Grow With Soul: Ep. 67 Content & Strategy Q&A With Kayte Ferris
Today is a solo episode that follows on from episode 63 from last month because I’m answering the second half of the questions you guys submitted on Instagram. These questions are all about content and about strategy, planning content, Instagram, business growth and transition, finding your values, dream clients and many more.
Here's what we talk about in this episode
How to write a Content Plan?
I am struggling to organise and categorise content on my blog, any tips?
How to start incorporating SEO into Blog posts
What steps did I take to grow my following and how to build an Instagram from zero?
How do you balance between growing a business to it be sustainable v's growing slow and at the pace you are comfortable with?
How do you really unlock your core values?
I would love your advice on pivoting a business, I am shifting from product to service
How would you recommend approaching a minor rebrand?
How do I increase my prices?
How do you deal with dream clients that you would love to work with but they can't afford your services?
I am a coach with two niches, do I need a separate website, social channels etc?
How do I bring more of me into my business?
What we discussed in this episode
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Read the episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to episode 67 of Grow With Soul. Today is a solo episode that follows on from episode 63 last month,because I’m answering the second half of the questions that you guys submitted on Instagram. So these questions today are all about content, and about strategy. So we’ve got some stuff on planning content, on Instagram, on business growth and transition, finding your values, dream clients and many more. Without further ado, let’s get going.
How do you write a content plan?
As with anything, we need to make sure we’re answering the right question. So rather than thinking ‘I need to write a content plan, so how do I do it?’ We need to start with what we want a content plan for. So, you need to think about why you want a content plan, what you want it to do for you and your business, and then create one that fits those goals, rather than just create an arbitrary content plan. Trust me when I say that I’ve used lots of different templates over the years, and the only one I’ve stuck to is the one I made myself based on what I needed. So you may want a content plan to help you through a specific launch or a busy period, you may want one to help you post more consistently, you might want a structure to help you organise all your ideas. Each of these problems will have a slightly different content plan, so your first job is to get clear on what your content plan needs to do for you.The job of my content plan is to help me post consistently. I plot out ideas for posts in advance so I don’t have to come up with something on the hoof whenever I realise ‘oh god I’ve got to publish something’, so my plan is split into a table. Each row represents a week, and each column a channel. I have blog, podcast, Instagram grid, and Instagram Stories. That means that I can see what is going out across each channel each week, how they all fit together, and what I need to make sure I’ve got done ready in time for it to go out. You can get quite complicated with plans if you need to. Certainly if you Google it, you get some quite complex templates coming up, but that’s because they’re designed for content teams, where they’re putting out tonnes and tonnes of content. It’s created by lots of different people, so really the plan in those templates is more of a people management tool as much as anything else. At the root of a content plan you need to know what is going out, where it’s going, and when. That’s really the foundation stone, so this idea about productivity tips is going to go on the blog, and it’s going to go there on Wednesday 11th. You can then layer on anything you need to help you on top of that, so perhaps you want to give yourself a different deadline to create it because you need it for your time management; maybe you want to colour code the topics or something. What I’m really trying to get at here is there is no right way to create a content plan. You need to work out what you need to feel confident and consistent with your content, and then just experiment with the ways to get there.
I’m struggling to organise and categorise content on my blog. Any tips?
The first thing I'll say is: don’t over complicate it. We all have a tendency to feel like categorisation has to be really clever and granular, but the point of it is to make content easy to find, and something really over complicated that gets people to make choices on a sub menu doesn’t really achieve that aim. For my blog I have 3 broad thematic categories that my content fits into, which is Simple Living for life balance stuff, Simple Marketing for marketing, and Simple Working for things like productivity, goal setting etc. So if anyone wants to dive into those broad topics they can browse the archives for each.What I’d also think about is how you can use categories to direct people around. So while on my blog you can only see the 3 thematic categories, I’ve got other categories that only I can see so that they can link to specific content. So my blog content is also categorised as suitable for people starting out, people in the middle, or people who’ve been doing it for years. That means I can link directly to all the beginner type content if I want to promote something like Basecamp, and similarly, if I’m promoting my content course Campfire, I’ve got a category for all my content marketing posts that I can link people to. These are behind the scenes categories that help me make the most of my archive, rather than them being public ones. Other than that, I think internal linking is really your main friend here; making sure you’re linking to other relevant blog posts in the body of the one that you’re on. So that’s going to help readers find relevant content more naturally than having a load of different categories. Think about your own behavior with this; when you are on a blog post, you tend to click on the hyperlinked bits to other posts that sound interesting, rather than digging into the categories. So ultimately keep it simple, and remember the main point of categories is to make it easier to find what they’re interested in. You may want to ask a friend to dummy run it for you so you can see if your categories achieve that aim and are helpful to them.
