316: Content marketing doesn't work for me

Do you say this to yourself a lot?

Social media doesn't work...

Content marketing doesn't work...

But then you will jump on a trend hoping it will work?

You aren't alone. We all have done it.

The missing link to anything you do in your marketing is ONE key thing - and I am going to chat to you about it!

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

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

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ Why content marketing doesn't work

✨ How to be more proactive over reactive

✨ The one thing your business is missing to help make this "work"

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 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Mariah: [00:00:00] This is episode 316, and I'm talking about why content marketing doesn't work for me. But I actually mean you. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host Mariah, entrepreneur storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen. With over 10 years experience in marketing, this podcast is here to help you create your ideal content marketing plan by blending storytelling and strategy.

So let's get into it. Hello gang. If you are watching this on Spotify, I think Apple Podcast brought up. Video, but I don't know if they connect with my podcasting stream platform. But I am in our bus Lanta. You might remember I did previous episodes in Lanta in a very less renovated, less polished version.

So we have had it renovated. Very, very exciting. If you head over to socials at Content Queen Mariah, or if you wanna follow travel content [00:01:00] at a Travelers dot go, you will see all the bus adventures, although. To be fair, our travel page is very behind because Mitch has a very detailed content plan. Even Yes.

Note that even the enjoyable channels are enjoyable with a plan. So the reason that I'm mentioning the bus is that yes, Mitch and I had our bus renovated from January 10 when we dropped it off and we picked it up on March. Seventh and during that time we stayed in a share house, which was interesting.

It was really fun to, you know, be around people all the time, which we weren't really used to for a long time. But really what happened was we, we booked this share house close to the bus because the amazing guy that was renovating our bus, shout out to Jesus from. All RV services in Richlands in Brisbane.

We wanted to be close to it because he was really happy for us to come check it out. Actually, it worked really [00:02:00] well for him 'cause it meant he could ask us questions and we could kind of co-create this bus. Like even for example, we were meant to have cabinetry all here. And we decided, well, if we are gonna sit, 'cause our bus is like a mid roof, so it's not as high as a normal bus.

We wouldn't like, I wouldn't be able to sit here. I feel like I'd be really constricted. So we were able to co-create this, which was really, really fun. And actually, for anyone that's creating a service or a product, to be able to co-create it with your audience, I think is a really awesome experience because in the end, the end result is exactly what everyone was wanting.

And also we wanted to document it. So in the first few weeks when we were going, it did honestly didn't really look like much a change. I mean for us it did because obviously like he ripped all the floor out. So yes, there was like changes to the bus in terms of things had been removed, et cetera. But in the first few weeks you would be thinking if you didn't understand the process, oh my God, like this is not gonna be ready anytime soon.

Because he was laying the [00:03:00] foundations, he was really. Putting together what would make the stability of nata, including the electrics, the plumbing, leveling the floor, putting in this ceiling, all that work behind the scenes. And he sort of said to us, you know, yeah, you're gonna come and nothing's gonna look like it's happening.

And then all of a sudden you're gonna arrive and there's gonna be things happening. They are the aesthetic things, you know, the, this sort of, um, uh, what do we call it like. Shelving, fridge, microwave, cabinetry for the kitchen. Like all those things go in at the end. They are the aesthetic things, but they're the things that we notice the most as a person looking for progress, right?

Looking for, for things to tell us that that is ready or that is getting done. So once the foundations are laid, really everything else happens quite naturally and quite. [00:04:00] Fast, and I do a lot of work in foundation, so I understood. But if you were a customer kind of just like coming and checking out this bus, you'd be like, what is going on here?

What am I paying for? So this reminds me so much of content marketing and. Why you don't think it's working for me or why you don't think content marketing doesn't work or social media doesn't work? Because the content isn't the issue. It's the foundations behind the content that you haven't set up properly, that you don't have put together.

