The Power of Bingeable Content
Press play.
Hit “complete” and press “next episode”
Repeat. Repeat.
No, this isn’t the latest Netflix show (though there was a lot of that too over the last month.
It’s a free video series I binge-watched about building a 7-figure online education business.
In an email by Jeremy Enns of the Podcast Marketing Academy, he referenced someone he’s learning sales from. As I’m doing lots of research about sales systems for this month’s Deeper Business Dialogues, I wanted to learn their approach.
I signed up for this person’s email list, and I was immediately sent:
An opt-in for a free whole book about evergreen program sales
A series of video education modules intro-ing the whole system and his point of view about launches, paid ads, and most evergreen sales funnels
And I read the book and I binge-watched the whole video series for free. I’m not ready for these systems yet, but it helped inform my 2024 product roadmap on how to be ready for those kinds of systems. And you bet I’ll look hard at hiring this person when I’m ready for that strategy in my business.
I did the same thing with Ali Abdaal’s $1 YouTuber Foundations course during December. Launching my YouTube channel is a 2024 priority, and so I wanted to check out if Ali’s accelerator was right for me. I watched his $1 course, with over 3 hours of incredibly actionable content. It was a no-brainer that I signed up for the more advanced program.
What I didn’t do? Check either of these people out on social.
I follow Ali on YouTube, but otherwise tried to be off social more these days.
But these businesses had built assets that let me build familiarity and rapport - fast - without them having to be constantly pumping out social media content or even regularly producing email content or podcast episodes.
The 7-11-4 Framework
In Daniel Priestly’s book “Oversubscribed”, he introduces the 7-11-4 framework based on Google research.
The 7-11-4 formula is about building bonds with people and potential customers. In particular, it relates to you having 7 hours worth of interesting content available - blogs, videos, articles, interviews, books, etc – so people can spend time with you. 11 is about the number of interactions you have with those people. It is based on some research that people who had about 11 interactions with a brand are considerably more likely to buy from that brand. 4 relates to locations and suggests that you connect in at least 4 different ‘places’ – face to face, blog, as an author of a book, seeing a presentation or meeting socially, then levels of trust increase.
So in Ali’s case, or with this other creator, I was able to:
See them in video
Read their emails
Read their books
Take a short course
All without them having to be ever-present and continually working to get those interactions in front of me.
The quality and depth of each of those pieces was also reflective of building trust. I can’t imagine how many social media posts you’d have to create to build 7 hours of content someone can binge.
I realized that I followed that pattern for many of my mentors. I’ve been reading Jay Acunzo’s newsletters, listening to his guest podcasts, and attending roundtables for a few months before I bought. Same thing for the other communities and mentors I’m working with.
Creating binge-able assets
I also, not going to lie, was intimidated with how to build that much content to live on my site. These businesses have larger teams and quite frankly have had just simply more years to create frameworks, create pressure-tested processes, and build out the back end infrastructure.
But what can I do?
I put my newsletters on my website (so my great ideas can be found!) and optimize them for SEO.
I can highlight my foundational blog posts, my Rooted Business Lifecycle quiz, and my (new!) business models class online onto a Resources page
I can create a playlist of all of the podcasts I’ve been featured on - with a link on my site
I have recorded monthly business dialogues that live on my site
That’s most of my 2023 work, compiled in one place so that if someone finds me online, is intrigued, then they can dive in to my content across writing, video, podcasts, and live interaction. Definitely more than 7 hours of content!
I’m addressing a pillar of a sustainable sales and marketing framework: long-form content pieces that live in an evergreen fashion and can be discovered.
And I’m building even more this year - a YouTube channel with discoverable videos and a few other surprises along the way.
But where can you start, especially if you don’t have a ton of time?
Maybe for you that means:
Creating a video or screenshare that illustrates your process with a client as a case study
Creating some foundational blog posts that explain your thinking and explore your premise in a depth that can’t be achieved in a carousel or 140-character twitter post
A short-run private podcast if you’re not a writer
A 5-day email course
As a side note - I find that having to create this longer-form content makes you have to get real clear, real quick on your position and your ideas. It requires a level of depth that you don’t necessarily need to delve into in order to create short-form social content - but helps you drive more resonance.
So I ask you: where can you divest some time from focusing only on more ephemeral content that requires you to keep producing and instead, invest some time in documenting those assets to create more trust AND more resilience in your business?