Now we dive into how you’re going to build your audience.

Using content marketing.

The primary method we’ll be using to grow our audience is value based content marketing.

This is basically creating pieces of content to attract the attention of our potential customers.

We’re not going to be doing this randomly. We’re running a business here and need repeatable, sustainable systems.

We’re also not relying on entertainment. If you are naturally entertaining and charismatic that’s amazing! That’ll be a really powerful bonus and will make this easier (I shan’t pretend it won’t!).

But as a business owner we need something that works regardless. And this is value based content marketing.

We are going to be creating content that is valuable for our audience and (latterly) customers.

A note on platforms and formats. We’ll cover all this in the next Part. Twitter vs. Tiktok. Text vs. video. It’s important stuff but first let’s work out how we best provide value to our customers via content and then we’ll decide on delivery mechanisms.

Start with core problems

As a business we provide value to our customers by solving their problems and helping them overcome blocks and challenges.

That’s fundamental to what we do as a business: we provide value. If we don’t we’re running a scam not a business.

Our content marketing follows the same pattern of solving customer problems. Just at a different level.

I like to see content and sales as a continuum. I’ll use myself as an example.

My customer’s core problem could be that that they hate their job, they want more freedom, they want more fulfilling work or they want to make their fortune. Or a combination of the above.

The basic solution I provide is helping them start a business to take control of their financial future. And my particular spin is leveraging AI to do so.

All straight forward so far.

Why I help for free

I help people with their problem regardless of whether they are a customer or not. This is the key to value based content marketing.

People take time to warm up to you and to trust that you can help them.

We’ll give away advice, inspiration, tips, hints, guides and counsel to prove that we know what the hell we’re talking about. We’ll give freely. We’ll educate. We’ll help without (yet) asking for anything in return.

We actively want to help people solve their problems and because we know we have a solution we’re obligated to do so!

5% of people will take the “free” content we give away and run with it - they’ll go and apply it and do well. Amazing.

Have we lost them as a customer? Sure! But they were never going to be our customer. This 5% are the self-sufficient lot who will work it out and get it done anyway.

The remaining 95% though?

They still need help.

They’ve watched your videos, read your guides, learned from you.

But they haven’t started. Or they’ve started and hit their next road block.

This is where your products and services come into play.

You’ve proven to this 95% that you know what you are talking about. You’ve given them massive value already. They trust you. They just can’t quite move to the next stage. And when that happens you are the first port of call for assistance.

Our free content thus feeds into our paid products and services as the natural “next steps”.

Continuity of problem solving

The key here is that there is a continuity from our free content to our paid products.

They both solve the same problem, just at different levels.

So: as long as you know what problems your products solve…you also now know what problems your content should focus on. Your content plan begins to come into focus all of a sudden. It’s the same stuff!

A nice side benefit? If you don’t know your customer’s core problem yet the building an audience will reveal this for you. If you put out videos about problems A, B and C and overwhelmingly people are interested in C then guess what? You’ve been intel on what your products should be.

Once up and running your audience growth and product development should be in lockstep. One informs the other and you can build knowing people are interested in your offer. Pretty cool!

Content funnel

How do we practically implement this?

Using a content funnel.

We want different levels of content for audience members at different stages in their journey.

Top level

At the top of the funnel we have wide, broad appeal content. This is high-level, not at all in depth content about your subject.

For example for me it might be a 30 second video 5 top reasons to use AI in your business. Not much detail, just broad strokes for a wide general audience.

The purpose is purely to get your name out there and build a following. This is where your “viral” content sits - content that gets shared and pops of to millions of views.

Mid level

Next is content for people who already follow you.

By following you they’ve raised their hand and said “yes please I want more”. They’ve given you permission to talk to them more.

At this level we want to focus on showing we know what we are talking about. This level is about how-tos, guides and tips. Actionable advice that our followers can use and realise “huh. They’re the real deal”.

This is where your longer form written guides and videos sit. They will only be appreciated by someone who already has shown an interest.

Bottom level

At the base of the funnel is where we find those who are ready to buy.

They’ve consumed your free content, probably for a while! And now they need the next step.

This is where you talk about your products and services. Or potentially your waitlists. Hint hint waitlist for my audience building cohort now open: https://aibusinessbreakthrough.com/waitlist 🤣

This is where your call to actions are more obvious because you know the audience members here are receptive.

Turtles all the way down

It’s worth repeating. Your content at each stage solves the same problem.

Just at different levels of depth. This becomes your guiding compass.

An example - when I teach how to choose a business niche I might have:

• 15 second video on the intersection between interest, skill and market

• twitter thread on the intersection with hand-drawn graphic

• 3 minute video explaining how to apply the concept

• full blog article giving step by step methodology

• a Prompt Playbook on working out your niche

• my Niche Navigator course

• 1:1 coaching

Same problem. Different levels of solution.

Here’s a prompt to help you start to think about the levels in your business.

Act as a marketing strategist. 

One of my customer's core problems is [enter a core problem]

My content funnel consists of:
-top level, short, viral content around the topic to gain an audience, no cta, high level concepts, lack of detail
-mid level, mid length written and video content helping people with the problem, requires their time commitment but still free, more detail to help them solve problem themselves
-bottom level, CTA content to take people onto the next step, longer form videos and webinars to my offer

My first offer is [enter first paid offer]

Generate 10 topics. Each topic should exist in all three levels. Provide results in tabular format.

I’ve entered “building an audience to get their business known” as the problem.

Here are the first 6 recommendations:

Run this with your customers’ main problems to get an idea of how content can be used to consistently solve at different levels.

And yes I used the example to plug my cohort!

Know why? Because as Premium readers (where this gets published) you are bottom of the funnel audience members. I use what I teach!

Here’s the cohort waitlist link again: https://aibusinessbreakthrough.com/waitlist

Platforms

In this part we looked at the what. In the next Part we’ll look at the how : what platforms and formats to use.

This will all be driven by the same (consistent!) force. Delivering massive value to your audience and customers by solving their problems. Do that and you can build an audience and a successful business.