Victories and questions: your fallback for content

Victories and questions: your fallback for content

Victories and questions: your fallback for content

Struggling to find what to write about?

Not sure where to start, how to direct your team, feeling blank?

There are two categories which will never fail you (unless of course you’re not talking to your clients, in which case, sort that out!).

Victories

and

Questions.

I’m talking particularly about your clients’ victories, and your clients’ questions. (Or even those of your prospects!)

The important thing is to pay attention to these, and write them down.

Because when you get stuck, and you need to write a blog post or record a video or create content, your fallback is in the areas of the victories your clients have achieved, and the questions they ask you.

This week, I got an email from a graduate of our Accelerator programme. He actually replied to last week’s Note about our ‘inner marketing voices’, and said:

“I do also have ‘up & downs’ as I’m always comparing myself to what other marketeers may be doing (which is probably not a good idea), and think “Why didn’t I think of that”, or I miss an opportunity that someone else picks up on in the firm here. So I do doubt myself sometimes. But a friend came to me the other day, and asked for marketing help because they were struggling to come up with ideas for a new client, and I just reeled off a whole series of ideas, and mentioned the “they ask, you answer” concept, and they loved what I was suggesting – and a lot of this is down to you guys! My marketing knowledge (and self-confidence) has increased tenfold since working with you & your team. You probably don’t realise the amazing impact TPF has had helping people like myself with enhancing our marketing know-how! You’ve also given me more structure & planning to projects I hadn’t even considered before.

There’s marketing gold dust in there.

He’s encouraged. His client is helped and encouraged. When I shared it with the PF team, they too were encouraged.

It’s victories all round.

We could (and probably will, with his permission) turn some of these comments into quotes and quote images in our own marketing. (You can see some of them on our PF Instagram account here.)

But we wouldn’t have this to fall back on if I’d simply replied and said thanks, and deleted it or filed it away somewhere.

You have to save them, keep them, make sure you have them word for word if at all possible – because when you need content, there it is.

The other category is questions. By now most of you are familiar with “They Ask You Answer”, the book of all books for accountants who want to be inspired in marketing, and you have to keep a record of those questions, too.

Because if you don’t record them straight away, you’ll forget them – or worse, you’ll forget exactly HOW the question was asked. And the words they use to ask the questions are just as important, if not more so, than the question itself.

Here are a few questions I and the team got in the last week alone.

  • I’m sure that social does work, but can you give me proof that posting daily actually works for accountants? Answer.
  • Are we excluding potential clients if we narrow down our audience to a niche? Answer.
  • is it okay to have more than one niche?
  • Is there an ideal length (word count) for a blog post? Answer.
  • Do you specifically mention client names in a case study?  Not sure my client would like to be named in solving his tax issues. Answer (webinar).
  • Can we write about non-accounting/tax problems in our content? Answer.

You’ll notice that next to each one, I’ve indicated where we’ve already answered the question in the past.

There’s only one that we haven’t specifically answered in one post or article – it’s probably hidden in another one somewhere – but that makes it easy. That helps me know what to write about!

The more you answer questions and share victories, the easier it is to engage with those who are asking them again – and the more you build trust, and expertise. The inference being, if you’ve dealt with this so often you’ve created content around it, you must know what you’re doing.

Victories, and questions.

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ON THE GRAM

Popped into a fave local coffee shop in York this week and this was the mug they gave me. ❤️✨

Wasn’t feeling so superwomanny when I got it - this week was very full, plus period cramps and multiple migraines and my ankle being wonky and more travel than I’ve done in a while. I had intended to get coffee but the cramps were so bad I had to go for mint tea and just sit until they faded enough for me to walk again. 

At the same time, I also had an amazing time during this week with the @weare_pf Board meeting in person for the first time. Getting to know each other better as humans and sharing ideas and making plans and most of all appreciating that the weight of all the business decisions doesn’t rest solely on my shoulders. 

This is just one of your reminders that being a superwoman looks different at different times, and whether you’re striding along strongly or sitting weakly with mint tea, your superwoman status still applies. 

#justkeepgoing #superwoman #muglife #wegotthis #onedayatatime
Every single time I go sailing past this lighthouse on the mull-to-Oban ferry I think “this time I’ll just watch it and not take any pictures” 

And then something wild happens like A SAILBOAT GOES BY and of course I have to capture that, surely I haven’t taken that photo before (spoiler: I have), and then I have about seventeen lighthouse photos to add to my collection of seven thousand lighthouse photos from the last twenty years. 

But, I figure, what’s the harm anyway. It’s my photos and my memories and it brings me joy. I love the lighthouse as a visual of my journey from the mainland to the island (or a reminder I’ll be back soon). 

So, see you soon lighthouse. Thanks for standing there. 

#lismorelighthouse #eileanmusdile #lighthouse #lighthousesofinstagram #oban #ferry #calmac #isleofmull #sailaway #sailboat #scotland #travelscotland
I read. A lot. My list of “books to read” has over 100 titles listed, and every time I mention a book I’ve appreciated, I get another recommendation of a new one and the list gets longer. 

One of the books recommended to me years ago was “The Buddha in Me the Buddha in You”. She mentioned it had some helpful principles about how we navigate life - and whether you’re a buddhist or not, there are principles you can learn from and apply in life.

I wrote it down, forgot about it, and moved on with life. Read lots of other books.

And then when I broke my ankle, and was sitting and resting a LOT, with loads of time for reading, I went back to my list and started reconsidering some of the titles on it.

When I looked up “The Buddha in Me the Buddha in You”, the subtitle was “A Handbook for Happiness”, and that struck me.

Dealing with an injury is difficult. Sad. Wearying. It can be hard to find happiness and every day feels about the same. (Very Groundhog Day.)

So I bought the book, and put it by my bed. I started getting into a pattern of reading a chapter every morning with my coffee.

I thought I’d share some of the principles I appreciated and which are already helping me as I continue to navigate my life right now: 

[the full post on these is too long for an Insta post so click the link in bio or story if u want to read more!]

Thank the spoon - a spoon stirs up the mud in what had appeared to be clear water. Same with life: hard things stir up what you haven’t dealt with yet. So you thank them. “Thank you, spoon”

The Fundamental darkness (FD) - the “Survival Obsessed Self” who responds in a way based on survival but not growth

There’s a gift in the struggle - He describes it visually as “the lotus flower in the muddy pond”. You can focus on the mud, or on the flower, but they’re both there.

Nam - myo - ho - renge - kyo : The happiness soundtrack - I pulled out the core concepts of each of these words as they applied to me, and they are: 

Purpose
Mystery
Potential 
Bloom in the struggle
Flow of life

#karensnotes #buddhainmebuddhainyou #books #reading #happysaturday 

[full note link in bio!]
The snow is swirling the wind is howling IT’S FROZEN OUT THERE 
#snowing #happyspringeveryone #inlikealion