Why Being An ‘Engagement Junkie’ Is The Fastest Way To Go Broke

What the f*ck am I doing wrong!?

I asked myself this every day 2.5 years ago before I had my 6 figure discovery.

I was writing content exactly how the big creators told me to… but I was still getting no leads or clients. It was beyond frustrating because I knew I was putting in the work and trying my best every single day.

I even went to the extremes. I would find top performing posts on LinkedIn then write them out by hand on a piece of paper. Then I would look at the structure, flow, and rhythm, and write my own post on a different topic following it to the letter (down to the same number of words per sentence).

It got me engagement, but never any clients.

After about 6 months of this I knew there had to be a better way. Then I read the book ‘They Ask You Answer’ by Marcus Sheridan. It opened my eyes to a different approach of content marketing… with the only goal being trust and relevancy (not engagement).

The whole time I was trying to be like the big creators who got lots of likes and comments on their posts… when really what I needed to be doing was writing for the people I could help. Their pains, fears, desires, etc.

This put me onto the idea of targeted content and I never looked back.

Since I made the shift to writing targeted content 2.5 years ago, I’ve generated almost half a million dollars from LinkedIn for myself and my clients.

It works. The only trade off is you have to be willing to sacrifice your ‘LinkedIn fame’ and vanity metrics. This targeted approach to content is NOT meant to go viral. It’s not meant to get you a ton of impressions.

It’s meant to get you a ton of leads. It’s meant to get you a ton of attention and trust from the people you actually can help (and who will pay you money).

By its very nature… it will speak to less people.

But the people it does speak to will be the right people.

The reason I’m telling you this is because I’ve played the wrong game too, I get it… I’ve chased the hacks, virality, and the engagement metrics… it always leads to the same destination.

Empty followers who will never buy or care about what you offer.

Fear Of Niching

The first thing my clients say to me when I get them to start writing content this way:

They’re scared that narrowing their niche will make them miss out on a larger audience and potential revenue.

My rebuttal: Going broad and generic will actually make you invisible (at least to the people you actually care about) and keep you broke. Don’t believe me? Try it.

I’m serious… go try writing broad content for 6 months. I’d bet money that in less than 3 months you’d come to me realizing that it just doesn’t get you leads and clients.

This fear of niching is actually FOMO (fear of missing out) in disguise. It’s not real. You have to let go of it starting now. If you don’t… you’ll stay in the same place and keep writing the same content that doesn’t bring you any leads or clients.

Commodities are generalists that appeal to everyone. Authorities are specialists who solve specific problems for specific people. The best analogy for this is one I learned from Dan Kennedy…

Think of an eye surgeon vs a general practitioner. The eye surgeon is a specialized for a very specific problem for a specific group of people. With that they get to charge higher prices.

With your content you want to come across as the eye surgeon (specialist), not the GP (generalist/commodity).

Making It Simple

Targeted content can sound like a lot of work and effort.

The depth… the specific hooks… the right calls to action… it can all seem overwhelming.

Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t.

It’s actually quite simple when you use what you already have. If you aren’t familiar with my AAA Framework, I’ll give it to you raw and simple. (And if you want a deeper dive into how to do it,I have a recording I did for my private community here)

It goes like this…

Each A stands for Authority, Alignment, & Authenticity

Authority→ The goal with this is to show you’re not an absolute beginner, you have wisdom from experience, and get your clients results.

Share client successes, insights from experience, emotionally relevant solutions

Examples → Case studies, questions you were asked on a call or in the DMs, solve a niche problem/pain/frustration

Alignment →The goal with this is to write content around your beliefs, values, and worldview.

This will attract clients who are aligned with you and your biz and people you actually want to work with.

Examples → Strong beliefs you have about your niche, core values you have about business (beyond money), how you perceive and make decisions based on what you think is true

Authenticity→ The goal here is to share your story and personal things about you to show people you’re human.

This makes you relatable more than anything else.

Examples → Mistakes, wins, lessons, turning points

There’s Nothing New Under The Sun

Don’t worry or put pressure on yourself about saying something your niche has never heard before. Too many solopreneurs get stuck here believing they have to come up with completely novel and groundbreaking ideas… you don’t.

Just share from experience and use the AAA Framework (it has been a foundation for me and my clients to build 6 figure service businesses using LinkedIn).

The more you overthink the writing process the worse your content will be. Understand that nobody is living your life with your experiences and your proof. Ideally you have already solved the problem your niche has, and you can be the hero or guide for them now. That’s it.

Being you is actually your competitive advantage. Because even though there will be other people writing and selling to your niche… they won’t be able to say things like you do because it’ll all be based on your own personal lens.

Does This Actually Work?

I’ve already told you to expect less engagements and impressions, that comes with the territory. But I get it can feel like a gamble if targeted content doesn’t actually land you clients and now you’re getting less attention. So let me put it like this…

I hit my first $10K month less than 6 months after making the switch to targeted content.

My client Abby went from struggling for 2 years with 0 clients to 5 full time retainer clients in less than 10 months when she made the switch.

Rocky 9.9x’d her coaching income in less than a year and had her dream clients coming to her once she started writing for the people she can actually help.

I’m not going to lie to you and say overnight you’ll have clients at your door. It takes a bit of time to build trust… but that broad generic content is building 0. So best to start now. Because you and I both know likes don’t pay the bills. So why are you still chasing them?

Highly targeted posts are what drive real business results and magnetize people who are serious.

That’s all you need to be focused on if you want to make more money and help more people.

Your content might be the first time somebody comes across you and your world…

Do you want your dream clients to think “Damn this person can really help me!”

Or…

“Cool another billboard post with a platitude”

You get to decide.