Having great ideas but lacking the time and expertise to communicate them can be frustrating—especially if these ideas can position you as a thought leader in your industry.
This was the case for Tristan Wright, founder and CEO of Evolve to Grow. Evolve to Grow (or E2G) provides business coaching to small or medium-sized business owners so that they can free up their time through improving their processes, so they can build better businesses and live the life they want.
As a former business owner, Tristan saw that the market was full of self-proclaimed “coaches” who had never been through the process of building a business as he had. He knew that he had the experience to back up any of his ideas much better than these so-called coaches, but his problem was that he couldn’t position himself as a thought leader because he had no way of converting his ideas into content.
“Before Story League, I had no ability to be a subject matter expert other than me manually posting content that was of subpar standard. I know that providing educational content puts me in the spotlight as a subject matter expert and people become aware of me,” said Tristan.
Tristan met Luke Buesnel, content director of Story League, at a networking event in 2018. They began to talk and, despite Luke seeming a little “rough around the edges,” they immediately saw that there would be a mutual benefit if they were to work together. Luke could provide the content that Tristan needed and Tristan could guide Luke in traversing his new business. It was cemented when Tristan sent Luke a video email and Luke was quick to point out its flaws.
“There was a video I sent to Luke and, in response to that video, whilst misguided, there was feedback being provided on how to improve straight-up. Luke’s feedback on the video that I provided to him was fantastic and showed he knew what he was talking about.
“It was the fact that he was opinionated and that he had confidence in his opinion and what he was doing. There’s a lot of people who don’t have confidence in what they do and they’re just selling a product but Luke was opinionated on how things needed to happen and what actually delivers results rather than putting something out there for the sake of putting something out there,” said Tristan.
This is how an ongoing business relationship that’s lasted more than two years began.
“For a successful business relationship to work, one party needs to feel they’re getting more value than they’re giving and for both parties to feel that way. I think both of us feel that way. Luke has been able to provide a service to me that’s allowed me to build my brand presence and that’s been significant value for me. I’ve been able to provide value to Luke and educate him on growing his business. So we both feel like we’re getting more value than we’re giving,” said Tristan.
An emerging small business with no way to communicate messages
While many businesses are aware that content is now king (especially when it comes to search engines), a lot of them don’t know how to create good content that catches people’s attention and simultaneously ranks high on Google. They end up creating mediocre pieces that don’t increase traffic or generate leads because they have no time, expertise, or the necessary skills.
Even when they have fantastic ideas they want to share with their target audience/s, these business owners often don’t know how to articulate them.
“I knew I needed content creation services and I hadn’t been actively looking but I had my eyes and ears open at the time. Fortunately, it was the right time, right place. It was a perfect fit. I’d been feeling those pain points and I knew I needed to provide content to my market,” said Tristan.
Tristan attempted to create his own content and even asked others to do it informally, but it was never consistent and, ultimately, didn’t convert. With the content he was creating, he wasn’t able to achieve his desired results. He, like many business owners, didn’t have the people, the ability, or the time to create impactful content in-house (most businesses overlook these crucial skills), realising that it took a great deal of time and effort to focus on outbound marketing when there was so much to focus on.
But by getting the help he needed from a content creation agency, he was able to communicate his ideas with clarity and consistency, leaving the content creation process to someone else to be able to spend his time closing deals and talking to clients.
“By having someone who could transform my ideas into pieces that communicate with my audience on a consistent basis, I could get results. The biggest benefit was knowing that I could have someone that will pull my ideas out of my head on a consistent basis to drive those results,” said Tristan.
Given how long it takes and how arduous the process for creating powerful content is, leaving it to content experts who can plan everything in advance (weekly/fortnightly uploads are preferred), are equipped with excellent writing skills, and can optimise the content for search engines is the smartest option. Content that packs a punch isn’t just something that someone can whip up in between client calls, it’s something that needs to be given a lot of thought and attention, a luxury, not every business owner has.
Using content to boost Evolve to Grow’s brand awareness
E2G receives plenty of content from us. Every week, they get One blog, four social media posts, three email newsletter sequences, two video scripts, and a podcast script. The variety of content is intended to reach out to audiences using different platforms, strategies for producing high-quality content, and copywriting services. Some audiences enjoy video content over the written word, others are plugged into podcasts more often. By offering a diverse range, we’re able to boost E2G’s online presence.
