“But what do I say?”
In this series, I’ve been sharing step-by-step instructions for content marketing: exactly how we do it, and how you can do it, too.
The content you publish is your side of the conversation. It should be guided by your audience’s side of the conversation: the questions they ask, the problems they’re trying to solve and even the comments they make.
For that reason, I call these blog posts and emails “love letters”—because I’m writing them to you as a friend.
You can’t get people into your business if you won’t let people into your life.
The Love Letter
If you haven’t heard the term “love letters” before, that’s OK. You’re already familiar with them (you’re reading one now).
Love letters are simply notes to your audience about the things they care about. They’re helpful tips, answers to questions and intimate details of your story.
They’re not “newsletters.”
They’re definitely not “sales letters.”
I write my love letters to you as answers to questions I receive from other gym owners. Every week, I get questions from gym owners—by email, on social media and so on. The questions are always good, and I always know others have the same questions.
So I answer them here. The best love letters I’ve written came from the best questions I was asked.
For example:
Gym owners ask all the time about the best gym-management platform. So we spent over $10,000 to answer that question in 2020 (and even more cash on the same subject in 2019). This long love letter is an answer to a critical question many gym owners ask:
“The 7 Best Gym Management Software Platforms”
Here are some other love letters that came from questions:
“Why I’m Headed to CrossFit HQ”
“How Many ‘Likes’ Do You Need?”
“How to Say ‘No’ To Discounts”
“Why You’ll Never Need 300 Members”
“How To Optimize Your Day”
And I’ve written literally hundreds more.
We—and You—Must Tell Stories
In a podcast interview, I was once asked, “What’s the most important piece of content you’ve produced? Which one made the biggest impact?”
A better question would have been: “What year of writing was your best?”
Between 2009 and 2012, I wrote over 390 blog posts on DontBuyAds.com. Then I wrote “Two-Brain Business.”
From 2012 to 2015, I had over 300 posts on 321GoProject. They’re gone. But most of them came from “Two-Brain Business 2.0” and “Help First.”
From 2016 until now, I have over 1,000 blog posts on this site. Through the Covid crisis, we published a Daily Brief to help gym owners find the step-by-step instructions they needed fast.
We’re nearing the 400th episode of Two-Brain Radio.
We’re on YouTube, and we post to social media constantly, both publicly and in private groups for our clients.
How do we produce so much? How do we publish every day? How do we find so much to talk about?
The simple answer is we can’t not publish every day.
We can’t not do free calls with affiliates who want to grow.
We can’t not answer their questions.
I can’t not care.
And that means I have to share the answers. I’m literally compelled to. When a gym owner asks a great question, I have to share my answer. I’ve skipped workouts, family time and a ton of fun personal stuff to do so.
That, my friend, is love. Not the love of writing but the love of The Movement, of your potential to change lives and of service.
What Do You Need to Say?
What are you compelled to share with your friends? What will keep you up at night if you don’t tell them?
Think of all of those times you’ve heard a friend say “I’m doing this diet” or “I’m just going to do this walking program” and you didn’t speak up. Think about Aunt Jane and her diabetes.
I know you have something to say. Now’s the time to say it. Here’s your permission.
Other Media in This Series
The Catchiest Title of All Time (Content Marketing)
Starting the Conversation
Content Marketing: “This Is Working!”
