299: The four key ways to scale your thought leadership content | Martin Huntbach

Do you want to be a business owner and a thought leader? 

Same. 

So... we have Martin Huntbach on ep 299 of The Content Queen Podcast to help you scale your thoughts into content that can be used for daysss (or years, probably). 

If you want to be seen online for your expertise, check out this interview! 

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah and @martinhuntbach.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ The four key ways to scale your thought leadership content  

✨ How to create multiple pieces of content from one video 

✨ How to improve the engagement of your video content 

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Martin Huntbach is a Video Marketing Expert and Best-Selling Author of Content Fortress. With his award-winning video marketing agency, Jammy Digital, he’s helped clients get millions of video views and 10X their leads in the process.

Martin has recently co-founded VideoFlo AI, a video app that helps people plan, record, edit, and publish videos 10 times faster.

Martin also speaks on stages all over the UK, helping more business owners get more sales with video.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 299, and we're talking about the four ways to scale your thought leadership content, and I'm joined by Martin Hunt Back. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur storyteller, digital nomad, creative content bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen. I'm here to teach you how to share your unique story, create content, and market your business with strategy through the channels that work for you.

Each week I'll deliver a story, tell you connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business and content creation. Also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who each share their own journey, along with actual steps to help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful line marketing and content strategy.

Let's do it. Hello gang. How are we? Alright. Last week we had a LinkedIn episode, and this week we're gonna talk about scaling that thought leadership content. That is gonna help, of course, on all platforms, but I think it's a good one for those who were thinking about joining LinkedIn. And I'm joined. An amazing guest who's going to share all about [00:01:00] this, Martin.

He's a video. Marketing expert and bestselling author of Content Fortress with his award-winning video marketing agency, Jami Digital. He's helped clients get millions of videos, views, and 10 x their leads in the process. Martin has recently co-founded video Flow ai, a video app that helps people plan, edit, record, and publish videos 10 times faster.

We love that. Martin also speaks on stages all over the uk, helping more business owners get more sales with video. So let's hear from Martin because it's a juicy episode. There's so much to cover, so I'm just gonna get stuck into it. Amazing. Okay. Welcome to the podcast, Martin. I'm so excited to chat with you today.

But before we jump into all the juicy information and. Uh, content that you have to share. I'd love to know a little bit more about you and your business journey. So, and you know what you're doing, what you're working on. So please share with us how you got to where you are now and a little bit more about what you're working on.[00:02:00] 

Martin: Of course. Yeah. So my name's Martin Satch and I run Jami Digital, which is a content marketing, predominantly video marketing agency. And, uh, we've been doing this for a long time. And, um, we have just in the process right now of launching a brand new, uh, content marketing app called Video Flow. So yeah, we, uh.

Um, very much all in on content. Um, we built a lot of followers and, uh, and, and leads through our own content, uh, back when we started to promote our business. And then we eventually started doing it for clients and, and now we're building an app for them as well. So, yeah, all in on content for sure. 

Mariah: Oh, app sounds exciting.

I'm excited to hear how, when that launches, when are you launching it? 

Martin: So we just launched a wait list recently and, uh, we were hoping to get 400 people on the wait list to validate whether or not people were interested. Um, and we said to ourselves, okay, well we'll put the [00:03:00] message out there and we'll see if they are interested.

And, um, and we were aiming for 400, 500 would've been a great result and we would've moved forward with a product. It turns out that over 4,000 people are interested in this. So, uh, we've got 4,000 people on a wait list. And, um, we're just going through some fundraising at the minute. So, uh, it's gonna be over the next, uh, I would say two to three months that we'll start to get some beta testers in there.

Um, but yeah, just this, just this very week actually, we had an angel investor call and, um, a. Lots of people would like to be a part of this, uh, to, to not reveal too much information. We are very oversubscribed when it comes to people wanting to be a part of this app so far. So yeah, it's very exciting. So that should, uh, keep the process nice and quick as far as I'm concerned.

Mariah: Yeah. Awesome. So I'm sure, um, can more people join your wait list if they're curious? Absolutely. 

Martin: Yeah. We we're giving away a few free accounts as well, so, um, I, if you go to [00:04:00] video flow.ai, you'll be able to sign up to the wait list and being with a chance of winning one of the five free accounts, along with some, uh, 66, uh, viral hooks as well.

So you get all of that for free just from joining the wait list. 

Mariah: Oh, that sounds cool. We'll put it in the show notes. Well, good luck. That sounds very exciting. And yeah, video content is just obviously growing more and more. As you know, these platforms evolve and I'm a big TikTok, uh, consumer and I am basically all my content across TikTok and Instagram is video.

And as we know how like platforms like Instagram work is, if you do wanna reach a new audience, kind of video is the place. You have to, you know, kind of hang out in, because otherwise it is a lot harder to reach, um, followers, not, uh, non followers through traditional content like your static posts and your carousels.

So, you know, when, when reels launched in, oh, was it 2020? Um, it sort of just definitely evolved sort of how content worked. But [00:05:00] TikTok definitely. I changed the game for a lot of people and, um, yeah, I literally just filmed a video before we got started 'cause I forgot. I hadn't done it yet. Um, and even with a lot of clients I've started working with, predominantly the strategy is video.

So it is, um mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah. 

Martin: And I think a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves when they start to put out content, and I think everybody thinks that they need to put out thought leadership content to begin with. Um, but it's not, thought leadership isn't kind of like the starting point.

Sometimes it's getting comfortable sharing your thoughts and sharing your ideas in a small way. And you don't need a video production team. You don't need fancy setup. You just need to be prepared. In, in a lot of ways what I've been saying on stage this week, I was speaking at a couple of events and, uh, my message to the world is kind of get comfortable putting out crappy videos.

