Marketing on Easy Mode

In the third part of the Easy Mode Framework, we discuss Strategy. This part is broken down into two sections: The 5 Prerequisites of Ideation & The Realm of Relevancy. The 5 Prerequisites of Ideation are Product, Narrative, Audience, Objectives, and Different Content Formats. The Realm of Relevancy is a map of your strategic narrative that serves as a bridge between your narrative and your topics (i.e. the actual content that your company creates). When you combine the Content Journey you created in Part Two with the 5 Prerequisites you'll establish and the RoR you'll create in Part Three, you can create your Content Strategy. This is a must-listen episodes that sets new methodologies for many outdated content marketing beliefs.

In the first episode of our Easy Mode Framework, we discussed Idea-Driven Content and the mindset shift it brings in order to answer the question, "how do you make good content?" In part two of the framework, we are covering what we call the Content Journey. Understanding the fundamentals of the content journey will help you answer the question, "what is the purpose of my content?" (hint: brand awareness is not a purpose) Here's how we map out the three main purposes of any good content: 1. Top-Down Strategic Narrative: Without a strategic narrative, the rest of your content will never reach its maximum potential. You'll always be a "me-too" brand if you don't have a unique POV on the market. This type of content is geared towards executive decision-makers and pushed down through the rest of the org. 2. Middle-out Implementation: Once you get buy-in at the narrative level, there's a level below that has to implement that change. This is your tactical how-to content that allows teams to be successful implementing your strategy. 3. Bottom-up Evangelism: This is where B2B gets to really step out of the boring stuff. This content takes your strategic, top-down narrative and adds in storytelling and entertainment value. The goal of this content is to target the end users of your product and evangelize them. This is the content that makes current users die-hard fans and turns non-users into aspiring users. This is where you win in established categories where products are more commoditized.

You've heard people say, "you need to make good content." But what does that really mean? Good content can be presented in a variety of different ways. So, how do you know if the content you're creating is "good" or not before it achieves its desired outcome? We have come up with a framework that takes you through 3 phases of creating "good content": Mindset shift, Strategy, and Content Execution. In this episode, we discuss the first part of the Easy Mode framework, which we call "Idea-Driven Content". This is the mindset shift you are going to have to make about content creation before you can ever think about the strategy behind it or how it will be executed. We break this mindset down into 3 types: Type 1 - Insightful substance, Type 2 - Insightful substance delivered in an interesting format, and Type 3 - Insightful substance, delivered in an interesting format, and built on an entertaining concept. Neither is better than another, but understanding how these types of content work together will set you up to move onto the next part of the framework, which is strategic implementation.

On the last episode of Season 1, we broke our rule. We had ONE rule and it only took 13 episodes to break it: No guests, just unscripted conversations. Well, we broke the first part, but there was still absolutely no script or pre-conceived questions coming into this episode and the resulting learnings were pretty incredible. We broke our rule because we wanted to talk about building a media company in B2B and that conversation couldn't possibly be complete with the one and only "Mr. B2Beast", Will Aitken. We're talking How to build a media company, content creation tips, how to build content that connects with the audience, how to come up with ideas, some straight facts about B2B alien encounters, and some other random sh*t that just makes sense if you're trying to build a media company with your content. Listen to it. You'll be glad you did. Then shoot Todd and Obaid a DM telling us if you want more guests or not.

We're still in the very early stages of influencer marketing in B2B. Creators are emerging and building strong audiences that companies want to monetize. We also see B2B taking many of their playbooks from the B2C companies that have come before them. The only problem is that B2C companies have typically done a terrible job of executing when it comes to influencer marketing. And what could be considered "successful" won't work in B2B because they are generally direct response campaigns: - Use promo code XYZ when you check out - Use my link in the description to get 10% off - etc. These campaigns may benefit the creator and the company for short-term gains, but what they end up doing is alienating the audience. Creators spend years in some cases to build strong relationships with their fan base and then organizations come in and start to erode at those relationships by highjacking the content and making the creator less credible. In this episode, we talk about the common mistakes that companies have made in the past, as well as the mindset shift and tactical execution you need to employ to create successful influencer campaigns.

