Hockeystack has The Flow.
Lavender has LavenderLand.
We've both bet the house on building out a very specific type of media company—a Netflix-style streaming service. And a common misconception is that the goal is to de-platform the audience from social media to that owned asset. But it's just that...A misconception.
In this episode, we dive into the real reason we're building out a streaming service to house all of our content series.
Recorded in February 2023. We've finally arrived at the final part of The Easy Mode Framework: Iteration. In this short episode, we'll go over what to do at this stage of the framework, as well as which parts of the framework are one-time processes and which are repeatable steps.
In this episode of Cheat Codes, Todd & Obaid go over Part 6 of The Easy Mode Framework, Distribution. We go over the bad advice that is out there on this topic and then discuss a practical plan you can create and follow at your company to effectively distribute your content.
In this episode of Cheat Codes, Obaid and Todd go over Part 5 of The Easy Mode Framework, Creation. Creation is broken down into 4 smaller parts: Substance & Delivery, Effort/Payoff, Substance & Delivery, and the Consumption Experience. Instead of this part of the framework going over how to create content (since you already know that), it goes over important things you should keep in mind when it comes to content creation. Check out this can't-miss episode and level up your content game.
We're back with The Easy Mode Framework. In this episode, we're going over Part 4, Ideation. Once you go through the first 3 parts of this framework and run these processes at your company, you'll end up with a lot of information. What do you do with all that info? How do you take it and turn it into content? Through an ideation process we call The 4-Step Thought Process. Step 1 of this process is to grab a marketing objective or business goal. Step 2 is to list out all the content formats you could potentially create to move closer to that goal. Step 3 is to determine the message you want to deliver. And Step 4 is to think of how you can turn this brand asset into a memorable experience for those reading, watching, or listening. Check out the full episode for a deep dive and breakdown of the 4-Step Thought Process, which is the Ideation part of The Easy Mode Framework.
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.
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.
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?"
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.