I want to see crappy videos, and I, when I say crappy, I don't mean the actual value within it, I mean. The presentation, it's perfectly fine for [00:06:00] you to just rock up with your iPhone and get some messages out there in the world. Just if you're gonna do it, try to be consistent and, um, you know, it comes a lot quicker because a lot of your competitors won't be putting out video content.

So, uh, if you're prepared to, to do it a few times a week. You're gonna be massively outperforming. Um, not to mention LinkedIn being a massive platform as well for video, and they're very much focusing on it at the minute, um, after the success of TikTok and Instagram. So yeah, it's, it's, it's time for sure.

Mariah: Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's so true. Like, I mean, one of the tiktoks I seen recently was like, the videos that are performing the best at the moment are like. I feel like someone's FaceTiming me and I'm just having a conversation with them. Yes. And there's been, you know, massive viral videos and obviously this is for more content creation versus like business owners, but, you know, 50, I watched her last year, a 50 part series on a woman sharing about how she'd married a pathological liar and literally there was terrible sound ter like she was like, you know, [00:07:00] had her camera down here.

Like obviously as business owners we want to. Share a certain like level, right? 'cause we've got a brand to uphold. But as a content creator, she was just kind of just getting her message out there. And, um, one of the other things that's, I, I like that you mentioned is just like getting your thoughts out there and being comfortable with that is like almost kind of what also I've noticed works quite well is like those just like.

Intrusive thoughts, like things that come into your mind and you're like, oh, I wonder if anyone else thinks that. And I've shared that with clients before, and a lot of the times when they share their intrusive thoughts, that's the stuff that gets the most traction because it's like, oh my God, finally someone's saying it.

I've been thinking about this for ages. Or, oh my God, I never thought of things like that. So I like that you say that because it doesn't have to be about like having a workshop worthy or keynote worthy, uh, message. It's like literally just sharing sometimes what's come up. In your mind or what conversation you've been having with your clients?

I always say this, a lot of times our clients tell us what they wanna talk about and we're not listening enough, and we're not [00:08:00] writing that down and going like, oh yeah, of course. Like that's what they wanna, that's what they wanna know. Like they're asking me. Exactly. Yeah. 

Martin: And it's so funny because as a video marketing company, my job is to go out with the gear and make these amazing scenes and make it look like high end.

Um, but even I'm out there, uh, saying you need to put out basic videos and stop worrying about the high level of production, just to kind of show people that yeah, I, I might, well. Do myself out of business, but if I don't shout from the rooftops, it's so funny. I mean, we work with, um, some successful entrepreneurs.

Uh, well you are based in Australia, so you might know Daniel Priestley. Um, but he is, he's one of our clients and we go out there once a month, uh, in London and we film with him and, um, and we're, we're telling him what to say and we're saying that you've got a great idea in this. Book and let, let's pull it forward.

Let's actually create a nice, you know, 10 minute YouTube video. Um, and those are great and they get [00:09:00] loads of leads and sales off the back of it. Um, but they don't go massively viral, um, because there's a business goal behind it. But sometimes he'll just rock up with his iPhone and his garden and he'll just talk for 10 minutes.

And those are the videos that go massively. Uh, you get, get the traction. So it's quite. Fun. Um, but frustrating at times when we're putting so much effort into, you know, the high polished quality videos. And then he just goes and records a video on the, on, on an airplane or the tube with terrible audio, terrible picture.

Um, he's just got lots of ums and ahs and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And we try to clean it up, but I think it's nice having a mix of both. Yeah, my, my issue, the one frustration is that when I see people try to put out video content themselves and they say, I'm just gonna hold up my iPhone, because there's not a strategy behind it, because there's not a system.

It tends to be that they, they're constantly. Needing that, that, that fix of, oh, I need to post today. I posted yesterday. I need to keep, keep going. And, [00:10:00] and there's a certain mechanism and a structure that we try to keep people in line with. Um, and that is, you know, kind of having your thoughts. Uh. And being aware of what the long term play is, as well as the short term.

And when you are just rocking up with your iPhone every day and saying, here's what's on my mind, that's good. But if one day you don't wake up and you don't have that intrusive thought, then what are you gonna post? And there needs to be an action plan for that as well, which is why a lot of the time when people work with us, they say.

I'm more than happy posting content. I'm more than happy getting on camera. Uh, but it's just inconsistent. I feel like there's no real business goal. I, I don't want to be chasing after the views. Um, I do want it to lead to leads and sales, and at some point you need to ask yourself, okay, even if you get consistent and you get the views and the likes and the engagement, what does this mean?

And is it worth it? Mm-hmm. And if you don't have a plan, then that's where it can, uh, cause some issues. 

Mariah: Thank you for saying that. 'cause I [00:11:00] feel like I bang my head up against the wall saying this all the time because it's so true, right? We're business owners, we're not content creators, right? Like, we are not our, our audience, we, we like with a content creator, you know, they get paid off their views and, and all of those things.

Like they're not actively, unless they have created business off the back of it. But when we, and, and it's interesting to go to your point with like that kind of low-fi versus Hi-Fi content. Like there's entrepreneurs out there that get like, you know. S uh, stagnant views, like they're not super high, but they convert every time.

So it's like you've gotta have that balance between that top, middle and bottom funnel content. And I think all the times we're either creating too much bottom funnel where we're like, here, buy my product, or too much top for funnel where we are like just sharing what's going on in our day and there's no plan or strategy around it.

So thank you for saying that because I think a lot of times it is, it's not just, and also. Posting plan is so much different to a strategy because I had, um, a, a client say to [00:12:00] me, oh, I saw this guy. And he talked about, he's like a, I don't know, in the holistic space, and he is intuitive. And he said, oh, I don't have a, a, a content strategy.

I just post from the heart. And I was like, okay. He doesn't have a posting plan. He goes, okay, today I've got this idea. But he knows his audience, he knows his goals, he knows the exact channels he needs to be on. He, trust me, he has a strategy. He's just trying to fool you into thinking that you don't need one and it's wrong because he would, he knows what he's doing, like he does not.