2022 is almost over, and many B2B companies have either transitioned to a buyer-centric, demand generation strategy, or want to. We're also now beginning to consider things like memorable experiences in marketing, creative concepts, substance and delivery, and more. However, though this is a welcome evolution of marketing and content creation, it shines a light on a major problem: We're trying to power 2022 marketing playbooks with 1990s sales engines. How disappointing is it when the experience you get before you decide to buy doesn't align with the actual buying experience? It sucks! Here's Obaid and Todd's answer to "how do you apply memorable experiences to the sales process?" Follow Todd & Follow Obaid

Short answer...Yes. This is a must-listen, so just hit play. Follow Obaid and Todd on LinkedIn. Want to talk marketing, find collaboration opportunities, get feedback on content before releasing it, and maybe join us for our weekly game night? Join the private Easy Mode Discord Community.

One of the hardest parts about creating content is imposter syndrome—Is this stupid? How will people react? You want to know the easiest way to avoid all that? Run with it all. Good ideas, bad ideas, do it all. There's only one way to find out what is going to stick and that is to experiment. If you don't, you'll end up creating the same thing as everyone else and blend in with the crowd.

We're not going to bullshit you—creating content is hard. Especially if you're constantly creating memorable experiences. In this episode, we talk about the processes that have allowed us to put out high-quality, creative content on a daily basis without leading to burnout. And when burnout does happen, we talk about how you can get through it and avoid it in the future.

There's nothing wrong with blog posts. At least, not the format itself. The problem is how most marketers approach and use blog posts. In this episode, we dive deep into the state of blogging, why it has fallen out of favor with SaaS companies, where the problems stem from, how we can improve the quality of our blog content and more.

Getting buy-in to launch an employee advocacy program can be difficult. It's even harder to get people to go above and beyond their normal day-to-day roles to post content on platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok. In this episode, we talk about previous failures we've experienced launching these programs, how we would do it differently now, and a full framework you can use to successfully launch your employee advocacy program.

Generic content gets tons of engagement. It does so because anyone, no matter their expertise can relate to it. But should generic content play a role in your content strategy? Maybe. Maybe not. "Create content that stands out in a sea of sameness" "Make your marketing team a media company" "Humanize your content" All of these are common pieces of advice that we hear all the time and neither is inherently bad. In fact, at face value, they both sound like good advice. But they both share something in common—they both lack any context. What does "turn your marketing team into a media company" really mean?  As marketers, we like to overcomplicate things and that's exactly what Obaid did when he was interpreting that same generic piece of advice. So if you truly want to "create content that stands out in a sea of sameness," do it by providing the context needed for your audience to understand what your point of view.

We've been told for the past decade that we need to be creating one piece of content and repurposing it across all channels. That may have worked in years past, but in an age where everyone is running that playbook, it's no longer enough to show up on all channels. You need to execute well on the channels that you play on. Repurposing no longer means reformatting a video or image for the proper dimension and reposting. You need to optimize the content itself for the platform.

Hypothetical question: If you had unlimited marketing budget, how would that change what your current strategy looks like? It's easy to brush off as a silly question, but the fact of the matter is, if you have an idea for something that could be done with unlimited budget, there's a version of that that can be done on a much smaller budget.  And the real question is, is that thing anywhere close to what you're currently doing? If the answer is "no", this episode is for you.  Join the Discord group and our weekly meetup: https://discord.gg/WqaNskUn

The question that marketers have feared for years: Yeah, but how are we going to promote the content? The old answer was: Step 1: Put it in an ebook Step 2: Send it to our email list Step 3: Create an ad that sends new people to a landing page so we can get them in a nurture sequence. Step 4: Repeats from step one until they hit a lead score and can be sent to sales. In this episode we talk about the new way, how to find a company where you can implement the new way, and how to approach the interview to insure there are no red flags. Join the Discord group and our weekly meetup: https://discord.gg/WqaNskUn

Most B2B communities are filled with people that had high hopes when they joined, but 20 minutes after signing up, they never come back. In this episode Todd and Obaid talk about building communities (or groups) that people make checking part of their daily routine. Speaking of which, we just launched a new community for gamers who happen to do marketing or sales during the day.   Join the Discord group and our weekly meetup: https://discord.gg/WqaNskUn