The Luxury of Content Creation

LinkedIn influencers: “Just post 5-7 times a week for a year. You'll be flooded with leads!”

The rest of the world: “Thanks. But how do I book more meetings today?”

If you're like most people, you don't have the luxury of waiting for months before your content starts driving leads.

But without enough leads, your business will die.

And without thought-leadership content, you become a commodity.

Balancing the two is hard.

As a result, most people either “Post &?Pray” or stay stuck in the vicious cycle of sending outreach without building any long-term leverage.

Only a tiny fraction of people in B2B does both.

And even a tinier fraction does both well.

Is there an alternative?

Merging the best of both worlds

The ideal strategy combines the long-term benefits of creating content but makes you money in the process.

Like this:

On the prospecting side, you want to send very few messages to book meetings with prospects who are most likely to buy.

This means:

• High reply rates
• High intent
• Low effort from your side

On the content side, you want to post content that positions you as a thought leader, people like it, and you can do it long-term without burning out.?

This means

• High engagement
• Unique point of view
• Streamlined production

The power of content collaboration

Before I sold my agency last year, I used this particular strategy to drive brand awareness, expand my LinkedIn network, and generate 6 figures in new revenue.

Here's what I did:

Step 1: I invited my favorite LinkedIn creators to create content with me

I reached out to 20 people and 17 of them said 'Yes' straight away. That's an 85% meeting acceptance rate after the first message. Crazy huh?

Here are some of the responses:

Before that, we had a few DM exchanges but after this short Zoom conversation, we knew each other much better.

The call itself was a simple 20-minute conversation where I asked 3 questions about their unique point of view.

That's how I created the raw content.

Step 2: I edited and distributed the content

I turned our conversation into multiple video snippets which I later shared on my profile and asked my guests to do the same.

This led to new followers for my guests and myself.

Fair to say that the editing was the most time-consuming part of the entire process. But by working with a VA and the pre-made templates I made, I was able to finalize 68 videos in 7 days.

Once posted, the engagement was higher than on my other content (for my account these numbers are above average):

Step 3: I explored potential collaboration opportunities

At this point, so many things have already happened between the guest and I. Specifically:

• We had a conversation.
• We got to know each other.
• I spent my time and money to produce and distribute the content.

(If this is not leading with value, I don't know what is…)

This naturally led to exploring ways to work together and some of my guests became referral partners and introduced potential clients to our agency.

The results?

More than $100k in revenue (still growing) and growth on LinkedIn for everyone involved.

Win-win.

On a side-note: There are countless podcast hosts, ABM marketers, and founders who follow similar strategies to grow their businesses. And if you'd like to explore this concept further, consider grabbing a book by James Carbary , Content-Based Networking.

But what if I was just lucky?

In late Q3 this year, I decided to test this strategy with a handful of people to see if my process also works for others.

Here are the wins so far (all campaigns are still in progress):

• My client Tim (executive coach for VPs of Marketing) got 4 of his ideal clients ready to book a call with him after 14 days of working with me.

• My client Amy (executive coach for HR leaders) got 8 of her ideal clients recommended to her via DMs and comments after a simple LinkedIn post.
• My client Ruth (executive coach for People leaders) got over 50 women in HR interested in jumping on the call after one post.

But I know what you might be thinking:

“Cool... but these are not sales calls.”

And you're right. The purpose of these calls is to record content.

But especially in B2B, your prospects need to know, like, and trust you first before doing business with you.

And with this strategy, you make that happen much faster.

Copy my 4-step implementation process

If you execute this correctly, you can meet with an extra 10-15 ideal clients while creating 30-50 LinkedIn-friendly videos in under 8 weeks.

Yep, you'll meet clients AND build your brand. No need to choose.

Here's what goes into a successful implementation.

But let's break it down even further.

Step 1: Prospecting

Start by creating a list of prospects who are most likely to become your clients. On average, 40% of people you reach out to will accept your invitation.

So for example if you want to record a content series with 10 prospects, build a list of 25-40 people.

Then, you reach out to them via channels where they are most likely to get back to you.

Make your message/email about them, demonstrate the benefits, and personalize it as much as you can while keeping it short.

Alternatively, if you don't want to do any outreach, you can write an announcement post. You're not in control of the outcome but if you have a curated network, this might work too.

Step 2: Content Production

The first part of producing your content is the actual recording of your conversation with your prospect. I recommend doing this via Zoom.?

But before that, you must prepare your questions, brief the guest, and make sure your tech (camera, microphone, and Zoom settings) is set correctly. Each call can follow the same structure.

Then you're ready to hit the recording button.

Once you finish the recordings, the next step is to turn everything into LinkedIn-friendly content.

And yes, this is the most time-consuming part of the entire process.

If you're not familiar with video editing tools like CapCut or VEED.IO , I recommend hiring someone from Upwork to do this for you.

But if you enjoy it, feel free to do it yourself.

Step 3: Content Distribution

As Justin Simon says, most people don't do a great job of distributing (and repurposing) their content.

And it's true. That's why you must start with the distribution in mind.

From each conversation, you'll have 3 to 5 pieces of content. But if they never see the light of day, you waste tons of time, energy, and resources on something that goes nowhere.

Prepare your content calendar for the next couple of weeks or months (depending on the frequency) and actually stick to it.

Then, ask your guests to share the content as well. If the content is good, most of them will deliver value to their audience and drive new followers to you.

Win-win.

Step 4: Conversion

By now, you've already had a conversation, created content, posted content, and shared everything with your guest/prospect.

This means you've established the relationship and created a safe space to explore ways to work together.

Here, you can ask a question that will progress the conversation more towards something more specific.

It's important to read the room, though.

If it feels forced, it probably is. The last thing you want to do is to make your guests feel that this was some “bait and switch” strategy.

And although you used this content series to build relationships with them, sometimes they might not be ready to have a sales conversation yet.

And that's okay.

Just don't make it weird by pitching your stuff too hard or too early.?

Your time will come later.

Taking it further

Does this sound like too much work? Well, it is.

You need to plan and complete all four steps skillfully, so you actually see the results.

But think about this: if you’re already spending more than 4 hours a week making content or prospecting and not getting anywhere, maybe try putting that effort here instead.

It's worth a shot.

However, if you want to test this strategy this but don't feel confident doing this yourself, I can help.

If we work together, I'll help you launch the first season of your content series in my 8-Week Content Connection Accelerator.

By the end of this program, you'll build relationships with 10-15 new ideal clients and have 30-50 ready-to-publish LinkedIn video posts.

The best part?

You don't pay me anything before the first meeting is booked on your calendar.?

DM me for details → Jakub Zajicek .