Like he's, he's just that he's, he either posts on a Monday or he posts on a Friday. That's a posting plan, right? That's not actually, so anyway, thank you for sharing that. 'cause I think that is, you know what we all need to hear because I find a lot of the times we're just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks and then yeah, it might work for a couple of months until we either burn out, get busy, or you know, we forget, oh yeah, I've gotta do that, forgot about that.

And then it's just social media just becomes a place that you just kind of dump. Content on too. It's not [00:13:00] actually used as part of your marketing pipeline, so I love that. Now, we talked a little bit about thought leadership, and one of the things that I'd love to hear from you is a bit more I, I, as I said to you before we started recording, it's a com topic of conversation that's coming up.

I was at a summit recently. A lot of the product based business founder said. Sharing their, like thought leadership or sharing themselves, sharing their story was a big player, even though they sold a product. So this is where like founder led startups, now the founder is like the face, even though they might potentially sell or get investors or whatever that looks like.

So, uh, when we spoke, you talked about having the four ways that you. Four things that you do are four ways to scale your content through thought leadership. And I'd love to dive into that because I think it's something that people really struggle with. Like, oh, what have I got to say? I'm boring. Just buy a product.

Like, you know, why? Why do I need to do this? So I would love for you to tell us why and how. 

Martin: Absolutely. Yeah. So we just found that when we went [00:14:00] into content planning for clients, it wasn't so much, here are some great content ideas. It was, here's how to always know what kind of content you want to create based on what business goals that you have.

So it kind of starts. Uh, with that in mind, so knowing what your business goals are for the quarter or for the month, or for the week, for instance. So for instance, we have some clients that wanna launch a new event. They wanna launch a new product, they wanna launch a wait list, like what we are going through at the minute.

They, um, you know, maybe they're thinking about launching a mastermind group, or maybe they're just launching like a physical subscription box or whatever it is. You need to be aware going into content creation, what success looks like. If you don't, then that's when you'll focus on, um, you know, likes, views, engagement, and it'll give you that fix of dopamine, but it'll be inconsistent.

So if you want a consistent result within your business and your bottom line, then you need to [00:15:00] allocate certain goals and certain sort of directives. For that particular time in the calendar, and that's always the most important thing. So we have a client that has a big webinar and a big offer coming up.

So we have to plan content in mind based on that goal, but we don't talk about content until we're very clear on what that month is, is what's the purpose is for that month, for that quarter. So the first step is all about identifying that goal. Now, when we talk about the goal, we don't. Kind of get too granular at this point about what success looks like in terms of the metrics and the number of sales.

Presumably people know what success would look like, but we need to know the main uh, campaign in that moment in time. And then from that point, what we do is we kind of put it to one side, and the next step is to look at what the client has already created. So the clients who we work with, and for people that.

Just generally are freelancers or contractors or or knowledge based business in some capacity, [00:16:00] they will have a series of intellectual property documents, frameworks, systems that they use with their clients. If I speak to any accountant and I said. When you sit down with a prospect for the first time, what's the system that you use to identify who they are and what they need from you?

They'll have a system for it. If I speak to somebody that, you know, sources unique jewelry for a client, then they will have a system for it. If I speak to a client who is in the Facebook ad space, they'll have a system, a framework, or some knowledge or some intellectual property around what it is that they do.

So the goal really is not to think about the, the goal. And say, I need more sales. And then jump onto Instagram and start selling. You have to go through these in order and you don't wanna miss out the intellectual property phase 'cause that's gonna make everything else easier for years to come. Uh, and some people, they have this imposter syndrome about their frameworks and knowledge they think.

Oh, well this is the system that I use, [00:17:00] but it might not be, it might not work for everybody. This is just what I found to be true and they don't really share it. And the goal for you is to get comfortable sharing your previous experience, your knowledge, your documents. You know, we have a document, um, for.

Most of the questions that people ask us, you know, if someone says, how can I create content to attract better clients? We know that's the content Fortress framework. That's something we created eight different pillars. You know, that's what we wrote a book about. If someone says, how do you create a great piece of content?

We might say it's the content compass framework. So when you find that you're repeating yourself over and over and over again, uh, and you're answering the same questions, you need to start documenting the answers. And that's where frameworks form and analogies and metaphors and systems and processes. So this makes up your library of intellectual property, your little mini knowledge base, uh, that you can always tap into.

And you've gotta have that. And if you do, when you've already written a book and you've, you know, you've got loads of content out there, [00:18:00] quite often you can skip this step 'cause you've already put it, put it out in the world. But for people that haven't. You definitely need to spend some time creating some frameworks and systems that you can always latch onto.

People prefer to deal with people that have systems and processes, and, uh, they know what they're doing and it's based on experience and success and case studies, and they're happy talking about it morning, noon, and night because they know that it works. Now, once you've got that layer of frameworks and you've got a clear goal.

That's when we can start moving into content, which is the third step. Now, we very much have a very clear way to scale content and maximize your output. And some people might not like it. They might not like it because it's a video first approach. So when I say video first, my goal for every single person listening to this is to get comfortable being in front of the camera.

Um, and. Carve out at least one day a month where you can just talk at the [00:19:00] camera. It doesn't have to be an expensive studio. It doesn't have to be expensive gear. You can use your iPhone, but I want you to take some of the frameworks and some of the, uh, content ideas that you just have on the tip of your tongue and the top of your head and just get comfortable talking about them to a camera.

And the reason we start with a video first approach is because what you say verbally. Can be written down later. You can take that transcript, you can move it into chat, GPT or a tool like Otter to transcribe it. You can do all of that later. But if you start with, let's say a blog post and you, you take your ideas and put it into a blog post, then you're gonna have to maybe create a video later.

