When I first started writing online I was lost.

There was so much to learn and I had no road map.

No direction, no prior experience, let alone a content strategy.

I just knew I wanted to grow as a copywriter.

I wanted to build something for myself where I could earn my own income.

I was tired of having managers who didn’t care about me.

CEO’s who only viewed me as an employee number.

Owners who didn’t even know my name.

You get the idea.

I knew I wanted to go the writing route with my online presence because of my love for writing.

Granted it was a love for writing songs before copywriting…

But I still loved the art form regardless of the medium.

My original plan was to gain followers at first.

Then as I grew to attract potential clients.

I was on the fence between starting on Twitter or LinkedIn.

After a couple days of thinking, I decided I wanted to hit LinkedIn.

When I created my profile I was shocked to see how many creators there were (or so I thought.)

According to this LinkedIn Content Guide:

Only 1% of active LinkedIn users create content, and they get 9 billion impressions a week.

LinkedIn has over 760 million users, 310 million are active at least once a month, but only 3 million of those are posting content.

After a few days on LinkedIn, the first thing that struck me was how everyone was writing different types of content.

I saw:

•Stories

•How To’s

•Case studies

All on different topics like:

•SEO

•Storytelling

•Copywriting

•Productivity

•Person Branding

And tons more.

It was a lot to take in.

I thought to myself:

“How do I stand out from all these other writers?”

If there’s this many people creating, it’s going to be hard to make a name for myself.

I had some prior experience growing my TikTok account to 1200 followers but it was video and all short form.

A whole different approach.

The one advantage it did give me is I got used to hitting “post” and the fear that comes with it in the beginning.

The second thing I noticed after spending some time on there was how wide the creators were geographically.

I saw creators from:

•Bosnia

•Australia

•The United States

And all over the world.

It truly is a global platform.

Completely ignorant to winning strategies, I created a little game plan for myself.

The goal was to start connecting with other copywriters and seeing what they were talking about.

I had already worked with a couple clients and taken a couple copywriting courses so I decided to start sharing what I learned in my posts.

Even though my posts were basic regurgitation of material I was learning, at least I was building the habit of writing every day.

As time went on I noticed I wasn’t growing much at all.

The only new followers I got were from people I sent connections to and they accepted.

I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, but I knew there was something.

I had a guy who started around the same time as me and he already had 100 more followers than me after a month.

(There I was comparing myself to others again.)

I also hadn’t gotten any leads at all.

Especially not inbound.

I was doing everything I saw everyone else doing, or so I thought.

But my content was getting no engagement.

It was flopping like a fish out of water.

What was going wrong?

Looking back now, the mistake is obvious.

And it’s what I’m going to share with you today and how to avoid it so you can start developing a winning content strategy the second you’re done reading this.

What was my huge mistake holding me back?

I was failing to hit my target audience.

Even worse, I didn’t have a target audience (so much for implementing the copywriting courses)

I was writing out to everyone who could see on LinkedIn.

I had no target in mind, no ideal reader, no niche in mind.

So that’s what we’re going to jump into today.

Get ready because we’re about to go deep.

^{How to target the right audience:}

This is the backbone of your content strategy.

Without it, your content will never get your desired result.

To fully understand how to target our ideal audience we need to understand the eternal markets.

The 3 eternal markets:

•Health

•Wealth

•Relationships

All audiences can be summed into these 3 markets.

It goes deeper though…

Those 3 markets can be broken down into:

Sub-markets & Sub-niches:

These are how specific you get.

Example:

Eternal market: Health

Sub-market: Bodybuilding

Sub-niche: Bodybuilding for men over 35 with low testosterone

•Pro tip - Actionable advice is easier with niche content because you can get more specific

Another way to look at this is in terms of funnels:

Top of funnel = eternal markets

Middle of funnel = sub-markets

Bottom of funnel = niche markets

And to view this in terms on content:

Broad topics: Growth

Actionable advice/stories: Nurture

Case studies/social proof: Sales

A basic content concept to understand is:

The broader the topic—>Speaks to more people, but less engagement

The narrower the topic—>Speak to less people, but more engagement

*If you look at viral content, it usually always hits one of the eternal markets.

Viral Content: Broad

Lead Generation Content: Narrow

Ok, I know this is a lot to take in at once.

I promise I’m not trying to confuse you.

Let’s break it down even further.

When you create online you need to ask yourself what your goal is.

•Is it to build a personal brand?

•Is it to build a following?

•Is it to monetize?

This will directly impact what type of content you create.

Desired Content Outcomes

If your goal is to build a following you need to do more broad content (hitting the eternal markets) because it will appeal to the most people.

Instead of callisthenics for men ➡ do a fitness post

Instead of doing a LinkedIn content strategy post ➡ do a digital marketing post

Instead of writing a focus system for entrepreneurs under 25 ➡ do a post on focus hacks.

You see how the broader it is the more people it speaks to?

If your goal is to build trust & authority with your existing audience you need to post stories & actionable advice to nurture them.

Story Frameworks:

BLAP:

Big Idea, Lesson, Advice, Platitude

SLAP:

Story, Lesson, Advice, Personality

BAB: 

Before, After, Bridge

Actionable Advice Framework:

What: What the topic is

Why: Why it’s important

How: How to do it

Example from a post of mine:

“Share your story ➡ What

People will relate with with it in their own way which helps them relate to you. ➡ Why

Make it a habit to tell someone 1 story a day. ➡ How

Before you know it you’ll become a master at it.”

Combine both for authority and trust.

If your goal is to monetize you need to post case studies/socials proof to prove your competence.

This includes:

•Client reviews/testimonials

•A step by step on how you achieved a desirable outcome

•Quantifiable results (I got my client (X) results in (Y) days)

This is the best way to get inbound leads & sell a product or service.

*Notice how each type of content is directly targeted at a specific audience for a specific outcome?

Alright I know this was a lot for one newsletter.

But I wanted to come with the heat for you this week.

Apply these principles today and watch how your content hits it’s desired outcome.

Watch how everything you write has purpose, direction, a target.

Watch how much better of a content creator you become.

—

Quick Recap:

Top of funnel = eternal markets = Growth = Followers

Middle of funnel = submarkets = Nurture = Trust/Authority

Bottom of funnel = niche markets = Sales = Proof of Competence

Story Frameworks:

BLAP:

Big Idea, Lesson, Advice, Platitude

SLAP:

Story, Lesson, Advice, Personality

BAB: 

Before, After, Bridge

Actionable Advice Framework:

What: What the topic is

Why: Why it’s important

How: How to do it

That’s it for this week, take some time go fully digest these concepts, it’ll be well worth it I promise.

See you next Thursday!

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PPS.

I also put together a step by step walk through on how I made my first $100 writing online.

It also includes sales call tips and a proven framework for cold pitching.

It’s an actionable video walk through on how you can do it too.

Get it for free here:

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Want help with your content?

I have 2 new spots available for content consulting.

It’s a total of 4 one-hour calls where we go over:

➡ Content ideation & validated frameworks

➡ Finding your unique perspective & brand pillars

➡ Optimizing your profile for leads & engaged followers

➡ How to do real market research to find viral content ideas

The best part? I’m offering 50% off to the next 5 people who sign up.

Book your spot