Your Sustainable Content Strategy for Consistent Sales (without reels)

Hey there, and welcome back to On Your Terms®. I’m your host, Sam Vander Wielen, and I’m curious, tell me this, are you feeling ready to swap out that like TikTok Sugar rush for more consistent, predictable revenue that drips in while you sip your coffee in the morning? Like imagine just waking up in the morning and yes, you have sales in there. And I don’t mean that, it’s that in like gross marketing way where you didn’t even do anything, but you just like magically charge people. I mean more that you put the right systems, the right marketing strategy in place that led to you being able to wake up every morning like I do with new sales and new customers consistently coming in without you having to dance on TikTok.

Now, imagine if every time you opened your Stripe account you had more new sales in there, and yet when you actually looked at those sales, you were like, I feel like I’m actually doing less. Like I don’t feel this urge anymore to do more and more and more because things feel like they’re not working, so I turn up the heat. No viral reels anymore, no posting on social twice a day, et cetera, et cetera. Because in about the next 10 minutes, I’m going to help you learn how to cook up a marketing strategy that has orders flying into your business with hopefully creating a lot less content than what you’re creating now. Or if you’re not creating content, then creating very few pieces of content that absolutely hit it out of the park.

This whole idea of depth over dopamine actually kicked in for me when unfortunately my dad, uh, was going through chemo treatment. So I was taking my dad to the hospital, taking him to all these doctor’s appointments all the time. And one day not that long into his treatment for his leukemia, he was you know, sitting with the drip all hooked up in the IV chair and I would bring my laptop with me and you know, look, the practical reality of it is that I had to keep working while he was sick, I couldn’t just sit there and like give my undivided attention at all times sometimes we would be there for eight, 10 hours a day, uh, every day for the week.

So I would get some stuff done, but I remember this particular day, my dad really, very clearly was looking for somebody to talk to, and I kept brushing him off because I was looking at my phone and I was specifically posting on Instagram to my stories, and I was creating some sort of training, some kind of like how to video that of course, as you know, the way that Instagram stories work, they only last for 24 hours.

So every time my dad tried to talk to me, I would kind of shush him away and say like, I’m doing something, dad. You know? And I don’t know, it was like. The way it came outta my mouth, it just, I had my little light bulb moment where I realized that my business was a little too dependent on too much frequent content that didn’t last. It didn’t have lasting power.

 So for me, this was really the spark that told me there has to be a better way, like there has to be a better way and without sacrificing my results. In fact, I needed my business to grow because my dad was sick. I needed to contribute to him financially, I wanted to. I needed to contribute to my family financially, so I needed to figure out a better way where I could actually post less content that brought in not just leads, but ultimately customers.

Now here’s what I see happening online. There is a lot of cheap content floating around because we feel this pressure to pump out a certain quantity of content, which in my opinion, just jams the phone lines. If, if social media was a phone line, the phone lines are jammed because they’re getting jammed with all this cruddy content that’s going on there, that’s not very good, it’s surface level. It’s more just people pushing it out because they feel like they have to, they feel like they have to check off a box, right. It’s also very surface level in terms of the connection that it leads to with your customer, which can, we’re gonna talk a little bit about in a minute, and I, I am seeing a lack of, especially on more social media platforms, a lack of deep or more intentional content that actually connects enough with the viewer that they want to take the next step and either start following you, kind of like the baby step to joining your email list, like another, a bigger baby step. To inquire about your services, maybe buying a lower end product from you, something like that.

We want to create that kind of content that gives us the ability to actually connect with people. And when we do that, we’re able to drop a lot of the volume of content you might feel so pressured to create.

 So in this case, when I say depth over dopamine and depth over dopamine marketing, what do I really mean by depth? Like, do you have to be crying on videos? Does this have to be your deepest, darkest secrets? No, no. When I say depth here, I actually am talking about the kind of like the, the way that the content fits in your ecosystem.

I’m talking about compounding content. So this is content that is Evergreen, which I have talked a lot about here on the podcast before. So evergreen content is content that if you posted it today or you posted it, or let’s say you posted it today and I saw it today, or I saw it six months from now, or three weeks from now, or five and a half months from now, it doesn’t matter any timeframe, it still will lead me to somewhere within your business, whether that is like maybe your call to action is to join your email list or to watch your free webinar, or to download something free or to reach out to you for a free call or to buy your product, right? So the idea is that essentially the way that I think about evergreen content is that every time you’re going to create it it’s like an investment in your business’s future. So at least you’re creating something that could continue to bring in leads versus a little lip syncing reel or a little like, I don’t know, like GIF type looking thing on Instagram reels or something like that. It’s just, you know, maybe it gets you some traction, maybe it gets you some attention, but I don’t know what’s gonna get you that same investment.

And if you’re looking to slow down or if you’re feeling overwhelmed and you’re feeling like, I’m putting out a ton of content and none of it’s sticking. So what do I need to do? Do I need to do even more? Or is there just something wrong with me? Do people not like my messaging? Do I need to learn more like all these kinds of things? Or buy a business coaching program or hire a business coach? No, it might actually just be that you’re posting a bunch of cheap content and you’re not posting this compounding evergreen content that will stack up over time. I’ve used it many times on the podcast and in my book, I use the analogy that it’s kind of like depositing 10 cents or even more than that really. It’s like $5 into a high interest savings account every time you’re creating this content. And you might be thinking when you’re making those individual deposits, like this is not very much, this is not gonna add up. But you look back and you’re like, oh, dang, that actually added up. But also I got interested, right?