So you may as well do. You know, they're smart and you may as well actually say the words, it'll pick up your tone of voice, your mannerisms, that matters when it comes to written content. So try to feed your, uh, whether it's your, you know, chat, EPT, knowledge base or what, whatever. [00:20:00] Try to create library somewhere online.

Where you can upload your transcripts, upload your videos, and actually get a, a big picture view so that you can make all of the short form content far easier. So what we do with every client is we sit them down and we explore all of their content ideas, their goals, their strategies, their blueprints and frameworks.

And then we basically put them in front of a camera and say, tell us, tell us everything. Um, and that might mean a little bit of a Rolodex exercise, like think about all of the things that you. Say from day to day, think about all the stories that you like to bring up on client calls. Think about all of the things that you answer.

When you get those questions come in. Think about the previous 20 emails that you've had off clients. Could you just say the answer on video and just really start getting comfortable sharing your knowledge? This is when you start to overcome that imposter syndrome because the amount of knowledge that you realize you've got and you're like, oh, wow.

Now I'm not saying you have to put this content out in the world. [00:21:00] Um, but generally what we do with clients is we do their long form YouTube videos. So for instance, if they do have a framework, it'll be, here are the five steps to get more clients. Or it will be, you know, here are the most important things.

If you're buying a wedding ring for your, for your wife. You know, these, these are three things. Here's seven ways you know all of the things that you can put out there. And those make up all of the long form videos. And then once you've done that, that's step three. Then you can move into the short form content.

So what I like to say is once you've got as many, you've got as many words out there as possible using long form content, and that's just five to 10 minutes, five to 15 minute videos. You can then. Create tons and tons and tons of short form content off the back of it. And this is the only way that we've been able to get one day with clients in a month and be able to put out content every single day on multiple platforms, because all we needed was the right approach.

And that means sitting them in front of a camera, getting [00:22:00] them to say some stuff for a day. And then we are able to create short form videos from the long form. We're able, we're we're able to create carousels, we're able to create email copy, we're able to create LinkedIn posts. So captions for the Instagram reels, like simply from doing that and committing to one day a month, anyone can create hundreds of pieces of content every single week.

And I know because this is, this is what our clients don't have. They don't have time. They can give us one day a month and that's it. So we've had to be really, really strategic and smart when it comes to being able to scale their content. And we do that through those four steps, which is the goals, the strategies, the long form video, first approach, and then the short form.

Mariah: Yeah, I love that. And it's. It definitely makes my life easier too. So I definitely is one of those things. I worked with, um, A-A-C-E-O years ago and I was like, I just need to get you in front of a camera because like just, let's just do a zoom and just see what comes from it because it is so hard. And one of the things that you mentioned that I think is really challenging for [00:23:00] business owners, and this is why getting support can be very helpful, is like they don't know what's interesting and they also.

Forget, they don't reflect often on what their clients are asking them. The amount of times, and you're probably the same. You have a meeting with a client and they, like, you start asking them questions and you're like, oh yeah, like we've been doing that for years. And you're like, okay, tell me more. And then they'll go, oh, I had a client call the other day actually and they told me this, this, and I'm making notes.

And they're like, oh, I didn't think this was interesting. And I'm like, are you joking me? Like this is a gold mine. I, um, work with a local fish and chip shop in Queensland and she told me they make all their sauce. In house. And I was like, you, you didn't wanna tell me this? Like when we started working together a year ago, and she's like, oh, I didn't think it was good.

And I was like, these are like unique selling points. Like I, and then now she's like getting used to it. But when you first start, you don't think of all the things that other people would find interesting because you've been doing it for so long. And so having someone like you like I to like probe those questions out, I think is really helpful as well, because I [00:24:00] otherwise, we're just in our own little bubble.

I mean, I need that. Sometimes I need someone to probe me because I'm in my own little bubble, and you don't often see what's outside of that and what people would find. Interesting. 

Martin: Yeah. 

Mariah: Yeah, it, it happens all the time. 

Martin: It's so interesting that when the camera gets switched off, that's sometimes when we start to have proper conversations and it's like, switch that camera back on quick.

So we was, we was with a, uh, a client. I was doing some work for a SaaS company and we were recording a testimonial. Um, and the testimonial was nice and polished. You know, it's gonna go on there about page and all that kind of fun stuff. So we're recording this testimonial about how many leads and, and, and stuff he got through this app and, um.

And it was, he, he started to take his, uh, take his microphone off his lapel mic and hand it back to the videographer. And he was like, you know, it's funny. Uh, there was this one time when we used this app where I was running a webinar and I asked people if they were interested in working. I. With us, [00:25:00] um, ahead of the webinar and 10 people said that they were, and I was worried because the webinar, the goal of the webinar was to get people to sign up to this program.

So I was gonna end up having so much interest ahead of the webinar that, um, there was nothing to sell because they only had 10 spaces available and he'd just taken his microphone off and I'm like, you know what I'm gonna ask you to do now, don't you? Yeah. I'm like, why didn't you say that on the, on the, while we were recording, so.

It's sometimes those funny little stories that you need to remember and write down because those are the things that actually make the biggest difference and come across so natural. So think about, you know, what happens, you know, after 5:00 PM think about the conversations you have when you're out for dinner.

Think about when someone says, oh, how was work? And you're like, oh my God, it was awful today. 'cause this happened. That's the content people want. So you have to really tap into that and it's, it's frustrating 'cause you. We've always, I mean, I'm, I'm kind of, I'm 37, so I'm kind of in the, in the, in the [00:26:00] mid-range for the millennial, but I've kind of still need to remind myself that I need to document my life a little bit more.

Anyone older than me probably, you know, sometimes they're like. What are you even talking about? I'm like, you should put that online. But people younger than me are just filming themselves eating their breakfast and I'm like, you need to find, you need to get a co. Yeah. It's so natural. And you know, I think it's tapping into that a little can make a massive difference in your business, so you don't have to go all in on filming every, you know, facet of your day.

