You don’t have to take my advice (but I would)
It’s been a minute since I’ve done marketing advice in my stories. I guess I have shifted a bit from being an advising or consulting account, but I do frequently answer marketing questions in my inbox. The top one I’m asked is:
“How do you become a successful content creator in Southern Illinois?”
and to which I answer “You tell me.”
No, I’m kidding. I would consider myself pretty successful. When talking to some of the original influencers in this area, it took the years to get paid for a reel, or hired for coordination. It took me 4 weeks. But I also had the way paved for me by these influencers, and by 2023 more and more businesses saw the worth of social media, are beginning to even understand what a content creator is. Either way, I make steady enough money monthly doing this that I report it on our taxes, so I consider myself successful :)
Okay so here’s my advice, and I’m going to tell it to you straight as if we were discussing it over drinks.
Don’t expect to make money right away.
I forget what the exact number is, but it’s something like it takes 5 years before a new business owner is successful enough to draw a salary. Content coordinating is a business. You have to be able to view yourself as a business, which includes many a spreadsheet, accordion folder of receipts, tracking mileage.
All of that said; you will be doing a LOT of free content in the beginning just to get views, followers, likes. That’s the thing, in order for someone to see you as valid or big enough to have an impact for their marketing, you have to have followers. And you have to have engagement numbers, you can’t simply buy followers or start following random folks in another country and hope for them to follow you back. Because people notice that, when you have high follower counts but barely any likes or views. The best way to get reach and engagement is collaborating with another account, ideally an active and popular one. I go with the tourism bureaus because of my niche, but I also share to Southern Illinois Eats group on Facebook when I know it will be a popular subject because I will get 4k+ views just from that sometimes. Especially if I know that restaurants typical customers on Facebook users over Instagram.
So yeah, like any industry you have to do the grunt work in order to work your way up. You have to offer content for free passes or food and be excited about that, because it is exciting, it means you’re on your way! But most of the time, it means using your own gas, money for food, paying for nice equipment - without any guarantee of a return on those investments, other than reach…because reach = opportunity in this business.2. Be realistic about your pricing.
So everyone bases their pricing in their own ways. Some folks do this based on what they have put into their business financially to get a return on investments like equipment, software, billing and website services, plus their costs for creating the content if it requires them to purchase something (food) and their time. Other people base it off their experience or knowledge. And still others base it off their following and reach.
I can’t tell you which approach is right for you in a blanket statement, because every content creator’s situation is different and unique. But I can tell you a few of my thoughts on these approach.
I understand pricing for a return on investment. However, you can’t do this without a following and body of work to back up what you are worth. You’ll see this with brand new restaurants renting an expensive space; they have to price their products so they can afford to stay there. But the portion sizes, aesthetic, and taste - or even the genre of food they offer - does not make sense with that price tag. And so they don’t do very well. This is the same in the digital marketing world. You could be the absolute best with the best equipment. But with no portfolio, no references…you essentially have no proof you’re worth what you’re asking for. At that point, you have to A) go back to your experience to price yourself; I do this by comparing my pricing to others and what I know of their experience, results, and current following and adjust accordingly. And B) do some free or significantly discounted work to build your portfolio.
When I first started coordinating, I charged half of what I do now. I was figuring an hourly total based on what Google and checking out others pricing was, and roughly estimating how much time it would take me to gather, create, and post content each month. After doing this for a few months, I doubled my pricing. There were double the hours I anticipated in doing all of this plus creating a report to show my results each month, and creating a content calendar for review.
After I had two coordination clients for six months, I felt comfortable raising my prices to new clients. I had bodies of work to refer to others, and folks they could speak with about working with me. I honestly probably still underprice myself, however my niche does tend to limit me and I knew that when I choose it. I want to help small business owners and tourism bureaus; the former do not have money for a dedicated marketing department, and the latter are either limited in funding for something like coordination services or influencers, or they are old school in thinking a receptionist should run the bureaus social media. This is not a slam against bureaus nor receptionists doing this (I’ve worked in and as both), but tourism having the potential to bring in SUBSTANTIAL money for their businesses, residents, local and state taxes, and the bureaus themselves is no small thing. I’m getting off on a tangent though, let’s refocus.3. You cannot be afraid to cold call. Period.
If you are trying to become a content creator in Southern Illinois or other small, rural areas with a strong small local business presence and multiple tourism bureaus, with a small following and no body of work, you cannot wait for business to come to you. It won’t. Or you will have to accept whatever comes your way. If you want to work with businesses, towns, what have you - you have to ask for it. You have to track down websites, emails, phone numbers. You need to have a pitch, you need a media kit. You need to know how to express how you will benefit them. You need to find a way to word that you are expecting payment, or simply wanting exposure for both your businesses through collaboration. The idea of content creation and collaborations are still fresh to many around here, and they’re not going to know about it - or you - unless you bring these options to their attention. If you want to get to the point that you get to choose the people and things you work on AND get paid for, you have to learn to ask for them.
4. It sucks but you have to hustle.
I don’t love hustle culture, I do everything to keep my lazy butt out of it. But the reality is, this is marketing. Marketing is hustle culture. It’s competition. The point of marketing is to make your product or service seen and heard, to be the loudest voice in the room or at least be able to get attention. You have to convince people why they should spend money on you or the product. You have to hustle. You have to have quality content for your portfolio, you have to keep engaging and churning good content to keep reach and engagement up (all of which “validate” your expertise), you have to ask for opportunities and fulfill them, you have to build a community on your platforms to keep that engagement up and recurring customers. If you aren’t willing to hustle even a little bit, the people who are will get your opportunities. There are only so many businesses in this area, and once people align with someone or feel an attachment, a favoritism to a service provider, they rarely jump ship. Why would I go with someone who barely puts in an effort that I can see over the person who seems to have it together, by how hard they’re hustling? This is my business which is my baby, would I rather trust it to the one who has hustle culture mentality, or someone lazy? Right.
I’m going to say this is part one because there is actually a lot more I could say on this subject, but this blog is getting long. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!