 Interest is like gaining traction with more clients or more followers, more people on your email list, but then those people tell other people and it just keeps snowballing from there.

To take this a step further, depth content with depth is not just that compounding content that’s evergreen. I also like to think of depth content as being searchable, so maybe something that someone would find in a search. Even SEOable, right? Like in a Google search or on a Pinterest search, something like that. Or it could be shareworthy like. So sometimes you create content, not just for getting people to like to opt into your list, but to actually get in front of new people. And so creating a piece of content that’s shared widely can get you in front of a lot of new people.

I also think that my depth content has a natural next step to it of something I can offer. Something beyond virality, something beyond popularity, attention, blah, blah, blah, right? All the things where people are just getting inundated with that cruddy content all day long and they’re not doing anything about it.

 It’s just numbing them out and they’re swiping up or swiping down or whatever. To the next one, right? So something with the next natural step that actually goes to you and doesn’t have somebody swiping to the next person. Now, dopamine marketing, on the other hand, leads to that scrolling, not buyers, right?

 So people might think you’re funny, entertaining, whatever. More often than not, I think when I see dopamine pieces of content, I just literally see the content and I wouldn’t even think about going over to find out more about who this person is. I just see the individual piece of content for what it is. Entertaining and I leave it at that. And that’s not how you’re going to get more customers.

I talk a lot in my book about my big three strategy. That’s where you pick one platform, whether it’s YouTube, a podcast, a blog on your, um, on your website. That’s SEO optimized. Some people are into Pinterest. Like it kind of depends on what you do. Other people’s Substack. But one platform that’s more searchable, more gives you an opportunity for a long form piece of content where you can really develop, um, deeper relationships with people. Platforms like YouTube are cool because it allows both where you can post long form content in the form of full videos, but then you can also post shorts so you can get in front of some new people and actually gain some traction. So it’s kind of a nice one two punch versus Instagram where they only have the short form version.

So picking one of those big three. Platforms and then creating one signature piece of content per week for that platform. And really just putting your head down. If you’ve read my book, you know that I recommend it for at least six months, if I could convince you to do this once per week for at least six months, it takes time, right? So creating that signature piece of content per week and then repurposing that content to share elsewhere.

 So, let’s take YouTube as an example. If you have a YouTube first strategy, that’s your big three that you pick. You create the video, you take that audio, and you can post it very easily on a podcasting platform. You could turn that into a blog post on your site, and you can take a little snippet of either the audio or the video, and that’s your Instagram reel for the week. You could actually get multiple Instagram reels out of that for the week.

Within that one signature piece of content. Typically speaking, my goal is to get people who watch that somewhere to my email list, some entry point to my email list. So I have various freebies. I have a webinar, I have just an easy side, like a sidebar sign up where people can get my weekly newsletter. If you don’t get Sam’s Sidebar, my weekly newsletter, make sure you go down below and sign up now. But. I always make sure that I’m creating that content with kind of the next step in mind.

 So this is not content with the goal of being viral or flashy or anything like that. It’s something that would maybe lend itself to a deeper conversation. It would naturally, lead to wanting to learn more and consume more from you and maybe even purchase your product. So I always think about the person who needs this piece of content. Do they need my product? That’s kind of how I think about every piece of content that I create.

When in doubt, if you’re getting stuck, when you set this timer, think about what people would Google when it comes to your topic.

So if I were to sit down and make this list, maybe some of my, just off the top of my head topics would be like how to start an online business or what legal contracts do I need to start an online coaching business? Or do I need an LLC if I have an online business, like stuff that I know that people would be Googling related to my topic.

 All right, so your goal this week is to set that timer for the two minutes. Come up with your list. I want you to let me hold you accountable. Send me a DM on Instagram at samvanderwielen or reply to my weekly email, Sam’s Sidebar, once you sign up for it in the show notes. And let me know how many ideas you came up with I wanna know your number, like write me 37 or 21 or 11, whatever it is. I wanna know.

And if you want to pair this depth over dopamine marketing strategy with some rock solid legal protection. I highly recommend you go down below in the show notes and sign up for my free 5 Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business free training.

It’s an absolutely free one hour training that I’ve created for you to learn how to legally protect and start an online business. So just click the link in the show notes, pick a time that works for you. Yes, of course, you get the replay. And then get your legal protection in order. I hope you go and watch it.

After you listen to this episode, if this episode was helpful to you, go ahead and text it to a friend. Make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you listen. I really appreciate it. I’ll be keeping my eyes on my inbox and my dms to see if you’ve done your two minute challenge yet, and I hope you’ll go take my five legal steps for free legal training if you need to get your legal ish in order. Alright, with that, I’ll chat with you next week.

Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms® podcast. Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop, Five Steps To Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at Samvanderwielen.com and to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram at samvanderwielen and send me a DM to say hi.