At the same time, you do need to tap into those little moments of magic that you can really bring to life. And sometimes it's the most flipping comments on TikTok that go the most viral. And um, and especially for product. Product, uh, based businesses. I was watching this thing on, on, uh, Instagram this morning.

Um, a little, a little thing, and it said, um, it was a knots and crosses. I'm not sure if that's how you describe it in Australia. Yeah. Um, [00:27:00] but basically it was this little device and you put it on the table and it says, uh, the loser pays for dinner. And there's no faces. There's no, no, there's no one there.

And there's just a product link below and they're playing, you know, knots and crosses and whoever wins. And I'm just like, I'm watching this video and I'm like, thinking about getting it from a little boy. He loves, you know, we don't like screen time at the dinner table, but this is quite fun. Um, and before you know it, you've realized, okay, is it is a product based, it's commission based.

It's someone's trying to sell this thing, but they, they told it in a way that. Didn't require fancy editing, it just required an iPhone of someone playing with their wife at the table and, uh, losing. So you have to pay for, for, for, so there's a little bit of story there as well to it, which is nice. Yeah.

So you don't have to do a lot to make a, a lot of difference. 

Mariah: Yeah. And also with those sorts of videos and some that, my partner and I, we have our own travel page and the videos that have gone viral are the ones that are like that. They show a process and people wanna see what happens in the end. And that is a [00:28:00] very Gen Z millennial thing.

Mm-hmm. Is we wanna know what happens. So we're always wanting to, that's why like. Part series work very well or things like that. 'cause we're always wanting to know the outcome. And some of the videos that worked quite well. And obviously it wasn't business related, but my partner and I, we were working in a library and, and we were in Queensland and all of a sudden it started pouring rain.

And at this time we lived in the back of our SUV, we slept in our car and we had a tent and we lived in a, we were at a caravan park and we were traveling the east coast and we're like, oh my God, the tent is fully open. We have electricity in there. So I start just filming. I don't know why. I just started filming and I was like, okay guys, like this is what happening again.

We're in the car and Mitch is like, we could only go 80, because it was like there was no a hundred signs and the rain is coming down and I'm like, fucking Queensland. Like, what the hell? And then we get down the road to like, it was 20 minutes away and there was just sun, but clouds all around and just sun beaming on our tent.

And we look at each other like. What the hell. And then we put our [00:29:00] tent all up and then it starts raining. Anyway, I just posted that on social media, not thinking anything, and the next day wake up with like all these followers, all these comments, and I was like, it was a story and people wanted to see the end of it.

Right. And that's like that Ns and crosses. You wanted to see who won. Like those videos always get us. And that's a really good point too. It's like. When you are creating content, it's always good to consume and see how you interact with videos because even with the thought leadership stuff, a lot of my clients always send me things that that really engaged them.

And we, we sort of pick apart like, why that worked. Like why did you like that? Like what was it about that? And it's not about like replication, it's about being intrigued by how you consume. And I think that's often, sometimes we just. Obviously, I think as content marketers, naturally we are probably always like, oh, why did that?

Always questioning. But as business owners, we're not always consuming like that, right? Like just doing it. But I love what you say about it not becoming natural to document the journey because it isn't, and even for me, I'm 31, so [00:30:00] I'm millennial, but like I, I grew up not so much with social media, but a little bit.

But we had, we were filming, um. Uh, TV series with our big camcorders, with our friends. So I did grow up filming things, but even for me, we travel a lot. We live in a bus and, and sometimes it's like, you just wanna enjoy the moment. And someone always said to me like, how do you enjoy the moment but still capture content?

Mm-hmm. Because that's what happens. But usually what my partner and I do is we like. Quickly film what we wanna do, like have in mind what we wanna film, and then just enjoy it. But there's influences or content creators out there that they never enjoy anything 'cause they're always filming. So it's like, as a business owner, you, you not naturally created to create content, but it's just trying to get those little moments because you would know, I mean obviously you do a lot of like talking to camera, but even those sort of B-roll type visuals, it's good to have.

Stuff from your clients rather than like really polish stuff as well. 'cause it's good to test like what works, but I always sometimes find myself reusing videos 'cause my clients [00:31:00] don't naturally think about filming them, walking to the library or the coworking space or, you know, and, and now I think, um, in their head they're always like.

I always have to remind them before they leave for anything, get content, like going to a networking event, get content, like I'm just always in their head now, but it's not natural. It takes time. It's a lot of training 

Martin: and I think this is why, this is why knowing that, but also having a system. It's kind of perfect because there's a system that plays out anyway.

And that means if you can do the polished stuff or even if it polished stuff, if you can just have a day carved out per month to do the things that you need to do in order to keep the calendar happy. And then everything else that you do is gonna add to the mix. Um, all of those extra things. If you do forget to film, you know, networking event or a business conference, or you want to train writing down some goals, whatever.

Then it works in tangent and people wanna see the real authentic cue, but they also need to know that you're gonna show up consistently. So if, for instance, you know, [00:32:00] your phone dies when you're out and about and you're not publishing content, it needs to be a, oh, that's not great. But at least I've got scheduled stuff going out.

At least this is happening. At least I know that the business is taken care of. And the reason that. The reason that this is important in what we try to talk about quite a lot is deciding, do you want one of two paths? Now, you can have both, but you need to, when you first start out, you have to go in this with a clear vision.

You can either go after fame or you can go after Fortune. Now, a lot of people see the fame and they see that as success. They see, oh, this only got 12 likes. No one commented, and then they see that as success or failure, depending on how many views they got, and then they'll be chasing that forever.

