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Robby: The branded podcast Robbie
Fowler, episode 99, conquer

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Your Content Planning Six key
challenges and how to overcome them.

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Part two.

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Here's the central question
we're asking in this series.

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How do you feel about your content
marketing over the past six months?

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Do you feel great?

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You've got your act totally together.

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Do you feel pretty good?

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Sometimes you do well, it's hit
or miss, or do you feel guilty?

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You haven't shown up.

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You've struggled to get content created.

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And, you know, you should be doing better.

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My goal is to help you create a
content plan you can actually execute

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so that you can grow your business.

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I want you to be able to expand
your brand and ultimately have it

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show up in your bottom line revenue.

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And the first episode of
this series, episode 98.

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We looked at the problem and
the problem is what is missing.

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Is, we don't have a simple
plan, that's connected to a

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sexy goal and someone who cares.

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That's what's missing in
most of our content planning.

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That's why we are feeling overwhelmed
in spite of all of the tools, all

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of the resources, all of the things
available to us intended to help us with

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content planning and content marketing.

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We still feel overwhelmed.

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Why?

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Because we don't have a plan, that's
highly doable, highly desirable, and

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has a high degree of accountability.

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And today's episode, we're going
to talk about the second challenge.

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I call it the Chart the Course Challenge.

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First let's divide our year up
into quarters quarter one quarter

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two quarter three, quarter four.

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The chart, the course
challenge goes like this.

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What in the world should I be doing with
my content planning in this quarter?

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And here's the question I want you
to ask as you begin to create a plan.

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For whatever quarter of the
year, you find yourself in.

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The question is, do you have any
big rocks in this quarter or do you

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have tiny pebbles in this quarter?

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So at the time I'm recording
this, this is quarter two of 2023.

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So you'd be asking yourself  in
this quarter, do I have any big

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rocks or do I have tiny pebbles?

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Now a big rock is something that
you're launching this quarter.

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If you're getting started out, maybe
you were about to launch your podcast.

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Maybe you're about to
host your first webinar.

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Maybe you are.

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You're about to release your first.

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Offer.

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Or your first.

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Product.

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That would be a big rock.

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Maybe you're about to release
your first book in this quarter.

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So those are examples of big rocks.

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In other words, the intent is in this
quarter, I'm focusing the majority of

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my efforts on something that's intended
to have a big splash for my business.

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That's called a big rock.

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The second option is if this is
quarter two and you don't plan on

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launching something big this quarter.

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In other words, this is just a regular
rhythm quarter where you still have

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products and services and offers
available, but you're not introducing

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something big or something new.

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Then this is a tiny pebbles quarter.

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This is where you're just trying
to turn the dial up on your thought

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leadership on your expertise to expand
your reach into expand your influence.

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So that's the first problem.

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Most of us have a hard time with our
content planning, because we're not

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sure quarter by quarter where we're
going and when you don't know where

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you're going, it's very hard to plan
for nowhere or maybe even worse.

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It's hard to plan for anywhere
I could be going anywhere.

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So you've got to decide,
is this a big rock quarter?

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Is this a tiny pebbles quarter?

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And here's the action step
I want you to take with you.

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Your action step is to decide your course
direction for the quarter that you're in.

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So if this is quarter two, you've
got to decide your course direction.

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If you're launching a big rock
this quarter: an offer a webinar

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or releasing a book, something big.

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Then here's what you want to be
doing in your content planning

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and your content marketing.

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You want to take all of that
content planning and you want to

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aim it at the primary pain and
problem that your big rock during

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this quarter is going to address.

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You want to talk about the benefits
and the transformation that you were

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big rock that you're launching this
quarter is going to provide your

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ideal customer or your audience.

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And you could even consider a
three-part attack  that talks about the

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opportunity, your offer your product
or your service, or your big rock is

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going to provide for your audience.

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You talk about the transformation that
it's going to make available to your

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audience, and then you challenge them  to
take a sense of ownership in relation to

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whatever it is you're about to launch.

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So if you were about to launch a webinar,
you would say something like I'm going

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to be hosting some upcoming training.

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That's going to really.

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Really help you do X, Y, Z.

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If.

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You're wanting to go accomplish
this next thing, whatever the topic

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of the webinar is going to be.

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So in other words, you're beginning to
create some of your content plan around.

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Hey, the thing I'm about to
launch is going to present you

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with a really great opportunity.

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And then you would also talk about
the transformation that the thing

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you're going to launch is going to
make available for your audience.

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And then you challenge
them to take ownership.

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So if you're ready to take ownership
of XYZ, then you're going to

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want to join me on the webinar.

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You're going to want to hop into
this course or join my community  or

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whatever the big rock offer is.

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So that's what you're deciding.

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If you've decided that this quarter
is about big, a big rock that

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you're launching, then that's what
your content planning goes around.

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And addresses the pain and the problem,
the benefits and the transformation.

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Or you can think about that three
part framework, the opportunity,

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the transformation, and a challenge
to ownership for your ideal

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customer or your ideal audience.