And that's why you're going, I'm not seeing results. I'm not seeing it working. And also looking at metrics and things from a different lens. Looking at, you know, traffic spikes looking at of, from your website, looking at profile visits on your social, social media, looking at those dms that you get rather than, you know, those vanity metrics that we always look for.

So imagine renovating this bus backwards, right? Cabinetry, the kitchen, [00:05:00] the cute little aesthetic touches. I mean, we've got like a dream catcher here. The styling, like all those pretty finishes, but you haven't done the plumbing, the electrics, the leveling, the structure, and then suddenly your taps don't work, your lights don't turn on, and everything starts to fall apart.

You wouldn't say the kitchen doesn't work, you would say, oh. Well, I didn't do the foundations properly. And that's what happens to a lot of people that do renovate their buses. They do have issues. You know, we're watching so many YouTube videos before this, trying to work out, do we do it ourselves? Which was the intent to begin with.

And then watching all these videos, even from the point of like I watched a girl who was 21 and amazing, like did an amazing job of her boss, like, God, don't get me wrong, like she did amazing with her dad, obviously, to save money. Right. And that's totally fair. But in saying that, when you look at her bus, she had a really big bed.

She's, there's only one, like just her. She's got this huge kitchen, no shower, [00:06:00] not that everyone needs a shower, but like she was traveling off grid, et cetera. And it felt like, and no seating, like there was no seating here. Like this was basically bed and kitchen. And I think that's the power of. Doing those foundations and of course working with someone that knows what they're doing, but that's what it was about.

You know, like really understanding how those foundations work. And Jesus, the, the guy that renovated our bus, he knew all those things and that was like, oh yeah, instead of doing it myself and then hating the end result and feeling like I don't have my foundation set, having that expert help, even if it is small guidance, even if it is.

Hiring someone to do the whole thing, like, you know, choose your adventure, but that's where the foundations, you, you wouldn't build a house without the foundations and then not, and then blame the aesthetic things. You would blame the fact that you don't have the foundation. And that's what happens with content.

People focus on the aesthetic layer first, what the reels are gonna [00:07:00] look like. The carousels, the Canva. They spend hours in Canva creating graphics, hours, filming videos, hours, thinking of content ideas and when should I post? How often should I post? Um, what time of the day should I post? You know what?

Platform, new platform. Should I try? Um, what, how many hashtags do I have to use? And they're all really valid things. Like obviously when I was doing the bus I wanted to envision the, the really fun things. But that's when we sort of come to the conclusion that content marketing doesn't work for us, or social media doesn't work for us.

'cause we haven't spent time on any of the foundations. And we're just thinking about the aesthetics and just thinking about the really, really minor things that. Don't help you create content that connects. So the real foundations of content marketing is the strategy. So before you even get into the tactics, you need the clarity.

You need the, who am I speaking to? Who's my ideal client? What do they care about? What are the problems I'm trying to solve? And without this, your content [00:08:00] literally feels random. And reviewing this all the time, going back to this strengthening this. Getting really obsessed with this. I talk about this a lot, but I honestly still don't think people do it enough.

What do you want to be known for? What are your expertise? What topics are you gonna talk on? What is the space you wanna own? This connects to your brand, foundations, your vision, your mission, your values, which we did an episode on recently. I'll pop it in the show notes. Where should you actually show up?

Not every platform, the right platforms where your audience spends time, where you like to show up as well. What feels authentic to you and not. All the channels and not just one channel. A nice blend of channels and how can we use those strategically so we can repurpose and get that distribution out without it's taking us hours.

What types of content works for your business or connects with your audience, not just what works on Instagram, not just what. Someone says you should be doing the stuff that supports your business goals, blogs, emails, podcasts, social media partnerships, even, you know, all [00:09:00] the other marketing activations.

And yes, it is hard when there's a gazillion things you could do, but a strategy helps you go, they're the things that I'm gonna work on for now. Then I can move on to something else. I had someone in my content bootcamp and she had this exact issue. There were so many things that she could do, and I said, all right, this month, focus on.