Whereas we always say to our clients, even if they come to us with a really wacky trend that's new, I just say to them, if. Do we want fame or do we want fortune? And every time, or most of the time they say, okay, fortune. Yeah, leads and sales, we get it. [00:33:00] Okay. So I'm like, okay, so let's take care of that first.

Let's make sure the team are paid. Let's make sure that we've got the the revenue coming in. And that generally means long form content that we can then add a lead magnet to. It means LinkedIn, video, longform, LinkedIn video that we can add links to. It doesn't necessarily mean Instagram straight off the bat for most people, unless they're like a product and you can, you can have an affiliate link or whatever, or many chart integrations.

There's loads of things you can do. But when someone sits down to watch a long form piece of content, whether it's a day in the life, whether it's a, you know, a, a, a tutorial, whether it's a, a piece of content going through your five most important ways to, you know, prepare a meal, always, always, always have long form in mind to take care of the business.

To make sure you're including links to your lead magnet. Make sure you've got a little process in place to be able to tell people how they can work with you, and then the short form and all of that will feed people to the long form. This is kind of what we're trying to educate people [00:34:00] on, which is if that's what gets the, gets the leads in sales, then anything that happens on social media is like point fuel on the fire.

So you can do that as long as you take care of the fortune first. And that's why sometimes when you do go viral off the back of a post and you're like, what came off the back of it? And it's like, well, if you don't have the long form and the lead generation taken care of, then nothing's gonna comfort.

And you're constantly gonna be chasing that high. So it's too inconsistent for people to build a business around virality, and that's why it's a nice to have, not a need to have. The need to have is the structured long form content. Educate people show up every day, really try to help and communicate authentically, connect with them through long form and then, you know, generate that attraction through short form typically.

So. 

Mariah: Yeah, it nailed it. I, I, it's so funny. The person that comes to mind is a business owner who was a Instagram coach, and she went on TikTok and she did a viral dance with her partner. She got viral on TikTok with all the wrong audience, and then [00:35:00] that page stayed stagnant. Yeah. 'cause she couldn't unleash what she'd created 'cause she'd created a beast.

So true. And I love that fortune over fame because yeah, like the dopamine hit of likes and comments is nice. Mm-hmm. But you know, for what reason we are not, as I said, we're not influenced, well we, we, we have influence, but we're not the traditional like content creator influence. And I love that reframe because Yeah.

It's so true. We and my partner said to me recently about trends. Trends aren't going, like they're not a good habit to get into because you're relying on trends to give you that push of engagement. But if you're not doing anything else. People are gonna have no idea what you do. They're just like, oh, that was funny.

You know? Yeah. So whilst, you know, trends are fun, um, they have to make sense. Like, that woman did that dance trend, had nothing to do with Instagram coaching, and then she was like, I had a conversation with her about it. I'm like, I you, she was an example. I hope you don't mind. It's like super random. She's like, oh no, it's fine.

Like, that's what happened. I. Was, had too many [00:36:00] margaritas on a Saturday night with my husband, and they were ex dancers, like they're proper dance. So they decided to do it, post it on, uh, TikTok, and then, uh oh. Yeah. Went viral for the wrong reasons. So it's so true. Um, I love that you say that because I think, yeah, it definitely gets that sort of like, we wanna have fun and we wanna do those sort of fun things.

'cause that's what, but it builds that momentum for the stuff that you've already got and that's sustainable. Right? Like having that long form. People are more engaged by watching a 10, 15 minute YouTube video listening to a podcast. Watching a podcast over a six second reel that, 

Martin: yeah. It 

Mariah: says what 

Martin: I think a lot of the time when people latch onto trends and they try to look for, you know, short form dopamine fixes, it's not necessarily 'cause they're chasing fame.

This is, this is the thing that we mention fame over fortune, fortune over fame, as a way to to, to get people thinking about it so that they can say, oh, I've got an idea. Which camp do I fall into? But [00:37:00] generally the reason that people chase after trends is because they don't have a robust content plan and they're not sure where to source ideas from.

So I don't think people are chasing nobody. If you ask a room, I mean, we, we recently did a survey and we did a survey of over 400 people on what people wanted from their video content. And we had, do you wanna grow your audience? Do you wanna get views? Do you wanna get more leads, or do you want more sales?

Three of these got a large proportion. I think the most was grown audience. Then it was get more, uh, leads. Then it was get more sales. Only 4% of people who took the survey said they wanted more views. Yet what we do is we look at views as a success metric when we don't even care about it in the first place.

So generally speaking, people do want to grow their audience and you do that through connection and um, and they do want more leads and they do want more sales. So we've got people telling us this in a survey. Yet 99% of us would be disappointed [00:38:00] if we only got 52 views on a long form video. And so the problem is, is that we chase trends not for views, not for success, not for in 'cause we wanna be influencers.

We chase it because we don't know what content ideas are are available. So we like to use a very, very simple content, uh, framework that allows most people, if you're ever struggling for content, ideas to source from. And it's super simple and it's super easy to remember. And we call this the content well, so whenever you're struggling for content ideas, you can get your bucket and you can go back to the content well, and you can keep going back and back and back.

And it's a really simple framework and it's based on, uh, three things, which is your past, your present, and your future. So in the past you have done some stuff. So think about this as a content planning. You've got 30 minutes to plan your content for the next seven days or month, and the content well will allow you to do it because it's very simple and you know all of the information that you need in your head.

[00:39:00] This is just a way to extract it. So in your past, you've created documents. This taps into the little thing that we're speaking before. You've got documents, you've got frameworks. You've got a customer's story from yesterday. You've got your story from the fish and chip shop. These are ideas that just, just just come up in day to day, but having the time to sit down and actually, uh, create that content or source it, you can do that from simply looking at what's happened before today.

What happened when you were 15, 16, 17, and work your way up that taught that, that that adds context to what it is that you do today. Stories, frameworks, documents, books, videos, blogs, whatever you published in the past can be sourced and recreated as a new piece of, uh, video content Present would be.