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But what if this quarter is more
about just tiny pebbles, you're not

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launching something huge or big or
significant this quarter, you are

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just moving ahead in your business.

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In that case, when it comes to
casting tiny pebbles out on the water.

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Those don't make a big splash,
but they have a ripple effect.

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If you imagine picking up a handful
of really small rocks and chucking

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them out into a Placid lake, you would
see a bunch of little small ripples.

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That's different than launching a
huge rock out into the middle of

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the lake that creates a tremendous
splash and a massive ripple effect.

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So if you're in a tiny pebbles quarter,
here's your goal in that quarter.

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It's not to launch something.

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It's to establish your expertise
and your thought leadership.

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It's to establish your brand.

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Now if you're a business to business.

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Or a business to consumer business.

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You're really looking for going
from free in this quarter to fee.

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You're looking to move your
ideal customers from something

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free to something fee.

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And if you're a personal brand,
then you're looking to establish

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expertise and thought leadership.

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So you want to, in this
quarter, you want to add value.

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You want to educate your audience
around the pain or the problem

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that your business helps solve.

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You want to solve problems for
your ideal customer for free.

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So you're releasing content that's going
to help them with some of their pains

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and problems and give away free value
that actually solves their problem.

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And you also want to advance your brand.

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Your brand in this case, I want
you to think about this very

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simple sentence or explanation from
Marty Neumeier, who's a branding.

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Genius and expert.

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The only blank that blanks.

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So the only, and then you insert the
category of the business that you're in.

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That blanks you insert the key
differentiator and example would be

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if you were a tea company, you would
say we are the only healthy tea.

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That's the category where
the only healthy tea.

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That the whole family will love.

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That's the key differentiator,
or you might say.

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I'm the only brand consultant
Building life giving brands that

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bless the company and the customer.

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So the only one, but that's.

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That should be coming through in your
content marketing, because your goal in.

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Quarter where you're casting tiny pebbles.

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Is to advance your expertise and thought
leadership, or if you're B2B or B to

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C, it's really to move people, your
customers from something free where

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you're giving away free value to.

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To a fee, something that
they're paying you for.

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That's the goal, even if you're not
launching something significant,

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you already have products,
services available, and your goal

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is to draw more people into your.

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Audience that would be potential customers
and to move them from free to fee, if

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you're a B2B company or a B to C company.

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If you want a killer example
of this as a B to C company.

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Check out a Sunday lawn care, you
can find them at getsunday.com.

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I'll put a link to this in the
show notes, but here's a company

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that does this extremely well.

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If you just look at their blog
for their content marketing.

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There's categories, like
explore your shed home.

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Lawn how tos, right?

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How to do things, yearning your
lawn, gardening guides, weeding tips.

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Pest pointers.

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You can get product instructions about
how to use their different products.

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They do a great job of releasing
content and moves someone from free

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help about your lawn to fee signing
up for their lawn care services,

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where they send you stuff in the mail.

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So I would encourage you
to go check that out.

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If you want to see an example of a
company that does that well, and then

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go check out their Instagram, where
they're not typically selling things,

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they're delivering helpful advice.

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They're really establishing their
brand as a company that's safe and

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free from pesticides that helps you
create beautiful green lawns that are

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safe for your kids or for your pets.

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So that's their brand distinction.

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They're the only lawn care company.

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Maybe they would say we're the only
online lawn care company that provides.

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Chemical free, safe.

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Lawn care.

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For your, that's safe enough for
your family and for your pet.

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So go check them out for a great example.

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I'll put a link to
those in the show notes.

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So I hope that helps you think
about your content planning.

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One of the struggles is it's much
like trying to plan a trip when

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you don't know where you're going.

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So that's why the Chart the
Course Challenge is the first

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challenge we need to tackle when
it comes to content planning.

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Where am I headed in the next quarter?

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Is this a big rock quarter?

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If so.

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Here's the implications
for my content planning.

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Is this a tiny pebbles quarter?

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If so, here are the implications
for my content planning.

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I hope that helps you begin to get
your mind around, "Okay, that would

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bring some clarity about how I get
my arms around this content planning

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that has me just suffocating under
the weight of the expectations."

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Chart your course.

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Decide where you're going first
and that will clarify the content

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planning that you need to do.

00:11:33.756 --> 00:11:37.746
Join me on the next episode of this
podcast, as we jump into part three

00:11:37.746 --> 00:11:41.826
of this series, now that we know where
we're headed, what do we do next?

00:11:42.226 --> 00:11:44.326
I look forward to seeing
you on that episode.

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Until the next episode,
thanks so much for joining me.

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Please leave a review on apple podcasts.

00:11:50.736 --> 00:11:54.096
If this is helpful, or you can share
this with a friend, if you want to

00:11:54.096 --> 00:11:55.986
dialogue with someone else about this.

00:11:56.186 --> 00:11:59.996
Just click that share button
on your podcast player and

00:12:00.086 --> 00:12:01.076
share this with a friend.

00:12:01.076 --> 00:12:02.906
I so appreciate that.

00:12:02.906 --> 00:12:06.416
Until next time go and
build a life- giving brand