"Why do you keep going?"

I've been struggling lately. And I keep asking myself this question.

Not for life, well, maybe. But more so for my newsletter and podcast. While I say I don't care about growing it, stagnant growth sucks.

As I push through these dark days and look at the blinking cursor, I'm confused about why I continue to invest 10+ hours a week on these projects.

Many of you enjoy reading these and think what I share is worthwhile. I'm grateful for you.

Yet, I continually find myself in self-pity.

Feeling like shit that only 49 people care. 

I know this is a long game. But I've been writing for 35 weeks and can't generate more interest. I’ve been podcasting even longer (2+ years).

I will keep writing for you and me.
I will keep going to inspire others who feel like quitting.
I will keep showing up and being vulnerable because that's all I control.

I wrote a daily newsletter for a year and a half and never felt this.

I'm going to trust the process and push through.

Thank you for your support.

Enjoy this week's letter:

Marketing Micro Essay 💡The Content Strategy Process

(Time to read: 1:56 minutes)

Seven. It's the perfect number. 

So, I created seven steps for the content strategy process.

Brilliant, I know I am (JK).

But why even have a process? Why not just spend an hour or two in a room and develop an effective content strategy?

Here are five reasons why you should use a repeatable process:

• Enhanced efficiency

• Consistent quality

• Scalability

• Knowledge transfer and collaboration

• Continuous improvement

By having a repeatable process, you will be more efficient in creating your strategy vs. assigning everyone action items outside of a process. You will have a roadmap guiding you to a superb content strategy rather than piecemealing it.

When you have a well-thought process, you will cover all your bases, resulting in a higher quality output. It's like baking. You need to follow the recipe correctly to create the best cake. And when you have a recipe passed down through generations, it will be time-tested and result in a refined output using the 

With a process, it's easier to scale as you add team members or shift the outcomes you want from your content. You can have new team members go through the process to understand how you got to the content you're creating, making knowledge transfer more seamless.

It also allows you to tweak specific steps as you can reference the steps and see what needs your attention (think checklist). This enables regular optimization to produce the best content over time.

Before I bore you to sleep with reasons why a process is essential, let's discuss where this falls in the larger business and marketing strategy.

Where This Falls in the Bigger Picture

Your business should have strategic goals it is trying to achieve. Your marketing strategy should be designed to help you reach the goals that marketing can influence. And from there comes your content strategy. Imagine a ladder; your content strategy is two rungs down:

(1) Business → (2) Marketing → (3) Content Strategy

Your content strategy should "ladder up" to the marketing strategy, which ladders to the business strategy. Now, if you're small or don't have a marketing strategy, you can skip that rung and ladder up directly to the business strategy.

This is why if you don't know the progress your business is trying to make, you will struggle to create content that moves you forward. In this case, content becomes the goal versus the means to achieve the goal. Pause and understand the larger objectives of the business and how marketing can help. If no goals are defined, champion to create them, at minimum, a marketing strategy so you can be strategic in your content marketing.

Once you know the progress, if content is a path to achieving that, then you're in the right place. It's time to devise a content strategy that moves the needle on those strategic objectives. Before that, let me share a bit about the purpose of this guide:

Click here to read the full work-in-progress essay

Three Books / Three Quotes

"{Regarding social media} Rather than thinking about who they are and what they want to say, brands should be thinking about the needs of their viewers." – Brendan Kane (Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World)

I see this problem frequently: Brands fail to realize social is not a broadcast channel. No one wants to hear about your products. Or even the new article you wrote.

They want to be entertained or educated. 

Uncover the progress your audience is trying to make, and figure out how posting on social media can help them. What type of content would help them make progress? I'll bet my entire piggy bank that it won't be learning about your new innovative product.

//

"Fostering a healthy attitude about human fallibility is the first and possibly most important step for helping us catch and correct mistakes." – Amy Edmondson (Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well)

We all make mistakes. To believe someone could be without error is an error in thinking. It leads to taking safe actions to avoid failure at all costs or ignoring mistakes until they compound into "oh shit" moments.

Progress is found on the other side of failure. We can only make the necessary tweaks to move forward by learning from mistakes. But if we don't believe that in our bones, we won't take risks and struggle, pointing out failure indicators.

Do you feel safe and comfortable pointing out something that will lead to a significant mistake? If not, that's a problem waiting to happen.

//

"The mistake that can arise when you fail to engage the minds of others is that you may come to think of them as relatively mindless." – Nicholas Epley (Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want)

This one hit home for me. I believed that I was different in my thinking, that I pondered things worth contemplating. And other guys... they were only thinking about beer and boobs.

This is an ugly trick the mind plays. When we fail to engage with other's minds, we quickly think our thoughts are of greater value. Everyone else is thinking peasant thoughts. They couldn't hold the high-level ideas I do.

Or could they? 

Until we spend time engaging with the minds of others, we may fall for this illusion–thinking our minds are greater than others. Spend time with another's mind, and you might be surprised. I have been.

Heard / Saw / Experienced

Heard:

AI.

How much do you know about it? And what are your opinions on the future of AI?

If you're like me, you will enjoy listening to this podcast, which covers AI and the potential futures with it.

Personally, I'm optimistic and welcome it. Regardless, it will be here to stay, so you might as well gain a better understanding.

Here's the podcast: https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/rohit-krishnan-demystifying-ai-ep-201/

Saw:

Imagine you get hired as the head coach of a college basketball team.

This team is one of the worst in the country. How do you generate hype and get people to care?

Start a docu-series on YouTube.

That's precisely what the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay head coach is doing. It reminds me of The Journey, a show that followed the Big Ten basketball teams through the year.

When I played in high school, I would watch this religiously. It's likely where I developed a love for content and storytelling.

Check out episode one here: https://youtu.be/4rJoYwns0NY

Experienced:

I don't deserve who God has put in my life.

Friends, mentors, and even strangers who I interact with. I'm blessed to be surrounded by incredible humans who make me better.

One of those people is Daniel.

Daniel and I met at Central Church when I first moved to Green Bay. And even though I don't go to that church anymore, we've stayed connected.

He is someone with whom I can talk about religious topics, and even though we may see differently, he allows me to grow in my wisdom and understanding of God.

I'm better because of Daniel's friendship.

While I don't have many friends, I go deep with the few I do have. And I'm grateful for that.

Through friendship, I've grown and become a better man.

I am finishing this at 9:24pm (Thursday). I have barely anything left, but I’m here.

And for you to read this far, it means everything to me.

Not only to continue with writing these words, but with living. I don’t want to merely exist. I want to live.

Thank you for being along with me on this journey. Even if it’s dark at times.

– Jo (every second counts)