Things that may be happening right now. So trends quite often is the one thing that people try to constantly chase, but that's only a fraction of what you can talk about when it comes to the present segment. So what's happening in the news right now that it might impact your audience? What can we relate?

What can we [00:40:00] respond to? Uh, what are the current conversations that you're just having right now with your clients? What are some of the things that are popping up? New software, new apps, new features, like all of the, the UpToDate stuff. Um, it's not news jacking as people refer to it. It's talking about what people are searching for.

It's your response. People want your opinion, and the more that you can latch onto the current affairs, then, then that's good. Uh, as long as it's born off the back of serving your audience and not just chasing the higher of views. Because we know that that's not important. And then the future. So what are you putting out on content right now, on social media, on video content that's gonna assist you in three to six months time?

What are the things that you need your audience to be aware of that are gonna help you achieve your goals? That's why we map out the campaigns at the start of the year, and we say what's happening in this quarter so that you can plan your content in a way. That plants those seeds. Three, six, you know, 12 months.

Now, the best example of this was I saw a [00:41:00] a, a guy here in the UK that wanted to launch a new event in the uk. Now, loads of events were happening. He was speaking at these events, but he wanted to launch this new event, so he decided to put up a LinkedIn post or a tweet, whatever it was, and he said. I feel like I, there's a few conferences in the UK that, uh, are good, but I really feel like we're missing something in London.

I feel like we've got a great community, but there's something not, not right about not having an event in in London, who, who, who agrees. And there was this massive conversation and he, in his mind, he knew he wanted to launch an event in London, but he is talking about what he feels, he is talking about future pacing.

He's talking about conversations. He is he, he, he's planning for the future by planting some seeds today. And that's kind of what you need to do when it comes to content. Uh, you need to think, okay, future campaigns, I've got a book coming out. I've got a mastermind coming out at the end of the year. I wanna, you know, get a wait list launch for a new video software.

Great. What content can you put out in the world now that's gonna assist you later? [00:42:00] So simply from having those three reminders past, present, and future, you can mix up your content nice and easily. You can just literally alternate that, that kind of content. And, um, and as long as you're latching in.

Here's a link to my lead magnet in your content. Or by the way, this is the link in my bio. Or comment the word, you know, gift and I'll send you a gift. As long as it's assisting the main goal, which is leads and sales, then you are able to just never. Forget about content, uh, you know, content ideas ever again.

You've constantly got that content bucket that you can get the content well and you can constantly feed your audience, um, and then generate tons of content ideas without too much mental calories being burnt. 

Mariah: I love that. And I love what you talk about with the future thing because all the times we go like, oh, I've got a workshop in two weeks.

Mm-hmm. But there's so much like pre-con you can do, like if the workshop topic is about, you know, how to generate content ideas, you could start planting seeds. And I actually [00:43:00] saw the power of this when one of my clients was launching a book and she was introducing intuition in business and it wasn't something that she, like, it's always something she'd use, but so we had to like months out.

Start planting the seed, start talking about it. So she became that thought leader. So when the book launched, it wasn't like, oh, that's a off weird topic. Like, you've never spoken about this before. But we forget, right? We forget that. People don't know what we are doing. We're like in our heads knowing all the things.

But I love that future thing. 'cause I think that's, that's really powerful. And yeah, that sort of past present future is a very cool technique. So I'm sure lots of people are gonna use that. Um, thinking about, yeah, how, how valuable that is and how that could really help you put things into perspective as well.

When you are planning and you go, oh well there's nothing. Happening. Okay, well what did happen or what is going to happen if there is nothing happening right now? Because, I mean, you just have to scroll TikTok for five minutes and you know, there is something happening that you can talk about for sure.

And Chacha Boutique could always [00:44:00] keep you on top of the trends if you need to, like what, what's happening in the news and everything like that. But we are definitely not short of, uh, content. True. There's always something happening. Well, amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. Oh my god. So much value. Um, and really getting us thinking about how we can get ourselves out there more.

I think a lot of us feel like, oh, actually I do wanna quickly ask you on that possibly when you have clients that are like, oh, I've got nothing good to say, or what, you know, that imposter syndrome, what's some of the techniques or tips that you give to your clients to kind of get them. Seeing themselves as a thought leader.

'cause I think a lot of the times they're like, oh, I'm not a thought leader. I just do this, you know? 

Martin: One of the, one of the easiest ways to like realize how much content you have is literally have someone like what we're doing right now, which is asking you questions. Yeah. So literally have someone interviewing you off screen.

Uh, we were on a video shoot the other day and one of the best ways to get people [00:45:00] talking is simply just to sit off camera and just ask questions and really say. Has this happened before? Like, tell me a time that this happened. Like what was the funniest thing that happened to you last week? Like, just, just getting more comfortable.

We're actually building this into the app, uh, as a, as a, as a self serve tool, which is a q and a. Um, so you can do this yourself though. I mean, you can literally go to chat GPT and say, I'm about to, you know, record some videos. This is my subject matter. These are some of the services that I have. Ask me some questions that a prospect may have if they're just gauging whether or not my services can support them.

Um, what kind of concerns or questions or problems or obstacles would they have? And ask me these as questions so that I can answer them. And it's easiest thing in the world when he's. Speaking to a client or a prospect and you know, all of the stuff, but you're not putting it out online. So this is a nice, easy way to do both, uh, you know, set aside some questions and literally just answer them by looking at a camera.

[00:46:00] Um, and as long as you not, you don't open every single video with, um, I was recently asked this question. I was recently asked this question 'cause that tends to happen. Um, so if anybody did want some conversation starters, um, you can access, we put together a list of 66, uh, we call 'em viral hooks, but to be honest, they're just conversation starters, uh, that make it so easy to just ease into videos.