This channel, yes, have your other channels, but focus on optimizing this one, then focus on the next one. And she's like, oh, you know what? That just sounds so much better to me. So one month on each channel to optimize. Yes, you're still gonna repurpose across and do her thing, but she was just focusing on that optimization.

And then, why am I doing this? Why am I creating the content? Am I trying to create brand awareness? Am I trying to create lead generation? Am I trying to nurture, educate? Different goals require different content, and you really understanding, that's when if you know someone pops up on social media and says, you should be doing this, you should be doing that, you go, well, you know what?

No, because my goal is this, and if you don't know the goals, you have to sit down and do this [00:10:00] work. I talk about this all the time and I'm gonna keep talking about it because people still come and say, this doesn't work. That doesn't work. But they don't have the foundation set. And then there's a trap that people fall into.

Most people don't build their foundations, actually. They follow tactics instead. And it's fair because we have people online saying, you should post five reels a week. You should start a YouTube channel. Carousels are dead, carousels are working. You know, threads is this new thing that we should all try.

Everyone should jump on. TikTok? No tiktoks for children like. There's someone that's gonna have an opinion about anything. So people jump from tactic to tactic to tactic, and then just feel burnt out without actually asking, does this make sense to my overall strategy, my business plan, my goals? And this is where we start going from, oh, I have this little business thing to, I own a proper business that needs proper marketing.

You can't just run a business as a hobby and expect it to work. It just doesn't work like that. We need to start taking these things seriously because they aren't going [00:11:00] anywhere, and the speed of this growth can be overwhelming. But if you have a strategy and a plan, at least something basic, you can iterate as you get more comfortable, as you learn more, and as you grow, your strategy is nothing fixed.

It vary. It varies from what's going on in your business, what's going on in the business, climate, everything. And then the result. If you do follow these tactics, exhaustion. Confusion, inconsistency, disconnection, and then that belief comes in. Content marketing doesn't work. Social media doesn't work, but really the foundations were never built in the first place.

So just like this bus, if you focused on the cabinetry and ignored the structure, the plumbing, the electrics, everything would look really nice. Your Canva will look beautiful. Your Instagram grid will look fantastic, but nothing would work. And content marketing is the same. The strategy and the foundations [00:12:00] might not be as visible as the content going out on your page, but that is what works in the background to make everything that people see work.

And then that's when we get curious, why didn't that work? What does that mean? Not, oh, this is just too hard, it's saturated, it's this, it's that. Because that mindset will have you believe it and then you will not put the energy and the work in to make it work. You know, there are business owners out there that have grown really successful businesses, and content marketing is one of their core channels, and they have said, if you are not a business focusing on this work, it's literally showing up for your audience and showing them.

You have a stage to show people who you are, what you can do, why you can do it, and you really don't have to spend that much, but you do have to put money into it. It's just unfortunately, the joys of building a business. So if you feel like content marketing isn't working, ask yourself, do I have the foundations or am I focusing on [00:13:00] the aesthetics?

Am I spending too much time in the tactics and not enough time on the strategy? Because once those foundations are in place, the rest will come together. Just like this beautiful bus, and it will change and iterate like even us in this bus. Oh, cool. Yep. We were going to, we need to buy this, or we need to do this, or we need to fix this to make it more functional.

But you need the foundations to start. So thank you so much for joining this episode and hearing me rant and rave and exploring the bus with me. I will be doing more tours and more content on that, but be a content queen knocking and remember that developing your strategy, which is your foundations and your stories, which are also equally as important, that will develop your business.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by Annie it to your Insta Stories. Tag me at Content Queen Mariah, or just tell them about it. If you do love episodes like this, love the guest episode. Please leave a comment.

Please leave a review. I'll be so grateful for you. It just helps me get [00:14:00] amazing guests on. We've got a massive lineup of guests. I'm absolutely so excited for you to listen, and I will talk to you next week. Bye. And cut.

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