Lessons Learned

A few weeks ago, I took a group of clients to an event in Toronto and then spent a day with them, discussing what they learned and how to apply it to their business.

This made the event exponentially more valuable because we spent time sharing what we learned and intentionally thinking about the steps we would take from investing in our learning.

There were a couple of speakers who talked about marketing, and they stood out to me. I’d like to share the insights I took from them.

One was Aleric Heck, who spoke about YouTube and YouTube ads. He shared strategies for in-feed and in-stream ads, which was great, but that’s not where the insight came from.

He said, “People go to YouTube to get educated or entertained.”

This is a key distinction from every other social media channel you frequent, where people typically go to mindlessly scroll. Sure, some folks have a strategy, and they engage with people, build relationships, etc. However, the truth is, many people are addicted to compulsively checking Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc, without any real strategy. They don’t go to these platforms to be educated.

Thus, if you are an expert in any field, YouTube should be part of your plan. This is how you will be found.

The second speaker was Lauren Tickner, who spoke about posting strategies for Instagram. The nugget I took away from her was the power of three. She mentioned having three key topics you create content about over and over again.

If you want to be an expert in your industry, you need to be clear on what it is you’re going to create content on.

For example, my three core topics are typically around business strategy, marketing, and money. I then build out those three topics to include process, mindset, myths, habits, and obstacles.

If you have a good top-line content focus, you can create categories that make generating content easier.

For example, I could write about five obstacles to creating an effective business strategy, three myths you believe about marketing, and seven mindset hacks that will help you make more money.

When you can narrow down your thinking this way, content becomes easier to create.

All this to say, getting out of your comfort zone, listening to and discussing new perspectives with others, and taking time to really think about your business matter.

You can’t create success in a silo all by yourself, so you need to immerse yourself in situations that cause you to think differently. You need to facilitate your own lessons learned on a regular basis.