Content Creation Case Study with Lee Jackson

Lee is a self-confessed serial entrepreneur who came to WordPress in version 0.9! He hosts the successful WP Innovator podcast and runs Event Engine – a business building WordPress websites for event organisers – as well as Angled Crown, working with design agencies who need help building their designs into WordPress themes. Troy considers Lee to be well qualified for the job of generating leads for their faux online business, so he hands him the baton and asks what Lee intends to do first.

1) Define who you are targeting

Lee explains that the first thing you need to do is establish the exact type of client you want to reach and decide what their problem is (the problem that you are going to solve for them).

The best way to do this is by setting up a ‘perfect client avatar’. In the case of Troy and Lee’s faux business, they introduce us to Mary, the new perfect client.

By creating a narrative around your perfect client, you’ll better understand what makes them ‘tick’. This will assist you in creating helpful, targeted content for your audience.

Gold Nugget Takeaway

Tips for Writing Your Perfect Client Avatar

• Give them a gender, age, and name
• Give them a story: what interests do they have, what do they value, how do they spend their time both in and outside of work?
• Have fun with it!
• Create a narrative to understand what makes them tick

2) Understand the purpose of the content you’ll be creating for Mary

Before you start generating any type of content, you need to clearly understand how and why you’re creating content in first place.

Lee explains that in the initial stages, the idea is to create super valuable, lasting content that will help your ‘Mary’ with the main problems she/he is having. The goal isn’t to make money off of them on the early stages, but to build rapport and trust.

Tune into the 16-minute mark where Troy and Lee engage in an interesting discussion about why it’s ok to give away your ‘secrets’ for free. It’s all about having an abundance mindset and not being concerned that people might copy you, or that you could lose out on business by giving too much away.

Tip: Building an audience is a slow process. It takes time and quality content to build rapport and trust.

3) How do you get content in front of your Mary?

Lee speaks from first-hand experience when he says that the best way he found to build his audience was by starting a podcast. All you need to do is find the influencers/suppliers who already have Mary’s attention and get them on your podcast! By starting a podcast, you are simultaneously adding value and building your list.

4) Once you have Mary’s attention and trust, what’s the call to action?

Lee recommends beginning with a soft call to action. His suggestion is to create a community of Marys. Invite them into your private Facebook group, and further support them via the group. You now get them to be part of conversations, build further rapport and help them build their knowledge and network.

The next stage after this would be to begin selling products, eg. courses

Troy concludes the chat by asking Lee for a couple of tips on what you can do to generate content quickly if you are tight on time. Lee offers two easy strategies:

1) Podcasting: Lee works on the premise that if you can arrange a 30-minute meeting with a client, you can organise a 30-minute podcast interview. He sees it as an easy way to start uploading content. The bonus is that it gives you useful content for social media as well.

2) Blogging: Even if you’re not good at writing, you can easily draft a post using this cool method of Lee’s. He recommends starting with a question. Answering the question will formulate the bulk of your post. Go for a walk and record yourself talking (answering the question) for 5 mins. Once you’ve finished your walk and talk, send the recording to Rev to transcribe. And Bingo! There’s your blog – evergreen content that will bring people in on social for months to come.

Let us know what you do to conjure up useful content for lead generation. If you like any of Lee’s ideas, leave us a note in the comments below and tell us why. You can reach out and thank Lee, or continue the conversation using the links below. Until next week, it’s goodbye from Lee, Troy, and Mary, with warm wishes for you to go implement and go elevate!