How do I start incorporating SEO into blog posts in a non icky way?
I’m not an SEO expert and I’ve never really been much of a search marketer, and actually I don’t consider SEO in my blog posts at all, because I don’t need them to do that job for me. I’m not trying to catch people on searches, because I really need to have people engaged with my work in order to ‘get it’ before they will subscribe to my email list and eventually buy something. I know I’ve never hired someone to work in my business because I found them on Google, they’ve always been people that I’ve connected with elsewhere, and I also know that all people who have hired me didn't find me on Google; they found me on Instagram, or via the podcast, or a friend recommended me. So I say this because I know SEO is one of those things that I think people think they have to do, it’s not an option, ‘Ihave to have SEO even though I don’t understand it and I don’t really want to do it’. Remember, you get to define your strategy. SEO doesn’t fit into mine and so I don’t do it. If SEO is something you worry about, I would question whether it belongs in your strategy too. That being said, I do know that if it works for humans, it works for Google. So trying to shove in key words doesn’t work anyway, which is what I assume the question asker meant by icky. If you want to SEO your post, you have to really start with what the person is searching for and what they want to find for that search. If someone’s searching for how to create a content plan, their ideal post will probably be a step by step guide with examples. You can’t create the post and then shoehorn in what you want it to show up for because that’s not going to serve that searcher. Really start with the individual person, the person that you want to be finding that, the people making the search and what they're looking for, and create content accordingly.
What steps did you take to grow your following on Instagram, I’ve just started? How do I build my Instagram from zero?
Here’s the thing: Instagram changes, and so what works changes. What worked for me three or four years ago won't be the same now. Back then, I posted every single day for about 2 years, spending at least an hour engaging with other accounts every day too. I do think that frequent posting and engagement does still work, but the growth trajectory isn’t as steep. When I was doing this, you couldn’t reply to comments on your own posts, so the only way to acknowledge a reply was to go onto the other person’s account where you might see that it’s nice and you decide to follow - you don’t have to do that now. Also, this is before Stories was introduced, which now takes over a lot of eyeballs in the app. So I know I spend far more time watching the Stories of people I already follow than I do seeking and seeing new accounts. Although I had fairly rapid Instagram growth a few years ago it had really really stagnated over the last year. I think I’ve probably grown by less than 1000 in the last year / year and a half. I know it’s the most annoying thing to hear when you’re stuck on a couple of hundred followers but I really do wish that I’d focused less on Instagram growth. I reach a tiny proportion of my followers now, and my email list is only about a tenth of that number. As I always say, the follower number is completely meaningless unless they’re engaging, viewing, or buying. So, for me, if you want to get a true idea of the followers who are doing something, cut off 2 thirds of my follower number, because they don’t engage with my business at all. For me, a focus is on depth, on deepening connections with those already there, rather than growth. More now than ever, connection is important. People aren’t finding people in the app anymore, not really. Think about how you find new people to follow; new podcasts, new email lists, new businesses; it’s generally because someone recommends them. You see an account get shared, your friend recommends someone’s work, people who are growing grow through shares. Look at Mrs Hinch - she grew through word of mouth. The shares happen because you’re creating valuable different unique content and connecting people. So now moving into the strategy portion of the podcast.
How do I balance between growing a business for it to be sustainable, and growing slow and at the pace you’re comfortable with?
So what I would argue here is that if you’re not growing at pace you’re comfortable with, you’re not growing at a pace that it’s sustainable. You might hit some financial goals quicker, but if you’re burnt out, or you get sick, or you’ve got no life and you resent the business for it, then that’s not sustainable. I know this because I did this, I pushed and pushed and pushed to do the things that would bring in the most money that would to ‘prove’ that the business was viable, and then I spent the next 18 months hanging on by a thread in terms of my stress levels and my mental health. I hated the life that I’d worked myself into, and really I’m still unravelling it all now. The biggest thing that I’ve learnt is that you have to grow with business in tune with the life that you want to live and to live it alongside the growth. So that means that instead of thinking ‘when i earn X amount I’ll have a great life and do all these things’ it’s thinking ‘how do I want to feel everyday?’ and make that happen from today, ensuring that every little thing you do towards your business works towards that vision of what you want your life to look like.
