Step 6: Create a content system
Knowing your niche and being good at solving problems is just one piece of the pie.
A one-person business is mostly about marketing. In Justin’s world, marketing = content.
That means making content from LinkedIn and Twitter. Every. Single. Day. Without failure.
Content is a grind. It takes countless hours to research. Countless hours to write. Countless hours to edit. Countless hours to refine. The grind never stops.
That’s why you need processes and systems to consistently make as much high-quality content as you can.
Justin is a master of content systems. In this section, I’ll walk you through 3 of Justin’s proven systems for (1) ideating, (2) making content and (3) driving traffic to your products.
1. The ideation system
It’s easier to write content when you have a lot of ideas.
Justin uses an idea called the ‘Content Matrix’ to brainstorm hundreds of content ideas in one quick blast.
The matrix is essentially a spreadsheet with two elements.
- Themes (on the left column)
- Styles (on top row)
The Themes
These are all the topics related to your niche.
For example, potential themes for social media managers include:
- Social media platforms and tools
- Content scheduling
- Social media strategy
- Engagement metrics
- Automated postings
- Viral content tips
What are the things that are related to your specific specialty?
List them.
The Styles
These are the styles and structures of content that you can use.
For example, here are 8 common styles that I use:
- X vs Y: Comparing two things
- Listicle: Listed points, i.e. ‘5 best ways…’
- Observation: Simply making an observation
- Motivational: Motivation related to your niche
- Actionable: Teach people how to do something
- Analytical: Break something down into the data
- Contrarian: Say something that is against the grain
- Present vs Future: Way we do something today vs future
Here’s what the Content Matrix might look like for Justin:
