I create a lot of content across my blog, podcast, online courses, books, and membership site. And sometimes readers and other content creators wonder about my strategy.
The other day I heard from a reader who not only follows my blog and podcast, but is also a Platform University member and follows #VirtualMentor. When he heard about my new Influence and Impact Summit, he was shocked. “You produce so much great content that it’s becoming almost impossible to follow you fully,” he said. “What is your strategy?”
Well, I’ll tell you.
How My Platform Has Grown
As my platform has grown so has my ability to reach more people and help them win and work and succeed at life. Broadly speaking, that means creating content around four key categories:
- Leadership
- Influence
- Productivity
- Personal development
That’s the core of I’ve what I’ve been doing here from the start. I’m able to do more now than when I started because (1) I’m fully focused on it, (2) I’ve slowly built a dynamite team, and (3) we’ve generated massive momentum.
But we’re not just doing more for the sake of doing more. We have a simple and clear strategy for our content—how we develop, distribute, monetize, and build community around it.
4 Stages for Maximum Impact
These are my four stages for creating maximum impact for your message:
- Creation. My blog is my “content workbench.” This is where I frame up ideas and share them with the world. My posts are the foundation for all my other content. This is my development strategy.
- Syndication. I publish my blog content in a variety of other formats and channels. The more popular posts become podcasts, video series, or even magazine articles. The core ideas largely remain unchanged—this just helps me extend my reach. This is my distribution strategy.
- Iteration. My best blog content also gets repurposed into other products: books, webinars, courses, and even membership content. It is always refined, enhanced, and expanded. This is my monetization strategy.
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Participation. Content creates community. People want to talk about what they have read, heard, or seen. Moreover, they want to engage with the content creator, in this case, me. This is how I am currently using social media, including Periscope and Blab. This is also how I have used blog comments in the past (and may someday again). This is my engagement strategy.
What Every Successful Strategy Must Do
There are a lot of ways to do content. But based on my experience, I’d say my model works well for anyone with something to say or sell. This four-stage strategy has allowed me to go from part-time blogger to full-time ideapreneur with a small but rapidly growing company.
And here’s what’s most exciting of all. There’s still room to grow for me—or anyone out there with something unique to contribute.
I’m sure this strategy will continue to evolve. One of the reasons it’s been successful is that I’ve been able to flex with the market and seize new opportunities quickly.
But the strategy has also given me the clarity to stay focused on what I know works best for my audience.
If you’re a content creator, what’s your strategy? What do you find works best for you and your audience?
