Lately, I’ve been finding myself reflecting on how much content I actually put out — as a freelance content marketer:
4-5 LinkedIn posts every week
1 tweet daily (currently on Twitter hiatus)
Replies sharing my learnings in Slack communities and my DMs
Newsletters every Tuesday (Wednesday this week because I went to meet a childhood friend on Monday afternoon when I typically write these emails)
Webinars, Spaces, and podcasts (I’m doubling down on these, so if you know a podcast I can contribute to, please do connect me to the host 🙏)
I’m also working on something new for you fellas — more details to come soon 🤫
And each time I sit to write a LinkedIn post or an email, I think: no way is content dead (even though people keep killing it now and then lol).
In fact, we’re all dependent on content marketing in one way or another.
But despite us all putting out so much content, we seldom pause to ask ourselves what makes our content worth readers’ time.
Sure, we muse over the mechanics of production, the schedule, the topic, even the angle (or direction a piece would take).
But before all else, ask yourself (or revisit this question — based on where you are in your content journey):
How will our content be different?
Answering this will give you your content’s value proposition, the differentiating factor that sits at the heart of offering a forget-me-not content experience.
So now the question is: how do you revise or come up with your content USP?
3 things to add to your to-do:
1. Look inward: what are your strengths?
Example: we’re a fully remote company selling a project management tool, we can talk about how we manage projects as a remote team to help other remote workers.
But don’t make any assumptions here. Instead, call a team meeting to brainstorm your shareable strengths.
2. Look outward: what’s lacking in the space?
Example: No or half-backed real-life examples of how remote teams are operating async.
These 2 steps will give you 2-3 broad topics to talk about. Now to nail your content USP:
3. Find the vessel: how will you talk about these topics?
This part is super important. Because:
It helps set readers’ expectations
Gets readers to come back for more
Helps your content become truly different
Let’s apply this content USP hunting framework to my newsletter (this is the exact thought process that went through my brain when I procrasti-planned this thing for about 1.5 years — don’t laugh, okay?):
✨ Look inward:
My strengths: I know a lot about producing quality content at scale.
I know the processes you need to run the show, how to outsource production, and how to distribute it by repurposing it. I do this on the daily for clients like Calendly, Tubebuddy, and Writer.
✨ Look outward:
Market gap: there are hardly any short emails explaining the ‘how’ in the content marketing industry.
✨ Find the vessel:
2-min, weekly emails sharing actionable stuff featuring my + expert experiences. The latter (expert interviews) probe into the same 3 questions* every alternate Tuesday.
*Those questions came from talking to my target audience.
A handful, for example, told me “I’d love to learn from other’s mistakes,” which led me to ask the ‘one mistake you’ve made and the lesson you’ve learned from it’ question.
🎯 Ultimately, the newsletter’s USP: 2 min emails sent out on Tuesdays exploring what exactly makes ridiculously good content.
So as I leave today, I ask you: why should people read, watch, or listen to your content?
Is Outer Space one of your Spaces? Sorry, I could not resist 😉. Your reflective tone and mentoring outlook give much food for thought in this edition. Thank you Masooma.