The “Bare Minimum” content strategy for building your online business

Have you been feeling burnt out and overwhelmed with your content creation and business? 

Trust me, you’re not alone! This is a challenge that many people face when they’re trying to grow their online business without sacrificing their sanity. But what if I told you that there’s a way to generate cash flow while you figure things out for a bigger signature product and maintain your sanity?

Today, I want to share with you my actual ‘Bare minimum Content Strategy’! 

It’s a simple yet effective approach that will help you grow your business while keeping things simple and sustainable.

Before you read on, make sure you check out my free 7-step roadmap for automated funnels that makes me consistent 30K months and daily sales. Click here to download

Skip doing these things in your content while figuring things out:

We need to have a little heart-to-heart about some common content strategy mistakes that can really throw us off track. I’m talking about things that, while tempting, can leave us burnt out, overwhelmed, and ultimately lead to quitting. 

If you don’t have a signature product, don’t do these things just yet:

🚫Don’t develop a multi-platform content strategy that has you working 24/7 & burns you out

🚫Don’t Launch a product without an audience 

🚫Don’t Ignore growing an email list because you haven’t “figured everything out” yet

🚫Don’t give up on your dream because you’re burnt-out

The problem with creating a multi-platform content strategy: Juggling multiple social media platforms, a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast, and everything in between, in reality, can leave you spread thin and struggling to maintain quality content without any cash flow. The result? Burnout and overwhelm. 

The problem with launching a product without an audience: I know it’s exciting to launch a shiny new product. But many new businesses only find crickets on launch day because they didn’t do some simple community building first. You’ll want to  ensure that your product fills a genuine need and has eager buyers lined up out the door before you launch.

The problem with ignoring an email list because you haven’t figured it out yet: Even if you haven’t fully decided on your niche or signature product, it’s never too early to start building relationships with your future customers. Your email list is your community and your biggest cheerleaders. Don’t shy away from collecting those emails and nurturing those connections because that’s what will lead to having a list of eager buyers lined up out the door when you do launch a signature product with everything “figured out”.

Now that we’ve shed some light on what to avoid, let’s shift our focus to the ‘bare minimum’ but actionable steps and strategies that will take your content and business to the next level more quickly.

Do the ‘Bare Minimum’ Content Strategy Instead: Create, Sell, Share

Following these steps below, you can generate cashflow while you figure things out, refine and grow your business, and all while building a community too.

✅ Create a mini-product that provides value but only takes you a weekend to create

✅ Sell with an an automated email funnel that starts with a freebie (this funnel will sell your mini-product for immediate cash flow)

✅ Share value-driven content consistently on 1-2 platforms to get leads in your automated funnel

1) Create a mini-product:

The first thing to do in this process is create a mini-product. Funny enough, this is exactly where you’re going to feel stuck or overwhelmed in this process. 

But, let me simplify this for you.

1️⃣Use your own skills and knowledge to create a mini-product

2️⃣Create a Weekend action plan

3️⃣Embrace imperfection

Use your own story, successes, skills and knowledge to create it: Take a moment to brainstorm a mini-product that provides massive value to your audience. It could be a mini-course, an e-book, a template, or even bundle of various things. The goal is to create something that delivers a quick win and solves a burning problem for your customers. And guess what? You can accomplish all of this in just a weekend. 

Start with asking yourself these questions:

1. What’s something you’re really good at? (that’s the product topic)
2. How did you feel before you figured out how to be good at it? (this is the pain point your product will solve)
3. What actions did you take and tools did you use to learn how to do it? (this becomes the content for your product that you’ll want to create)
4. How did you feel once you achieved your goal? What kind of life/routine have you created since? (This is the dream outcome and aspiration your audience has)

Create a Weekend Action Plan: To tackle the creation of your mini-product, set aside a weekend dedicated solely to the task. Plan your time wisely, breaking it down into manageable chunks. Eliminate distractions and get started. You’ll start by creating an outline or a rough draft on the first day, and then spend the second day refining and polishing it into multiple 5-10 minute videos.

Embrace Imperfection & just teach your topic: Perfectionism can be a business killer. Remember, your first mini-product doesn’t have to be flawless. Embrace imperfections and consider it a learning experience. Most audiences value authenticity and genuine effort. As long as it’s packed with value for them, you’ll do well! Plus, This honestly is the fastest way to create it. But, if you want to put it into a more polished product, ebook or templates, you can definitely do that – but keep in mind it, the more polished and resources you include, the longer it will take to create. So, choose wisely 

2) Sell with an an automated email funnel that start with a freebie:

To ensure a steady stream of cash flow, it’s time to set up a system that effortlessly sells your mini-product. How?

1️⃣ By creating a freebie that provides a first step and is related to the value in your mini-product offers. 

