I want my business, career, and people I will be working with to thrive.

To do it, I will need a variety of skills and knowledge.

And one of them is marketing and content.

Learning and understanding it is one of the most important things to get there.

Why?

People are becoming more and more skeptical.

They are bombarded with ads, and companies are trying to squeeze resources out of them.

People are tired of this, they want trust, authority, and true leaders whom they can learn from, aspire to be like, have a real connection with, and buy whatever they will put on sale.

And to do that, we need trust and authority.

We need people who we:

I don't know about you, but the best way I know and see the most successful people using is Content and Social Media for now.

People who aren't using it in some way are getting left behind, we see that everywhere in the market.

People who don't put their ideas out there and share their already existing value are getting replaced by those who do.

That's why I will give you fundamentals (and a few insights) about content & marketing I have learned (and noticed), in the past 6 months

I want to cut all the fluff and get straight to the meat.

So you can:

Just like I am doing right now.

So let's get into it.

Let's define your goal at the start.

As with everything known as success in life, you need a goal.

Most people don't have it (not in their content but in life in general)

But here we will need it. Very much we will need it.

Without a goal, you won't see the reason for putting in hard work to succeed.

It's pointing out your north star, and the overall vision for your efforts.

My goal is to build a following and document what I am doing.

Yours can be anything.

To build long-term success and get all the other benefits, you need a clear goal.

All the successful people have it regardless of the area of life (business, content, etc.)

So write down your clear goal and purpose behind it.

What's your why?

Ahhh yes.

Your audience.

Meaning - who is it you are creating this whole value for?

Most people create, skipping the person on the other side of the screen.

(When that's what it’s about)

About people. The ones on the other side.

Their:

And anything else that's relevant to them.

People won't listen and care if you aren't helping them get to their dream future.

Their northstar.

The person they dream of becoming.

Your audience is the lifeblood of your whole content, business, and life.

They are the people who will eventually pay your bills and give you the life you want.

And knowing them better than they know themselves is the key to it.

Your message won't be relevant if you don't know them.

THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE. - It's the core foundation.

People won't care about your content, products, value if it's not connected to what they want to achieve and avoid.

Know the person as well as you can.

That's it.

A funnel is just an easier way of showing where the person is on their buyer journey and relationship with you.

Having an understanding of it is crucial.

Only then can you see what's the purpose of the content you are creating.

You get the big picture of all the messaging, posts, ads, content, everything.

Here's the basic structure of the funnel

At the top, you make people aware of you. You show them you exist.

You attract a wide range of people so you can be seen.

Here I show people what I can help them with in depth.

I make them aware of my expertise and the problems I help them solve.

You bring them closer to your world, your value, and products later on.

Here we want them to take a specific action and buy.

You turn people from the middle part into a buyer.

We convert the attention.

Very. Very. Very important part.

Your content will only impact people who see it as valuable.

Without understanding the stages of awareness, it's impossible.

Stages of awareness are simply the education levels of your target audience.

When you are talking to a friend about basketball, but you have been playing basketball for 2 years, you have much more understanding of it, and your friend might not understand all the terms and language you use.

You have higher education in that area.

It's similar here.

Here are all 5 stages of awareness:

You align your words and content with their education level, so they can understand and see it as valuable.

We use content to transofrm peopels lifes - for free.

We give them the transformation to achieve their goal and move away from pain.

I just love to view it this way:

You are the guide, the older brother who builds the bridge so they can achieve the goal faster and make the transformation.

Each time I write, I want to give people the transformation. Move them from point A to B in some way.

People will pay me more attention (and money) if I give them some sort of transformation.

The thing is, a lot of content doesn't educate and solve the problems people have.

It's just a distraction on the internet.

If you want to have the money, profit, impact, career, and business success you desire, you will at some point need ot educate other people - and content does exactly that.

Without constant education for yourself and others, there's noone who could benefit from your work, from you being on this planet.

We are alwasy educationg.

When you’re talking with a friend about some crazy idea you had - you are educating him in some way. You share your view on the world, how you see it, how it benefits you.

Education is the most powerful thing we have.

You become the person they trust, they ask you for help, and you solve their problems to become the authority they want to follow and buy from.

With education comes inspiration; we inspire people to act by giving them the knowledge they need and showing them a better future, where they can be, showing examples of people who were in a similar spot.

Education + Inspiration makes people change their lives - and that's what we get paid for at the end of the day.

Content gives people education, inspiration, and the right beliefs so they can transform.

It's the catalyst for a change.

If we understand what makes us act, we have a LOT of power in our hands.

Now you can see people's actions from a different perspective.

It's key because we can use those main driving forces in our content, messages, writing, speaking, and life in general to positively influence people.

