How I started creating quality content
My 1st edition of my weekly newsletter
Hello - this is the 1st edition of my weekly newsletter.
For the past 12 months I’ve focused on releasing one guide every 2 months.
I will now share 1 newsletter per week about the following topics:
Marketing Strategy: Frameworks, concepts, and infographics
Content Strategy: Plans, formats, channels, tactics
Build in public: How I am building my company
I will also include more personal information so you know who is behind the screen.
In today’s edition, let’s talk about:
How I started creating quality content
The big shift when I found my “unfair advantage”
My backstory that helped me to find the unfair advantage
How I started creating quality content
When I first started writing online (in January 2022 on Linkedin), I tried to “emulate” other creators and trends. While it was a good way to start writing (and produce volume), it was not a good way to get results.
I was trying to talk about leadership, management, finance, or other topics where I was a newbie. Also, I didn’t really have a content strategy or content pillars.
I started getting good results the day I:
Talked about what we were doing at our agency (my previous business that I sold in 2023)
Published infographics and carrousels about learnings I got from my experiments
Posted ‘build in public’ content in which I was explaining how we built the agency
I started getting good results when I started sharing MY insights, not insights I found somewhere else
People online look for unique content, that they cannot read anywhere else. If your brand (or personal brand) produces this kind of content, you win. But if you keep on producing commodity content (that can be found anywhere else) you lose.
You need to create content that fits the green part of this graphic:
The output for you is to find your proprietary insights sources that your competitors don’t have access to. So you can always create fresh and unique content.
The big shift when I found my “unfair advantage”
In June 2023, I started publishing infographics (after 3 months of carrousels). At this time I had around 30,000 followers and around 150 engagement per post.
I started by making simple tables. This is my first one (around 1 year ago):
An unfair advantage is an in demand skill that is easy for you but hard for others.
Some people struggle to write, other can write a book in 6 months
Some people can’t tell stories, other captivate 300 people with an anecdote
Some people don’t inspire, other can change lives with 1 conversation
And that’s fine. Because everyone has a different unfair advantage.
It comes from education, experience, people you met, things you read, jobs you had, and a large number of parameters.
The question that matters most is: what is your unfair advantage?
I posted a 5-step exercice on Linkedin on how to find it, here is the exercice:
So I discovered my unfair advantage in 2023:
Research insights (based on what I do)
Articulate and explain insights with copywriting
And visualize insights with graphic design (infographics)
While a lot of people can do 1-2, it’s rare to combine 1-2-3. Most people will hire a designer to do (3) which add time and friction. But I can write and design one infographic in 1 hour.
So I based my strategy on this unfair advantage, and this led me to a good growth on Linkedin in 1 year:
The output for you is not to do infographics, it’s to find and in-demand skill that is easy for you and hard for others. And base your content strategy upon it.
My backstory that helped me to find my unfair advantage
I remember in 2014, I was drawing a whole marketing process on a A4 landscape paper. It was well structured, and I really enjoyed drawing it, adding new insights, and thinking about how to improve it.
In 2017, while I was working for the Embassy of France in Thailand, I was doing graphic design (on Canva) for events. Posters, social media posts, event banners. At this time we were using mainly Facebook and we were “boosting posts”.
When I was a freelancer in 2020, I was designing landing pages, ads, and sales decks for my me and my clients.
But when I created my agency in 2021, I stopped design.
I though “I’m an entrepreneur now, I do business, not design”. So when I started writing on Linkedin, I thought design was a ‘separate skill’. But it was not.
I should have added graphic design to my skill stack earlier.
Skill stacking is when you add multiple skills to your daily job so you can become more and more unique.
Here is what mine looks like now:
I (re)introduce this skill to my stack by experimenting. I thought “let’s try”, it worked, so I kept on doing it. There was no specific revelation.
The outcome for you: look at your past experience to find transferrable skills that you can add to your skill stack now. They will increase your market value.
Alright that’s the end of this 1st weekly newsletter. I’m currently writing from Budapest as I’m traveling in Europe for 3 months. I really love the architecture of this city as a History fan.
My course will help you to create content
If you want to go further with your content strategy, have a look at my B2B content marketing course. I teach my 5-step system to install a profitable content strategy for your business. You can download the curriculum on the page if you want more information first.
This is super helpful. Thanks, Pierre. :)
Super useful. Thanks, Pierre.