The three keys to content that converts | Ep.1 Content Magic with Lindsay Smith

Welcome to the very first episode of Content Magic! This episode is all about how I got into entrepreneurship in the first place, what makes me a content expert and the three ingredients you need to create high-performing content that actually converts into fans and buyers. This is a must listen for entrepreneurs building an authentic business. 

01:48 Moved around, worked for bureaucratic organizations, questioned writing.

03:47 Interviewed woman with garbage house in Canada.

09:38 Helping others create content for their businesses.

11:03 Showing up authentically in content creation matters.

14:57 Effective copy needs concise, industry-specific key points. Belief in your message is crucial. Beware of one-size-fits-all approaches.

19:56 Be curious about your content and intentions.

Speaker A [00:00:03]:
If you have an online business, you're creating content. And the way you create content is more important than ever. It's really noisy out there, and learning to stand out is the only way. Hey, I'm Lindsay. And I'm the host of the Content Magic Podcast. All about being an entrepreneur and creating kick ass content to market yourself and your business. I have a not so secret superpower for copywriting marketing and content, and I've helped hundreds of folks just like you show up with a ton of confidence in the online space. I've been doing this content thing for 20 years, and I believe the real magic is a combo of intuition, creativity, and strategy.

Speaker A [00:00:44]:
You can create content for your business without losing your mind, I promise. So tune in every week for tangible content tips, inspiring guests, and some real spicy opinions. Probably mine. Ready to dive in? Let's get going. Hey guys, and welcome to my first ever podcast. Hey. Hi. Hi.

Speaker A [00:01:06]:
Hello. So today I want to talk to you about the three keys to content that converts. And however, before we get going on that, as this is my first ever episode, I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I came to do the things that I do. I have a background in journalism, so I'm always very curious about people's experiences and how they got to do what they're doing. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I got to do what I'm doing. Yes. As I said, my background is in journalism. If you want to go way back, actually have a background in political science and Spanish.

Speaker A [00:01:48]:
So in my twenty s, I moved around a lot. I lived in Latin America, actually lived in Washington DC for a bit, and I did worked for these huge bureaucratic Latin American organizations. I was originally sent there on an internship by the Canadian government. And I hung around and the way I was writing stuff was like documents. Everything was a document and everything, the way people wrote stuff. And if you know anything about working for the government, it's like the language they use. It's just full of stuff that doesn't mean anything. And I really questioned sort of, why can't people just write the way they speak? Which led me to journalism school because I was kind of like, okay, maybe that's the next step, because and at this point I didn't really realize that I was good at writing.

Speaker A [00:02:50]:
I knew it came easily to me, but I think I thought everybody was good at writing. So I went back to school, I did a journalism degree, and for my Canadian listeners, I right out of journalism school. I worked at CBC Radio for my listeners in other countries. Here in Canada, CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is kind of like our, I guess it's like our number one broadcaster. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be in the US. Because there's so basically CBC, we have it's radio and there's TV and there's obviously like an online portion. And usually I would say the majority of Canadians, that's where they get their news. So I worked in radio for a little while and even then my producers were kind of like, lindsay, you really need to do more news.

Speaker A [00:03:47]:
And I would take the company car out and I wanted to interview this woman who built her house out of garbage, and I would get like 3 hours of tape on it and I'd have to come back to the studio and edit it all down and make it into like five minutes or three minutes. So even then, I really very much leaned more into the creative type of stuff. And I felt like the news had like a certain formula. It was like this person said this, this person said this, this is what happened. This person said this, this person said this, and here's what the future holds, right? So to me it was very formulaic and I didn't love that. I really loved sort of more the creative. So that was in Prince Edward Island, which is like the smallest province in Canada. It's out east, it's a tiny little island.

Speaker A [00:04:45]:
And I moved back to my home province and I accidentally fell into advertising. It's kind of a funny story, maybe I'll save that story for another time. And I stayed there for twelve years and I worked as a copywriter, which traditionally what a copywriter does is usually in advertising, you pair a copywriter with an art director, the copywriter is the words person. The art director is obviously the art person. You put them together and they come up with ideas for ads. So I did a lot of this. I worked in radio again, but this time I was on the ad side. So I was writing scripts, I was directing actors, like in the sound booth and stuff.

Speaker A [00:05:32]:
I did a few TV spots. So this is like a huge when you see you drive by and you see all these big trucks, usually they're filming something, and more often than not they're probably filming a TV spot and it takes like all day. And again, this is like writing scripts and coming up with storyboards and hiring the actors and directing the actors. So it's a whole process. And I very quickly realized that I was very good at all of the online stuff. So back in the day we had banner ads, so I worked with a lot of the web designers writing web copy. And that sort of lent itself as my career sort of moved and shifted in advertising. That sort of shifted more into sort of like a community manager role or social media manager role, which ten years ago meant I was creating content for clients.

Speaker A [00:06:35]:
And it looked a lot different than it does now. Even 1011 years ago, it really looked different it was like a Word document. And we'd have to write down, okay, here's what the caption is going to say on this day. And this is the image we're going to post, and we're going to post it. At this time, I don't even think there was Instagram then, so it was very different. And then after having children, going back into advertising was just like not a sustainable choice. Advertising is not really a nine to five job. It's more like a nine until the job is done kind of job.

Speaker A [00:07:13]:
And even before I had children, I was watching people sort of cancel their family vacations because we had to pitch on some brand or some company and we had to come up with like a million ideas to pitch to get this client. So I knew it just was not sustainable. And that's when I started freelancing as a copywriter. And because advertising is such a transient industry, most of my former coworkers and colleagues had sort of moved on. They were in various different agencies, they were in various different countries, and they knew that for whatever reason, a copywriter was sort of in high demand. So I got a lot of projects just from former colleagues who were like, hey, we need a writer for such and such project. Hey, we need a writer for such and such project. And in those days, I just was like, yeah, sure, I'm available.

Speaker A [00:08:08]:
Yeah, sure, I'm available. And I would just be like, okay, this many dollars you can eat. Transfer me. And while I still love copywriting, I'm a real Word nerd. Somebody once described it copywriting as sort of a composer, right? A music composer, but with words, which is really what I do. It's more than just like writing. It's really the use of words to make someone else's thoughts make sense. And usually I do this in I usually write other people's web copy, but I also write emails for other people and I also write blog posts for other people and mission statements and taglines.

Speaker A [00:08:57]:
So I love that stuff. I absolutely love that stuff. I super nerd out on it. I find it a really creative challenge, and I'm also really good at it. So then the other part is creating content for other people, like social media manager. And during the pandemic, I had a lot of this work because a lot of people were shifting online and all of a sudden they realized they needed sort of an online presence, a digital presence. And it got really easy for me. And I sort of thought, okay, I wonder if everything and again, it's like this weird 6th sense for me.

Speaker A [00:09:38]:
It's like a superpower that I'm just really good at coming up with content ideas, at writing the captions, at doing all of it. It just comes really easily to me. So I kind of thought, rather than taking on my own clients, I wonder if I could teach other people how to do what I do. So this combined 20 years of knowledge, background in journalism, like very storytelling heavy, 1213 years in advertising as a copywriter and social media manager, all this marketing experience, how can I package this and teach other people to create content? So that is what I do now, I still do done for you copywriting because I love it. And now I teach other people how to create content for their own businesses. And the reason I do this is, I think, especially if you're a service provider, especially if you're a solopreneur, right? If this is the face of your business, you are essentially your logo. You are your brand. So while I think outsourcing for some companies or some businesses makes perfect sense, it doesn't make sense for everybody because you have to show up as you.

Speaker A [00:11:03]:
And I don't think I have colleagues who are incredible at creating content for their clients. And I think there are some industries where it makes sense. But I think if you're a service provider and you have especially if you have like a made up service, right, as opposed to like an esthetician or a plumber or a trade, those are not made up professions. Those are things that already exist. So, like me, I have like a, you know, I have like, a made up service. It's not made up. I mean, it exists, but if it's something you're just like, this is what I want to do, and you invented something out of nothing, and that's the type of service that you offer, I think it's more important than ever that you have to show up as you. And that's what we're going to talk about today, how to show up as you not lose your mind with creating content and the three keys to creating content that feels really good and also converts, because that's really what I'm all about.

Speaker A [00:12:08]:
I'm all about creating content that feels like you. Otherwise what's the point if you're following some sort of prescription that someone set out for you, or even if somebody tells you, oh, this is what worked for me? That to me is like a prescription approach. So if you're doing what worked for somebody else, it's not going to feel good because pretty soon you're going to be like, okay, well, this is not working for me. So you really have to find that personalized approach. And that's how I work with clients, really finding that personalized approach. Okay, so let's talk about the three things that are going to help you. So number one is clarity. And so this is clarity is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the marketing space, and for good reason, because especially, like I said, right? Like if you're a plumber and anesthetician or even if you're like a Reiki master, those are already things that exist out in the world.

Speaker A [00:13:12]:
So if you're like a business coach, for example, or a copywriter, you have to be super clear on what you offer. And if you're not, and sometimes you have to take a few steps back on whatever it is, the services that you're creating. Why are you offering those things? And it goes without saying, if you don't know what you're talking about, nobody else is going to know what you're talking about. And I tell this story. A a my friend Shayna redesigned my website and she was like, okay, so here's where you have to describe your programs. And me, somebody who can do this for other people, like in a day, I had a really hard time explaining my own programs. And this is very common because we're so close to our businesses, we know so much information. Sometimes it's really hard to extract sort of that one liner that we need that has to be customer facing or consumer facing.