Here are 8 main driving forces

End Goals: Achievement, competence, leadership

Associated Emotion: Competence, influence

Behaviour: Leadership, achievement

End Goals: Wealth, titles, awards, attention

Associated Emotion: Self-importance, superiority

Behaviour: Concern with reputation, showing off

End Goals: Freedom

Associated Emotion: Freedom

Behaviour: Self-reliance

End Goals: Knowledge, truth

Associated Emotion: Wonderment

Behaviour: Truth-seeking, problem-solving

End Goals: Self-worth, positive self-image

Associated Emotion: Self-confidence

Behaviour: Assertive behaviour

End Goals: Stability, organisation

Associated Emotion: Security, stability

Behaviour: Rule-making, perfection-seeking, compulsive

End Goals: Relaxation, safety

Associated Emotion: Safety, sense of peace

Behaviour: Avoids stressful situations

End Goals: Friendship, fun

Associated Emotion: Happiness, belonging

Behaviour: Parting, joining clubs/groups

Now we can trigger the emotions connected with them by using the right words.

You can use it even in your conversations.

You become 100% more influential and persuasive by relating to what people TRULY want.

For example: Everyone wants money, but we all want it for different reasons.

Almost everything we consume relates to our:

They are the 'persuasive blocks' we use to impact people.

I show you a goal in this article of knowing the fundamentals of content & marketing.

Now, you get the benefit of thriving in your career, business, or project.

There's a problem connected to it of not being able to get the benefit.

We don't pay attention and money to people who don't get us to our goial and help us solve problems - that's a principle (even entertainment is a goal and solving a problem)

Every time I want someone to take action and make a change, I talk about the goal, problem, benefit, and how it's connected to this person's core desires.

(At least I try to, it takes practice and learning)

Show people the goal. Show benefits and pains so they can make a change.

People will listen to you if you:

We make decisions mostly with emotions - we consume and engage with what makes us feel.

If we don't make people feel, they won't care about what we have to say

When people feel an emotional connection, they’re far more likely to share your content, remember you, and take action.

We don't just buy and consume stuff - we buy and consume stories and values we align with.

Now I want to give you 11 actionable steps to spark those emotions.

Decide on the emotion you want people to feel:

That's the starting point, we need to know what we want to achieve.

Then we can craft content and messaging to achieve it.

As you probably know, stories are the best ways to trigger emotions.

Narratives with a hero, challenge, and transformation - they do very well.

A story lets your viewer imagine themselves in the hero's shoes. They can see themselves overcoming problems (and achieving goals) - Veryyy powerful.

Stories activate multiple areas of the brain, making it memorable.

You also show your audience you understand their pain or challenges.

And people are drawn to those who “get” them

There are endless ways to craft stories, but that's the basic one.

The main driving forces we talked about.

They let you tap into people's emotions and easily make them act.

An Ad can show the security of a product (“Protect what matters most”).

You connect deeply with what people desire the most.

In reality, nobody cares about how your solution works, or anything else that isn't making their life better, and that isn't tapping into their main driving forces.

Here you create mental pictures with words that appeal to the senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

For example: “Picture yourself sipping coffee, the sun rising, while your business grows effortlessly.”

You 'tick' their emotional engagement. Their brain makes an emotional 'cocktail' that lets you make them listen and act.

Sensory language makes your message more memorable and immersive, it uses emotional responses and makes your message stick.

Immerse your audience so they visualize their transformation, keeping them hooked.

Our brain goes crazy. Try that on yourself now.

Hope is one of the most powerful emotions.

That feeling when you are on top of the world, like nothing can stop you, like you are making that dream come true.

That's hope - You know there is a better tomorrow

Now, you show people that better tomorrow, and that it's within reach.

Hope drives action by focusing on achievable positive outcomes.

For example: “It’s never too late to start building the life you’ve dreamed of.”

Without it, people feel stuck in their current situation.

They lack the emotional drive to act.

The basic but powerful.

Show that others have achieved the desired outcome.

Social proof triggers 'herd mentality' and reduces hesitation.

You can use social proof in any situation you want, whether it's believing, watching, or buying something.

The more people act this way, the more likely others will act.

To make people engage and act, we want to make them reflect a bit.

We can make them think and stay engaged by asking… questions.

For example: “Tell me, what’s one thing holding you back from getting there? Do you really think you can't do it?”

You engage their brain’s problem-solving center, creating emotional investment.

Across the best content creators and entrepreneurs, I have noticed these 3 patterns:

Without doubt - the most important part.

You can't miss this:

They stay relevant to their audience and customers, expertise

They stick to their core:

They aren't there for a quick $

They play the long-term

If you think about it, you can't lose if you never quit and are willing to learn to solve problems you face.

You will never get it right at the start.

The people you see getting results have been in the game way before you.

Too many people want results at the start (me included lol)

If you aren't willing to embrace the discomfort of being bad,

Then you won't win, you won't even take action.

That's where I was. I didn't want to be bad at writing and content creation so I never published anything for 2 years.

I've realised content creation, entrepreneurship, and all of that is:

Start → Learn as you go

That's the big takeaway.

Now…

Like, Comment, subscribe if you enjoyed

I hope it helped you - this means everything to me.

See you soon.

Simon

P.S

What’s your biggest struggle right now? What do you feel like stops you the most?