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Have you ever wondered what type of content that is blocking you from making sales?
I have had a couple of questions from people who are struggling with content creation. In my latest podcast, I talk about the content that you are creating that blocks sales. And I also talk about what type of content you can do to drive more sales.
If you are interested in listening to me talking about the deadliest type of content that can hurt businesses, press play now.
Alternatively, you can still continue to scroll to read more about it.
Type of Content Mistake That Rookie Entrepreneurs Make
I have seen so many new rookie entrepreneurs create the type of content that is not making sales for them. Even though you think the content is good, this one type of content can actually divert clients from your business.
And that content is what we call the “How-to content”.
This same content was also the one that kept my business stuck and small. But the moment I fixed this mistake, I started seeing better results. And I’ve seen so many people continue to make this same mistake. Some of you probably don’t even realize the effect of “How-to content” in your business.
You think it’s valuable to you to continue to feed your audience with it. Yes, it’s valuable to them. But for your business, this is not a good idea.
Because what I found was that it could only bring me the vanity metrics. Not the actual sales.
What is “How-to Content”?
Before we get deeper into why this type of content is not making sales, I want to clarify what exactly is “how-to content”.
Basically, a “how-to content” is you teaching someone how to do something step-by-step. Because you have the knowledge, so you are sharing your wisdom with people. And this type of content is what we call a “how-to content”.
There is nothing wrong with creating “how-to content”. But when you are doing it excessively, that’s where you are hurting your business. Short-term wise, yes, it’s a good thing for your value metrics. But if you are looking for long-term profit and success, it’s not helping you at all.
Because “how-to content” is not going to get you that sales and quality leads in the long-term.
Why “How-To Content” is Not The Right Type of Content to Create
Yes, it gave me the likes and new subscribers or followers. It gave me views and all of those different vanity metrics. But what it was not giving me was a good conversion rate.
This type of content was not able to help me convert these followers into clients.
It put a ceiling on my sales and my business was not growing properly. When this happens, you’re just impeding the number of quality leads that you’re getting and blocking yourself from making sales.
I want to highlight the three main issues that can happen when you focus on “how-to content” way too much.
Issue #1 with “How-to” Content
The first one is you are training your audience to expect things for free.
Who doesn’t like free content and free gifts, right?!
But when you are excessively creating “how-to content”, you are basically giving away your knowledge for free. This also enables you to become a huge FAQ board.
When this happened to me, I realized I started to become Google for most people. I was flooded with DMs where people asked me question after question. The more “how-to content” I created, the more I ended up with people messaging me their questions.
I noticed that was because I was literally encouraging my audience to expect everything from me for free.
Of course, people will navigate more toward free valuable content. They want that quick win. But if you are doing this, you will end up not creating demand for your actual paid offers. And that’s the reason why you are not making sales in your business.
However, the moment I took away most of my free “how-to content”, it improved the quality of the type of students that come into my program. It improved the quality of clients I get to work with. And most importantly, I help me turn my followers into clients easily.
Issue #2 with “How-to” Content
Secondly, you are attracting less than quality leads. This is because you are not creating the type of content that nurtures your leads.
A lot of rookie entrepreneurs think that by creating “how-to content”, they are helping their audience. Truth is, you are only hurting your audience.
The reason why is because you can’t possibly include the entire solution to a problem in a 10-minute video. You can’t even teach them everything in a 30-minutes sales call.
In order for your clients to start seeing good results, they need weeks or even months to witness changes.
But with your “how-to content”, you are leaving your audience with only 5-10% of the actual solution. And because it’s a “how-to” type of content, your clients are expecting to get a 100% solution from that 10-minute video.
Which is not possible at all.
This is why you are getting messages from your audience telling you your solutions do not work. Simply because they think they are getting 100% of your problem-solving methods. They are misled into thinking your free content is everything they need.
And because of this, you are not only not making sales, but you are subconsciously preventing your audience from an actual transformation.
Issue #3 with “How-to” Content
The more “how-to content” you are creating, the more you are disabling your audience.
I am going to give you one big tip today. Because I know you might be wondering, “What type of content should I do now?”
Well, first of all, we are going to talk about the difference between free content vs. paid content.
Free content is basically the type of content that is talking about the “what” and the “why” of a problem. Sometimes, free content can walk you through the steps or a basic framework to help you understand better. Its job is to help you realize what is missing in your strategy or business.
But a paid content is reserved to teach you the actual step-by-step on how you can implement the solutions. This is where your “how-to” content should be included.
I hope that makes sense. I’ll give you one quick example.
Free Content vs. Paid Content
Let’s say I’m talking about what a niche is and the importance of why you should have a niche in your business.
In my free content, I am talking about all the why’s and the what’s so that you understand more about it. I am letting you know why you are not making sales and that’s because you don’t have a refined niche, yet.
This might be something that you don’t realize before but the moment you go through my free content of what’s and why’s, you find it’s valuable. And by now, you already understand that you need a niche.
But no, I am not giving you the solutions yet.
I am just highlighting the holes that are existing in your business. But I am not necessarily teaching you in-depth how to fill every single hole in the sequence. Because the steps of how to fill that holes are only available in my paid content.
Do you understand where this is going now?
Free content will make you understand the importance of certain things. Paid content will teach you the solutions to achieving certain things.
The Bottom Line
Your content should be a part of your sales strategy and not against it. When you are creating “how-to content”, you are literally giving step-by-step away.
This type of content when given for free, especially to prospects that still have limiting beliefs, it’s not going to help them at all.
This is because they do not know what you are talking about. They have no idea why it’s important and they don’t even know how to implement the shifts.
What you are doing to your audience with your free “how-to content” is just delaying your sales. You are not truly nurturing them enough with your free content. And the worst part is you are also limiting your audience.
HERE'S THE KEY TAKEAWAYS OF THIS EPISODE:
[01:21] Why I wanted to talk about content creation and the reason why I really wanted to bring up the subject.
[03:54] I explain what exactly is “how-to content” and why it can block your sales.
[09:02] A concrete example of the “how-to content” that wasn’t working in my business.
[12:56] I explain deeper about the difference between free content versus paid content.
[19:14] Learn more about my content strategy that works well for my business
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE
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– Vanessa
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