Speaker A [00:14:21]:
And that's common. And that's why somebody like me, I can look at your business sort of as a bird's eye view and I can be like, okay, here's what's important. Here's what's important. Here's what's important. We used to talk about this in writing, being married to your words. So you can't be married to every single piece of information that you know, because not all of it is going to be relevant to your client or your buyer. So clarity is number one. And often this means pairing back my work as a copywriter.

Speaker A [00:14:57]:
The number one thing that I find if I'm either editing somebody's copy or writing somebody's copy from scratch, more often than not, people want to use more words than is necessary to get their point across. So use the least amount of information possible to get your point across. And sometimes that means having an expert look it over and sort of extract those key points for you and what makes sense for your industry and what makes sense for your clients. Okay, number two, belief. You have to believe in what you're talking about. And again, I'm going to come back to this prescription approach, right? Like this umbrella approach. So if somebody's like, if you've downloaded some $27 template that's like all these 2700 content ideas that will convert and make you millions of dollars, that's like a prescription approach. Or even if someone is like, here's what I do for my content and here's how I get five new leads a week or whatever, that's not necessarily going to work for you because if you're just implementing someone else's ideas, like, okay, you need a pinned post that says this.

Speaker A [00:16:15]:
You need a reel that says this. You have to send this type of email every week. This is what you need to talk about on a podcast, whatever, it's not going to be in your own voice. So if you don't believe what you're talking about, especially because somebody else told you, this is what you should talk about. And I talk about this word should all the time. Don't should all over. Like anytime somebody comes to me, they're like, oh, well, so and so told me this is what I should do. I'm like, okay, well, how's that working out for you? Which is very Dr.

Speaker A [00:16:46]:
Phil. How's that working out for what you're if you don't even believe what you're talking about, nobody else is going to believe it. And again, this is like this epidemic of people think if you just throw a bunch of words at people, big words, that it's going to sound cooler than it is. So stop using the big words. Use simple language, and you have to believe in what you're putting out there into the world. Okay? Number three is alignment. So if you're new here, I'm a little bit woo woo, like medium woo woo, like woo woo adjacent. And this is where the whole, like, creating your own content thing comes in.

Speaker A [00:17:34]:
And I think there's a lot of people that can outsource their stuff 100%. I've got some awesome colleagues who create content for other people, and they are incredible at it. However, it's not right for everybody. So you have to feel aligned with what you're putting out there. And what I mean by that is usually you have to check in with your intention. And I talk a lot about this energy of get, like, are you putting something out there to the world because you're trying to get something from someone. And listen, we're all here to make sales, right? Sales are not gross. Sales are not sketchy.

Speaker A [00:18:12]:
We're in business to make money. Yes. So that's not what I'm talking about. But we can also sell in a way that's not gross, because if you believe in what you're talking about and you believe in what you're selling, then it's not really selling. It's just offering a service. And it's always up to your buyer or your consumer. It's their choice whether or not they want to buy it from you. That's another discussion.

Speaker A [00:18:37]:
So the alignment thing is, again, are you feeling good about what you're putting out there into the world? What are your brand values? What are your morals? We could even go back to your morals. What's important to you in your business? Where's the line that you can't cross? And this is where it comes back to feel good content. If you don't feel good about what you're putting out into the world, if you write an email or whatever, throw something up in a Facebook group or on Instagram or whatever and you're just, ugh, I don't really want to put that out there, then that's not aligned. It's because someone told you to do know. And this is sort of like rampant in the coaching space where everybody has, for whatever reason, they have to talk about how much money they make or made or how much money their client makes or made. And I don't know why that's a thing. So here's your permission. If you're in the coaching space, you don't have to tell people how much money you make or made.

Speaker A [00:19:56]:
And I've been guilty of this too, right? Like, you get sucked into these trends and you're like, do I have to do that? Right? And listen, we're not going to get it right 100% of the time, and neither am I. And I put stuff out there that I'm like, why did I do that? So really, it's more an awareness than anything. And just being aware of those things and checking in with yourself and checking in with your intention and your energy and why am I putting this out into the world? And what do I want people to take away from this? And it's really about sort of being curious. And I think with a journalism background, yeah, I ask a lot of questions, and I'm always very curious. So if you don't take anything else away from this, approach your content with a sense of curiosity and be like, why am I putting this out there? And what do I want to say and what do I want people to take away from it? So ask yourself those questions. Thank you so much for listening. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode on social media. And don't forget to tag me.

Speaker A [00:21:05]:
If you do all three, I'll be your best friend forever and invite you to all my birthday parties. That's it for today and I'll see you next time.

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