All of the stories are strategically planned in advance so no one has to scramble for new ideas at the last minute. We send questionnaires to E2G, conduct interviews with Tristan and/or his customers and network to get a better sense of the topic they want to discuss in the blog, and then begin brainstorming and preparing content briefs backed by reliable resources for our writers. These steps are crucial in gathering information and understanding how to create the content that E2G wants to see.
After we’ve generated fresh new ideas, we begin converting those ideas that we’ve outlined in our briefs into blogs, podcast and video scripts, social media copy, and even email sequences. All the copy that we create is then edited to make sure that the language, tone, and message is clear, consistent, and makes sense to its target audience.
Once we’ve internally reviewed all of the copy and made sure that it meets our standards through rigorous editing, we hand it over to E2G for review and then start the process all over again on the next piece.
It all comes down to telling a compelling story that paints E2G (or even your business) in an authoritative light. They trust us to get the job done right the first time and know we will supply them with a product that tells an engaging story but also adheres to the website and social media algorithms.
We also do meticulous research on E2G’s target market and what kinds of questions need to be answered. A great way to find content to create is to identify the pain points that consumers have and convert the answers they need into pieces that can address their concerns. Not only does it show up on search engines when they’re trying to solve a problem, it also presents E2G as an authority figure that can help them even more in the future.
By making E2G a reliable and leading dispenser of information and solutions, we help them grow as a business.
How a massive digital presence has transformed Evolve to Grow
E2G now has increased brand awareness and boasts an impressive online presence. With several of their blog pieces related to business coaching ranking #1 on Google searches and other noteworthy first-page results, the content we’ve created for them has made a significant difference.
“From an SEO perspective, traffic and readership to my website has increased threefold over the last year. And that’s due in part to the continued content going on to the website,” said Tristan.
Without having to worry about the content creation process, Tristan and his team have more time to concentrate on other aspects of his company like making more sales and dealing with his customers and staff. Customer and business development can come first for Tristan since he leaves the storytelling to us.
Because E2G is pulling in more traffic through offering solutions to their customers’ problems, Tristan has become an authority figure in the industry. He’s seen as an expert because he can supply answers to people’s questions and because people are aware of him and his brand, they’re more likely to approach him and trust him.
“The biggest thing is brand awareness and putting me up as a subject matter expert. People didn’t know who I was and when I was trying to pitch to them or sell to someone, they’d never heard of me. And now it’s gotten to the point where recently at the gym, a random member came up to me and said, ‘I love the article you wrote and shared on Facebook last week…’ He said, ‘I shared it with my Managing Director and he said he’ll contact you in the next couple of weeks,” said Tristan.
Beyond the blog pieces, the other content we’ve created for E2G is also converting.
“I reached out to a client six months ago but they weren’t ready to convert at the time. So instead, I just added them up to my eNewsletter. These emails, written by Story League, are sent weekly. After being on my email list for a few months, I got a call from him saying, ‘Tristan, ready to convert. You’ll have a client next week.’ And that’s because the educational newsletters I send kept me front of mind. So I did absolutely no work, I had one conversation with him about six months ago, he read my emails, I indoctrinated him based on that content, and soon enough he was ready to buy,” said Tristan.
The content we provide has generated consistent leads for E2G, helping them grow and amplifying their online reach. By telling the stories that people are searching for, we gave E2G the digital recognition they deserve.
Making your business well known and positioning yourself as an expert in your field can be incredibly difficult if you don’t have the skills and time necessary to communicate your ideas. With so much content competing for a coveted space on Google’s first page, it can seem impossible to outrank them even if you have the answers to the questions people are asking. But by tapping into content creation agencies that understand the content marketing game, you will significantly increase your chances and experience exponential growth like E2G has.
“Using content to build you as a subject matter expert is the smartest way to grow your business. So if you want to build trust with your target clients, you need to become a subject matter expert and the way to do that is to be on the channels that your clients visit and you need to educate them. And Story League is a company that can do that,” said Tristan.
Story League ensures your communications channels—like your website, social media, videos, podcasts and email databases—consistently feature powerful stories that resonate with your audience and speak to your brand. All you have to do is give us your ideas (and your expectations) and through content creation, we’ll help you dominate your industry online.