Um, and these are things that are based on what works on TikTok, what works on Instagram and YouTube short. So you just need to plug in that initial sentence along with the answer and you never short of content ideas as well. 

Mariah: Yeah. Hooks is something that I think a lot of business owners struggle with and mm-hmm.

And it can, because obviously like back in the day it was, Hey guys, just jumping on to 

Martin: Yeah. No, no, no. So yeah, we, we've done the research. We've literally reviewed thousands of thousands of videos and these were the best performing conversation start, and I [00:47:00] say conversations, video hooks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So typic, typically when you scroll on on TikTok, the, the, the hook that stops you isn't here are three ways for you to grow your financial wealth.

You know, we're way past the days where that's, uh, that's happening. Uh, typically it's a, a little bit more scroll stopping than that. And like I said, it's just nice that we, we spent some time collating a list, uh, which your audience can have access to for sure. 

Mariah: Amazing, amazing. We'll definitely put that a show.

Lots of times. It's something that will trigger us right. 

Martin: Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Usually 

Mariah: something that would be very triggering, but that's okay. And, and also, uh, what str, what millennials struggle with the most, and I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it's the millennial pause. Yeah. So when you go to film something, you pause first.

I mean, you're a video editor, so that just gets cut straight away, right? Yeah. But like a lot of us doing it ourselves, I see some people that I know and I. I scroll their stories, and actually the other day I didn't was, as I was scrolling through, I could hear them taking a breath and [00:48:00] it's like, just get into it.

Martin: Yeah, exactly. And I mean that's the, that's the frustrating thing though, is because we're seeing a lot of that content be out there in the world. And it's mainly because, and one of, I told you about the survey that we did, um, most of the people struggle with editing and that was like one of the biggest things.

And it's like if you just cut out those tiny little bits, it would make such a massive difference. So. Thankfully we have built that into it, so, you know, into the app. So it's just one of the frustrating things. People don't want a complex editor, they want a simple editor and like that, that's great. 'cause that's all you need, you know, put out more raw footage, but just cut out, cut out those little bits of, uh, annoyance for sure.

Mariah: Yeah. Yeah. The pauses and everything and mm-hmm. But, uh, that's a, that's a dream because that is the one thing I think, um, as you said, it just, and, and also like. It does a bit of a pattern interrupt, right? Because you're expecting people to pause and then it kind of, and actually what Gen Zs do a lot of in their vlogs is actually they talk over the top of themselves.

Mm-hmm. So they'll be saying something and then the next [00:49:00] thing starts straight away and it's like, whoa, what is happening? But you understand what they say. And it's like, you know, we obviously, we are learning a lot from Gen Z even though I've seen arguments on TikTok, like millennials, we invented social media so that you could enjoy it.

Now, you know, there's the big debate, but they, they really do. Do capture our attention. Like I, I must say I love watching Gen Zs create videos 'cause it's just, I don't know, it feels like a different type of human race. 

Martin: It does. Yeah, it does. But it's good. It's good to have those challenges and those debates for sure because, um, if it was up to millennials, we'd have a fraction of the amount of content out there.

So thank God that we have more. 

Mariah: That is, that is so true. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining us and yeah, sharing so much value. How can people connect with you and, and learn more about the app you're building? I'm sure you're gonna be documenting the journey, or you probably already are, so we'd love to follow that.

Martin: Fantastic. Yeah, so video flow.ai, uh, is the wait list for that product. Like I say, we're giving away five free accounts for anyone on, on the wait list. And, [00:50:00] uh, when you sign up, you'll get access to those 66 viral hooks that I mentioned. So, uh, you know, two for the price of one there. Um, but my agency is. Uh, jami digital.com and uh, that's where we have a team of editors and strategists and they do all of the, the running around so that you don't have to.

So yeah, you can find me on social media. It's mainly on, uh, LinkedIn and Instagram. 

Mariah: Amazing. Well, we'll put all the link in share. I'm gonna join your wait list as soon as I get off this call 'cause I'm very keen to hear what the app is all about and how it evolves because it sounds like an absolute game changer.

Um, so thank you so much Martin for taking the time to chat with us. 

Martin: Amazing. Anytime. I've really enjoyed it. Thanks so much. 

Mariah: Alright. Are we keen to start thought leadership content? I'm curious. I also did a LinkedIn article recently on, I've been watching Dancing With the Stars. I. And in the US and a lot of the dancers are creating tiktoks now.

I'm sure they did last year. I mean, I know they did 'cause I saw lots of it. But it's very interesting 'cause I think as, so social media evolves, I [00:51:00] think in contracts of employees are these social media expectations. And my question was, are we gonna see this more in the executive space where executives are advised or actually.

Uh, it's in their contract that they must post social media because back in the day it was like, do not post on socials. But now it's changing and evolving and it was just a curious conversation and it might not happen. But I'm, I'm very curious to know. Some industries absolutely will not ever probably health industry being one of them.

Um, but in some, I think we'll start to see it, right? The tech industry especially, um, sales type. Organizations. 'cause I think it, it does very much help get that exposure. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed that episode. I'll be keen to know how you are producing thought leadership content, how you can use the four sort of steps to scale it a little bit more and make it easier for you.

But yeah, keen to know your thoughts in the episode, to be a content queen or king, and remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today and for joining Martin and I. Please don't forget to [00:52:00] share this with all your business friends, entrepreneurial friends, all the friends produced by adding it to Insta Stories.

And tag me at Content Queen Mariah, or just tell 'em about it. If you do rate review, it helps me get amazing guests like Martin on, he saw my podcast in the charts reached out so. You know, that's how we get the good guests. Keep doing that, doing little things. Leave cheeky five star. A little comment means the world to me.

Follow us on Instagram or TikTok or LinkedIn, of course, and let me know any topics you want me to talk about in the future or any guests you want me to get on. Please tell me. I'd love to know. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment