If you've been listening to my podcast or read my blog before, you know one of my favorite things to do is play golf. Unfortunately, due to a combination of the weather and the current situation with social distancing, local golf courses have been closed. The good news is as of May 1st, Illinois is going to be loosening up some restrictions including those placed on golf courses, which makes me very happy. But, it's not going to be the same as it used to.
Years ago, there was a golf course very close to my house where I could go, get a cart and play as a single. I could literally play a four-hour game in an hour to an hour and a half. I would be allowed to play through so many times that I'd be able to hit the ball and just move on. But, that's not going to be the case this year.
There are all kinds of restrictions. For example, you cannot go into the clubhouse anymore and you have to pay in advance. You have to have be social distancing on the course. You have to bring your own pull cart. And, you can only walk, you can't ride in carts anymore. Those questions are still being figured out today. The bottom line is, I can't wait until they do figure them out so I can get out and play.
Q&A
The answers are in the questions. If you need more business, you have to listen for the questions and communicate answers. One of the new things that I've created is a question sheet and I now have this question sheet on my desk at all times. As the week goes on and people ask me questions, I write those questions down. If I answered the question, say on a phone call, I'll write the answer down right afterward.
That gives me a roadmap of what people are thinking so that I can create content around the questions that people are asking, especially if I get the same question multiple times. It tells me what's on people's minds. By having a sheet available to write down questions then turning it into a habit, you can generate some great ideas and thoughts that you could put into any kind of marketing that you're doing, whether it's social media, email, blogs, whatever.
Now, I'm sure you could just have a pad and write it down on your desk, but having a sheet that has the question and the answers in there on your desk all the time is going to help you turn it into a habit. I'm going to give it to you – here's a link where you can download my exact sheet.
Next, what I want to do is give you the five questions that I wrote down this week and the answers.
Da Virus…
Should I mention COVID in my marketing or how should I use COVID in my marketing? I tell people not to do this. The reason is because things like Facebook, Google and YouTube are actually clamping down on anything that mentions the virus by name because it may come across as some type of hokey cure or some kind of fake news.
So you've got to be careful about whether you use those words in anything that you do in marketing. You can mention things like situations, problems, maybe even pandemic, but don't get into using COVID or coronavirus in anything, especially titles because it will get knocked down, whether it's completely taken off or just pushed to the bottom by all of those social media platforms.
Hot Platter
What platforms are hot right now? Well, Facebook is kind of mixed. There's a lot of people spending time on there, but I don't necessarily think they're being very productive and it tends to be a lot more consumer-focused. If you're doing consumer-based things, you might have some good luck there. But I tend to focus more in the B2B world.
Obviously, Zoom is huge. In January, there were about 20 million users per day. Now there are almost 200 million users per day, so there's a ton of downloads, and people are using it constantly. Does that mean you should use it for marketing? Maybe. One of the people I work with was doing live Mastermind groups but has converted it over to Zoom and as a matter of fact, had started building new audiences because it was more convenient for people to do it from the comfort of their home then it was to get my car and go to a specific place. Yeah, there's an opportunity there.
The other place I'm finding a lot is LinkedIn. There's a hunger for great information there. People are actually logging in twice as often as they used to and they're spending twice as much time. It could be that they're looking for a job, they're nervous about their job, or it's just not as noisy as, let's say, Facebook.
The other place you could look at is Medium. Medium is a place where you can post articles. One of my friends was talking about how he was having great success there, so I started posting some articles and received positive feedback on it. It's another hot place to take a look and maybe think about posting some of your old content or new stuff, too.
Git' Er Done
How do you stay motivated? Well, it gets tough, especially with all of the distractions that we have now. Maybe your spouse is working from home, maybe your kids are home and you're homeschooling. It's a little bit harder than it used to be when we live that normal day-to-day life.
Here are the three things that you need to do.
- Make a plan.
- Create as many lists as you can.
- Check them off.
Think about getting an accountability partner or being on an accountability call. Try to find a friend or business partner or somebody who can keep you on track and make sure you're getting done what you need to.
Posts Its
How often should I post content? I've heard this numerous times. I suggest trying to write a blog a week. That's only 52 articles a year. That's only four different topics per month if you can break it down.
I also suggest doing one to two emails per week just to keep the flow going. As far as social media posts go, anywhere between three posts a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or every single work day is not a bad idea. If you follow me, you know I do a lot more than that, a quote of the day every morning, caption contest every night interspersed with a few other things here and there. I'm always posting content on social.
Speak To Me
Are podcasts hot right now and do you get business from them? Yes, they're super hot and people are selling them. Here's the biggest thing, it's a market that's getting flooded. I do get business, but it does take some time. Don't think of it as something you can just jump into and automatically replace what you used to do face-to-face. It's helpful to create content. It creates authority, meaning that you have a voice that people are going to listen to and it helps you generate new content.
Think about that. I'm doing a podcast on generating ideas. I had an idea to do a podcast on generating ideas from my idea sheet. Yes, it helps you capture questions and maybe produce answers that could be that piece of content that generates new business.
Final Thoughts
Capturing questions will lead to the answers that your clients are asking. If they are asking, chances are there are more people in the world asking the same questions. You could just become the answer they have been searching for. Now pardon me, I have to head out to my back yard and start working on my golf swing again! FORE?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas or questions about using questions to guide your content. Have you had to overcome any of the presented concepts? What worked and what did not live up to your expectations? Do you have any ideas or advice you could share?
To learn more about this and other topics on Internet Marketing, visit our podcast website at http://www.baconpodcast.com/podcasts/
