because, whether you're selling something or not, you want people to listen to you. You're persuading them.
Even if it's a piece of content, you're persuading them that what you're saying is interesting, and the more you know, like copywriting and persuasive techniques in that, you're gonna keep their attention. You're gonna keep them wanting. Maybe you give them a sample of your book. You're gonna get them to want to buy your book, or if they're reading a blog post, and you want them to sign up to your list. That, keeping them from beginning to end, is what's gonna help.
Obviously, there is the sales piece of it, too. You'll be able to sell your product, and learning, also beyond that, too, is to meld content with persuasiveness. A lot of people, they think of it separately, right? Here, I'm informing, and here, I'm selling, but if you can learn to both at the same time, it's an amazing thing. It comes down to knowing persuasive writing techniques, and I'll give you a few resources, to check out, that you can do that if you haven't really studied that yet, but it's ... See, I'm not being very persuasive, because I'm losing my train of thought, but that happens!
Debbie Drum: Yeah. It's live.
Alice Seba: I'm a writer, not a talker. I'm not a talker. Yeah. Putting the content, and keeping it ... Oh, sorry! Sorry! I remember what I was gonna say.
Debbie Drum: Yes!
Alice Seba: That you are excited about the topic. A lot of us are afraid to sell, and we're a little nervous about it, but when you're passionate about your topic, you're passionate about your products, and your services, and a lot of that comes to self-confidence, so we're gonna talk about mindset in a little bit, but that's all it takes is, being excited, imagining you're talking to a friend.
If your friend had a problem, and you knew how to solve it, and there was a product or service that would also help solve that, you darn well are gonna give them the advice, tell them what to buy, and you're not gonna be worried about it, or think that you shouldn't tell them about it.
Your friend's gonna be mad if you withheld that advice, so think of your audience the same way. You're doing them a disservice if you can't help them with their problems, and point them to the products, and services that they need. If you want to learn about persuasive writing, my favorite teacher of all time actually doesn't even teach copywriting anymore, but his name's Michel Fortin. It's French Michel. M-I-C-H-E-L and Fortin is his last name. It's F-O-R-T-I-N. If you can find any articles of his, maybe his blog is still up, but he doesn't update it anymore, great stuff to listen to.
I learned the most from him about online copywriting than I learned from anybody, but other people you might want to look up are John Carlton. Great. Very humorous man, too. Fun to learn from. Not only is he a great teacher, he's an example of keeping people interested, being persuasive in his content to keep you wanting to keep learning, and possibly Collin Theriot. Last name is spelled T-H-E-R-I-O-T. He has a Facebook group. He's kind of a ...
Debbie Drum: Cult of Copy.
Alice Seba: Cult of Copy. Thank you. One great place to, maybe, join that group, and start absorbing stuff. A lot of people talk about other copywriting resources that they like, and it's a good place, and even basic copywriting books. Go on Amazon. Is it Bob? He goes by Bob Bly, right? His real name's Robert, but I think his books are under Bob, and the name is B-L-Y. The books are basic, but they cover everything. It's a great introduction, and then you start observing what people are doing, and applying it, practicing, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Debbie Drum: I love that you brought that up, because that is one of the most important skills that a content marketer could have. Oh my god.
Alice Seba: Just writing skills.
Debbie Drum: I will say, I've been in sales since I started working, which is in my teens, pretty much, and I say that it's a constant learning. It's hard to master, I would say. For me, I'm always a student of copywriting. I'm always reading other people's sales letters. I'm always seeing what other people are doing, how they're selling, just to learn, just to stay on top of things, and learn what the latest things that work to get people to buy.
Even from studying the words that they say, as well as studying the strategy in how they sell. That's different. That goes into more of a template, as opposed to the words that you use, but I'm not great at headlines. I'm always reading other people's headlines, and I always look at stuff that hooks me, because if I'm a buyer, then I'm like, “What is this person saying that got me to buy?” Right? That's getting in the head of your customers, or your potential customers. Always saying, what's going to be the thing that gets people to buy? We can go so much into copywriting, selling with emotion, and selling with stories, and I'm a student of copywriting forever.
3 Key Takeaways to Making Your Content Make You Money:
- Learning persuasive writing techniques is critical to making your content marketing a success. Not only does it help you SELL through content, but it also helps you keep the attention of your audience and has them wanting more.
- Selling and informing through content are not separate activities. You can inform your customers as you sell to them and help them make smart buying decisions.
- Imagine talking to a friend when you create persuasive content. If they had a problem and you knew some good advice and a product that would solve it, you would tell them. Don't hold back on product recommendations that can solve your audience's problems.
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