2️⃣ and then Building a simple sales funnel to sell your mini-product (usually priced between $7 and $47)

What kind of Freebie should you create? This acts like the introductory product before your mini-product. So, sit and think what would go well with your mini product? This could be a cheat sheet on a topic that would go perfect with your mini-product, a checklist, or any other format related to your mini-product. There’s a simple and effective solution that can save you time and effort during the lead magnet creation process: using PLR.

What’s PLR? It stands for Private Label Rights, which means pre-made content that you can customize and rebrand as your own. Cool, right? PLR can be a lifesaver for anyone who’s struggling to find the time to create their own lead magnets and content. You can purchase PLR that aligns with your niche or target audience and then customize it to suit your brand and voice. Trust me, your audience will appreciate the value and benefit offered by your mini-product. After all, it’s delivering a solution to their pain points, and that’s what counts.

🔗 Here’s a detailed post on PLR to give you a more in-depth look at the benefits and how to make it work for you.

Build your simple sales funnel: This funnel is pretty simple. Using a tool like Convertkit, you’ll set up a signup form and landing page for your freebie where people sign up. Once someone signs up for your freebie, you’ll have the form redirect them to a thank you page that offers your mini-product on it. This is often referred to as a tripwire. Plus, you’ll guide them into an automated email sequence that sends value but also continues to gently nudge them towards making a purchase of your mini-product. And voila! You’ve created a seamless sales process that generates cash flow on autopilot. 

🔗 Need more details on tripwires? Check out this post on creating a freebie and trip wire funnel.

3) Share value-driven content consistently:

This is where all the magic happens… Now that you have your mini-product and automated email funnel in place, it’s time to attract leads and guide them straight into your funnel. 

How? By consistently sharing value-driven content on 1-2 platforms where your dream audience hangs out. This could be a blog and Instagram. You’ll want to focus on delivering valuable content that educates, motivates, and inspires your audience. We’re focused on quality over quantity here. Let’s break it down and explore the types of content you can create each week, all centered around one captivating topic. 

The Two Types of Content You Need:

Start with a weekly topic that explores the chosen topic of your mini-product and lead magnet in depth. This is your chance to share your knowledge and expertise in a way that educates and provides value.

1️⃣ One weekly blog/email newsletter

2️⃣ Weekly social media posts on 1 platform

One Weekly Blog and/or email newsletter: The perfect place to start for me is on a blog and/or email newsletter to build a deeper knowledge base and create a community with emails and content. A weekly blog and newsletter is like a warm conversation with your most loyal followers.

🔗 Want to access profitable content templates, captions, content ideas, and reels ideas? Join the profitable content membership

Weekly Social Media Posts: Choose one platform where you’re comfortable hanging out and posting regularly. The goal here with social media posts is to drive traffic to your freebie, have conversations/ask questions. I would keep it simple and just rotate through a few different types of posts. Remember to keep the content related to your lead magnet and mini-product. 

A) Something Educational: Share your knowledge and expertise with your audience. Educate them on a specific topic related to your niche or business. Teach them something new and valuable that they can apply to their lives. For instance, on Instagram, an educational post could be in the form of a reel, a list graphic, or a carousel. 

B) Something Motivational: To motivate action, you can share ideas for how to get started or personal anecdotes that empower and encourage your audience to take action, and share helpful reminders of what works best to reach their goals.

C) Something Aspirational: This content should tap into your audience’s hopes and dreams related to the topic of your mini-product. Share content that showcases what they could achieve. This could be in the form of stories and examples. This content might start out like: “Here are the 3 things that happened when I finally learned how to ____” . 

D) Something Promotional: Last but not least, your promotional posts. This is your chance to showcase your freebie. Offer a quick teaser, emphasize the benefits, and provide a clear call-to-action that invites your audience to sign up. You should show it off in a reel or create a mockup.

Use CTA’s in your content & remember to ask engaging questions 

To engage your audience, build that community, and get people into your funnel, you’ll want to remember to add Calls to action (CTA) to your freebie funnel.

Plus, while you “figure things out” you’ll want to ask your email subscribers and audience questions regularly. This will help you build a community but you can engage them in the process of building your signature product. You can do this by asking their opinion on various aspects of your product. You can ask them what they’re hoping to learn more about or what they need most to get to the next step.

You’ll post these questions and these CTA’s in your social captions and in your emails or blog content. Encouraging your audience to take the next step.. After all, that’s what this is all about – providing value and establishing a connection with your audience while getting people into the funnel.

From this point, while you use this bare minimum content strategy, you’ll have more time and cash flow to figure things out.

You’ll be able to refine your ideas about a signature product and grow your business all while building a community too.

Then launch your signature product to a line out the door of fully engaged and eager people!

What next?

Want to get your hands on my exact funnel blueprint for free?  This blueprint lays out my proven 7-step roadmap that has allowed me to consistently achieve 30K months and daily sales. 

To access your free funnel template, simply Click here to download

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