How do you really unlock your core values?
I’m afraid this isn’t something you’ll be able to do in an afternoon. It's an unravelling that deepens and develops overtime. I’m still understanding mine and I’m reaching new levels, so I don't think it’s a process that’s ever truly over. In the show notes I’ll link to my purpose kit, which is a big workbook and video with lots of exercises and reflections to help you start the unravelling process, and put what you find into practice. A couple of things you can do is to ask why you wanted to start this business in the first place. Why this thing in this way. This decision will have been driven by your values. Think also about the businesses that you're repelled by, the sorts of things that you really hate and that really wind you up; what is it about them that riles you and what does that say about your values? Another exercise that I do with clients is to spend time with a big piece of paper, writing down every word or phrase or feeling that you feel about your business and that you want your business to represent. If you then go through them all and group them up thematically this tends to give you a steer on 4 or 5 values. I also will say if you're starting out, don’t wait until you've got the perfect hold on all your values before you start to take things to the next level, because you’ll be waiting your whole life. Get yourself to a point where you've got something tangible that you understand and can work with and then let those values mature switch you and your work over the years.
I’d love your advice on pivoting a business - I’m shifting from product to service.
First of all, it’s not going to happen quickly or as cleanly as you want. This is something that I am learning for myself at the moment. Change is messy, so come into this with an acceptance that you’re going to have to wade around in it for a while. The hardest part of transitioning a business is getting people to change what they know you for. We all like to put people in niche boxes and kind of hate it when they try to get out of them, so doing a campaign just to change people’s expectations and perceptions of you is a good place to start. This might look like starting to change your content, talking about the why’s behind the transition, sharing parts of your story that are relevant to your new direction; creating freebies that demonstrate and model your new services; doing challenges or advice series on Instagram so people can start testing what you say and see what you’re talking about. You may also want to try pitching for some podcasts or guest posts or magazines or things like that to create social proof and establish recognition of your knowledge and expertise in this new area. Behind the scenes, give yourself a pipeline so you can start to plan your time and plan your finances. Give yourself a few months grace where you can just focus on that mind changing campaign, and then start to set goals for when you want to book the first client, how many clients you’ll need to close the product side, perhaps planning a course or download that can supplement your income if you need it to.
How would you recommend approaching a minor rebrand?
Really know what you want out of it, and have a really clear purpose for the project. With branding any design, it’s so easy to get distracted by how fun it is and all the pretty things, so make sure you have a really clear goal that you can use as a benchmark to stop yourself getting carried away. Make sure that the rebrand does what you want it to. So that might be ‘better represent my new environment after a big move’, ‘differentiate my products from my services’, update typography and logo elements that are looking tired. Make sure you have something really specific like that so you can make sure that you just stay really focuse. Especially as it’s a mior rebrand; if it’s just a small element, make sure that it’s keeping really focused.
How do I increase my prices big time? I’m talking doubling, because my services are heavily under-charged, but how do I do this without annoying or losing customers?
So I really empathise with you. I tend to raise my prices really slowly over time, so to realise that you need to do it in a big whack must feel scary. I think you should first of all update them on your website and make sure any new customers are paying your new prices, as they likely didn’t know what they were before anyway, so you’re not going to upset them. The tricky bit as you’ve identified is with existing customers, so as a rule I always think honesty is the best policy, and try to work WITH people to come to a solution that everyone feels happy and comfortable with. We want to avoid people feeling pushed into a corner or being slapped with this unexpected bill. If it was me, I would explain that perhaps I’ve been working at a reduced rate while I set up but I’ve reached a point where I can’t continue to be in business at my current rates, so I need to be putting up my prices. Demonstrate the value that you’ve provided, and if it’s relevant, you might also want to break down what you do either on a project basis or on an hourly basis so they can see ‘oh yeah, I’ve been paying her less than minimum wage’, or I’ve been paying a tiny amount for all these little areas’ so that they feel better about the fact that you’re doing this with some thought behind it and not just sticking your prices up for no reason. And then you can introduce perhaps a sliding scale, so that their invoices start to increase over time rather than overnight. Perhaps something like if you bill them monthly, then over 3 months they get 20% added over time, so that after a couple of months, they’re up at the new rates. So depending on how many clients you have, you may be able to work with each one individually. If you work with 3 people, you can work out a payment plan for each of them, but if you’ve got more than that is manageable for, then choose a blanket scale for everyone., So that’s for client based stuff, but if you have a product business and you want to start to put your prices up and you’re worried about loyal customers, think about offering them a time limited discount code where they can kind of warm up to the new prices, and just make them feel valued as customers even though you’re trying to put the prices up.
