“Awareness + Approach + Action = confidence and results”
This is so prevalent right now with the crisis we find ourselves in and to be honest you may be feeling overwhelmed with all the things you should and shouldn’t be doing. I know I have been feeling it.
But I’m choosing to keep a positive mindset and take proactive action because one thing we know for sure about adverse situations is this: new opportunities come up in business for those open and willing to receive them.
That’s why my equation of “Awareness + Approach + Action = confidence and results” will help you flourish in times when you might be feeling afraid and uncertain.
Those who are closed-minded or want results right now, like a silver bullet, will be reactive and work from a place of fear. They will stop doing the things they need to, like marketing their business, investing in their business and themselves, being on social media and creating content. They will pull back on everything.
There has never been a better time to be online, creating quality content and working on your online presence, profile and offerings.
Being aware of the missing links in your online and content strategy and knowing what approach is right for you and your business, means you can confidently make a decision to take the right type of action when you need to (rather than getting caught up in the hype or doom and gloom and then reacting to).
Online content: Times changed ages ago
The digital and business landscape has been changing for some time and now with the crisis, content is set to play an even bigger role than it ever has done before.
It’s now so much more about that personal connection and making your content an experience. It’s about quality and using data to back up your claims. It’s sharing value and being a leader in your field. And it’s about being online to do all of this because this is where many more people are going to be, now and in the future.
It’s time to step up. It’s time to lead your tribe.
If you haven’t started to pivot in an online direction – now would be the time to. But before you do, I have some suggestions to make it as easy as possible.
These are things I have been doing in my business for the last 6-12 months.
Before you change anything … read these 5 suggestions:
- Remain calm: I have been talking with many business owners over the last week about remaining calm first and foremost. When you are calm you can make decisions more easily and rationally. I never operate from a place of anxiousness or worry because I know I’ll always be reactive. I don’t make decisions, send emails, call people or even write my content until I am calm and settled.
- Don’t be reactive: I have already seen so many people be reactive – they’ve stopped ad spend, cancelled contractors, launched new (weird) products and online offerings that don’t align with their business or with what would seem to have very little strategy behind them just because “that’s what everyone else is doing”. I’m not saying don’t make changes or cut expenses (I’ll give you tips on that soon), I’m staying stop and take a breath first.
- Look at what you have got already: What digital assets and content have you got already? eBook, downloads, online products and offerings, book, automated content, systems, team, videos, etc. What can you focus on now to get more leads and sales through?
- Can you repackage something you already have? Have you got something you have been working on that you can launch now (course, online program, book, etc)? It is not the time to pull back on your online content, just the opposite.
- What do you really need to change? This will be associated with events more so and face-to-face offerings. How can you pivot to include more online meetings and sessions with your clients? I have heard of gyms taking their group sessions to live online sessions, yoga retreats going online, cocktail parties on Zoom and massive million-dollar two-day conferences going online. If others can do it successfully, we can too!
TIP: Run your networking events online – I know people who have been doing this for ages and I’ve been a speaker at them. They are fun!
Also, look at what’s not serving you any more. Now, this is where as a savvier business person, you would look at your business and make it as lean as possible. I have to stress here to heavily reconsider cutting anything to do with your content or online presence and profile, for example, subscriptions, people, promotion tactics and possibly even your ad spend.
You might decide to reduce it a little rather than deleting it altogether. However, it is your business and you know it best. You might also decide there are people, or situations, groups or other areas that don’t work for you any more. It’s ok to create changes however you see fit, just come from a place of inspired action and not fear.
- “Hang up” with positive people: I call it “hanging up” with people because I like to surround myself with people who are positive, high-vibe and doing better or different things to me, so I can lift myself up whenever I need to. Mentors, accountability groups, study buddies, inner circles, masterminds, whatever it is for you, make sure you are surrounded by positive people so you can stay as positive as possible yourself.
These are areas I’ve been working towards (knowingly and unknowingly) in the past two years, especially the packaging and repackaging of content and running a lean business.
Once you have looked at these 5 points and you’re ready to implement positive and inspired change – get excited and stay excited!
Here are a few things you can do in the first instances to see a positive result:
- Replan your marketing to account for more of an online presence.
- Stay online and keep marketing your business/stay top of mind for your prospects and those now searching for what you have to offer.
- Look at other forms of revenue in your business with digital products and courses.
- Learn how to write content in a way that attracts a wider reach and audience. Look at different niche markets. I have noticed we are attracting a lot of health and wellness business and coaches in the last year and women 65+.
- Learn a new skill. Start thinking about an area related to (or not related to) your business that you can start to tap into. Affiliate marketing (selling someone else’s products), referral marketing (rewarding people for selling your products) and any other area you can see that your current clients want or need – now is the time to get it off the ground.
- Update your website.
- Write your content for the next few months.
- Get your download and free content created and up on your website and out there online (a PDF is the simplest way to do this).
- Get your online course or offering launched – if you’ve got it there and it’s almost ready to go, now is the time to move on it!
- Get your premium content ready for sale on a shop – got an ebook almost ready, or a checklist or recorded training you’ve been wanting to sell? Guess what? The time is now to get it online!
- Get your face-to-face coaching offering turned into an online product – most of my clients are already doing this, but if you are not, think about how you can. We use Zoom.
- Promote the bejeezus out of your offers. Don’t hold back on this!
It’s time to get laser-focused in your business. Know what your audience wants and needs and know how to write content to target those wants and needs.
It’s about getting smart with your content and only creating what you need to – not everything everyone tells you to.
It’s about creating really high-quality content and upping your content strategy game.
And it’s about stepping up to be the leader in your industry NOW. People are looking for guidance, so help them.
Helpful resources:
I want to share a couple of resources that might be helpful for you too:
If there is a particular area of online content you are interested in exploring (blog, social, downloads, promotion posts) please let me know because I’m sure I’ve written about it at some stage!
Right now it’s about supporting each other as best we can, being there for each other as business owners, continuing to invest in our businesses and ourselves (your health might be an area of focus now too) and being calm and proactive.
Let me know what I can do for you {just get in touch here}.
Liz