How do you deal with dream clients that you would love to work with but they can’t afford your services?
I hate to say it, but if your dream client can’t pay for your services, then they’re not a dream client. So I get that they might be people whose business you really love, but if they’re not paying you, they’re not a dream. When thinking about dream clients and ideal audiences, yes, it’s about value alignment and enjoying the work, but also about the logistics flowing smoothly and getting paid on time and everyone feeling really good about every part of the process. It’s not you having to chase for a payment that it’s gut wrenching for them to make. That’s not dreamy, right? You have a decision: do you change what you do in order for it to be affordable for these types of client, or do you change your dream client? I’d spend a little bit of time thinking about and researching these options. So if you change your services, perhaps from 1-1 to a course, does that still align with your visions and what you want your life to be like, and how you want to spend your days? If you look at the reality of working with a different type of client, does that feel like a compromise too far If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend just picking one or the other for now, as you don’t want a confused message to come to market with, but you could always add the other thing later.If you’re already pretty established, it might be possible to do both; so have maybe a self-led offering for those beginners and then pitch your services at a more advanced audience, so there’s a flow people can go through through your business.
I am a coach with two niches, do I really need 2 of everything; a website, blog, strategy, etc? Each niche has its own set of problems but my skills are the same.
I always try to advise that people bring their services and customers under one roof. Exactly because, as you say, once you start to duplicate websites and Instagram accounts and everything, you’re just duplicating work, and you’ll end up doing nothing but trying to keep all the accounts going. The only time I would recommend splitting them out is if one audience would repel or be repelled by the other. So, you know, say you did a lot of work with junk food companies or burger vans, that would probably repel wellness business, because they would think that you didn’t understand them. So that’s what I’d think about, whether one or the other would repel. Otherwise, they can fit together much easier than you probably think. Assuming it’s not the case that they repel each other, you may need to just think a little more about the website structure, so making sure there are clear signposts so that people can go to the content that’s for them rather than stumble across to the wrong page. That can be as simple as ‘click here if you’re just starting out’, or ‘click here if you’re feeling XYZ’; so as long as there are clear signposts, people will find what they need because that’s what they’re tuned into. Then in terms of the blog, you can trust people to self select. They can scroll past a blog post that’s not for them, as long as the second or third resonates. Going back to the content plan,one of the tasks and purposes of your content plan will be making sure that you’ve got a good balance or content for everybody so that whatever point they come into the site there’s always something that they’re finding for them.
How do I bring more of me into my business? I want to share more of my teacher day job.
So I really believe that this is harder than we think it should be! And that’s because we find it hard to see the value and inspiration in our daily life because it’s just our normality. I always think ‘oh, no-one’s going to want to see that, that’s really boring’ - then I watch the exact same thing on someone else’s Stories. Being a little bit more objective is a good habit to get into.Again, here, I want to start with why do you want to bring more of yourself into your business? Is it because you want to connect with people on a more personal level? Is it because your day job will help you demonstrate your expertise? Is it something else? Once you start with a goal or an aim, you can start to generate ideas more easily. If it is that your day job helps provide context for what you do in your business, then you can start to think about how you can show that. What people will be interest to see, the examples that most closely fit, the things you can show that will give people an ‘aha’ moment. If you want to be deepening your personal connection with people, bringing them into your home and daily routine can do that, using examples from your own life and work in tour content, sharing your goals and your struggles. So start with what you want to achieve by doing this and the people that you want to engage by doing it and you’ll find the ideas start to come more easily than with just the general question.