Marketing: 15 Content Ideas in 15 minutes, July 2021

(00:03):
Hi, welcome to July. Oh my goodness. July, 15 content ideas in 15 minutes with me, Nicola from Mint Business Club and our, oh, that way.
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I’m Michelle from Michelle Rose Marketing.
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Okay. So we’re going to, we’re going to stick to time, 15 minutes. I’ve actually got a timer on, so are you ready for this? On the 2nd of July it’s I forgot day.
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Now, what have we all forgotten Nic? What do we all forget? Anyone ever forget to do their marketing, I wonder?
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Anyone ever forget to do this video til the very last day of June to get ready for July? We forget all sorts. You can have so much fun with it. Funny stories. Other stories, forget to do your business stuff. I mean, I
forgot day lends itself to any kind of content completely.
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What about, I think our teachers have been heroes, haven’t they? And especially as we record, there’s loads of kids off, bubbles are shut. So have you forgotten to say thank you to teachers, especially teachers, if your children are, you know, like leaving leaving school. So if you make gifts for teachers, you say to people, don’t forget to get a gift. That might be a nice one. How can you work that around?
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And also, can we just say, and while we’re on that one I did say before, does anyone forget to do their marketing, but can we give you a reminder on this one to please not forget to do your own business marketing? Cause it is really very important and we have a whole series of videos going back for seven months now with lots of marketing ideas for you.
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I’m just going to give mine and Michelle’s new course a plug at this moment. So if you live in the Northeast of England and you want to come and do a funded training on, Let’s Talk About Marketing with Michelle and I, if you’ve been watching us for months and thought, yeah, those lessons, they know what they’re talking about. If you live in the Northeast, not County Durham or Teesside, but the rest of the boroughs, you are very welcome to get in touch with us and say, I want to come and talk about marketing with you two ladies and how I can make it better for my business. So I’m just going to slide that right in there.
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Don’t forget to get in touch with us. Cause it has, we’ve had such a good, we’ve had such a good group of people this past month and we’ve had some amazing results. So we’d love to see you
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Love to see and do more of this with you. So, okay. Hang on. Wait. The 6th of July virtually hug a virtual assistant day, Michelle.
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Well, some of us will have virtual assistants and I do, I’ve got a graphic designer and I’ve got someone who helps me with my Instagram content and someone who tracks my stats for me. And we were actually meant to meet up for the first time last week in real life. She is such a virtual assistant that because of COVID, I’ve never met her. I’ve never met her before, but we were going to meet in real life and self isolation hit. And we couldn’t.
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But I think that when you’re working with people virtually, even if it’s business friends that you know, or your accountant, for example, just, you know, shout out and say, these are the people who are helping my business run. These are the people who I couldn’t do without just, you know, share that, share that love. And I often see posts like this, or someone will do, you know, it’s virtually hug your virtual assistant day or virtually hug people who help your business and they, they tag people and that’s lovely.
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But what I’d love to see is who are you hugging and why? Tell that story, go a little bit deeper. Say why someone is really special to you. They’re then much more likely to, rather than just comment. They’re more likely to share that. Or they might take that and put that as a testimonial on their website, or they might write a blog about it, or they might invite you to their podcast who knows. So go, sometimes when you’re wanting to do a post and tag people, whilst that’s useful, can sometimes, can you go a bit deeper? Can you pull out that story because stories really stop people scrolling and they engage and stories, quite more often, convert people to action as well. So get a little bit deeper on that. So yes, it’s about virtual assistants, but just how you make your content more engaging in general.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. Then the day after you’ve hugged everybody virtually, we’ve got tell the truth day. Now I like this. It’s also by the way, global forgiveness day. So you could tell the truth and ask for forgiveness in the same post. Oh yes,
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Yes, yes. Ask for forgiveness. Not for permission. Yes.
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Well we’re maybe into some content that we don’t actually want to say or write or ever admint to on that, but I think tell the truth day you know, there is a, for me there’s a real distinction between, you know, showing people behind the scenes and telling your truth and whinging an awful lot. And I’m going to say this because I want to tell the truth, you know, so we need to be really thoughtful about how we share our truth and our reality, because it has to be shared. Things need to be talked about and how we do that in a structured way so people, your customers, your potential customers, don’t just think you’re a whingebag?
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Now that’s really truthful for me and I probably wouldn’t have said that without this lead up, you know. There is a difference between, you know, bringing people in because they have that empathy for stuff in your life and actually using it as a kind of a whingebag hook. So if you’re going to tell the truth, it could be a funny truth, a behind the scenes truth or the truth of the reality of how hard it is running your own business. I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but don’t leave people who are reading that truth hanging on a negative. That’s what I would say. You know? So if you’re going to tell the truth about how difficult it is, you know, you leave your readers, understanding that you still love what you do.
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Pulling the message out. This can be hard and I’m telling you the truth because, the truth of it is. And then this is what I’ve done about it. And this is, if you feel like the same, this is what you could do. I took, so it’s interesting, cause I took that day as I think we’ve said this a lot during the course of the past seven months is you don’t always have to say today is national tell the truth day. You could just use me and Nicola, telling you that is, to inspire some content. So this one might be the inspiration for actually showing people the, you the real you. The behind your business. You don’t, we don’t always have to be perfect. You know, you can just show people you without your makeup on, having your morning cup of coffee.
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You know, if your desk is always a mess, but yeah, there’s always one corner of it where you’re taking these beautiful flattering photos, show people the other side of your desk. You don’t have to say I’m telling the truth because it’s national tell the truth day, but you can use it to show people the real you. Give people an insight. People buy people. Yes, they buy your stuff because they love your stuff. But quite often people will make a purchase and decision because of the person who runs the business, because they’re local to them because you know, whatever it is. So yeah, go get that real you out there.
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For sure. Do search on the hashtags. So for example, national tell the truth day as a hashtag. If it’s a fairly well used hashtag, you might want to then bring that into your strategy. If it’s one, that’s got 25 million kazillion people using it, you’ll not get seen. But if it’s somewhere, you know that there’s a few hundred thousand people using that hashtag then obviously people don’t engage in that content on that day. You might want to use that.
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Definitely, for sure.
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But do those searches, because you might say, hello, it’s national tell the truth day so I want to tell you this. I’ve never told anybody this in my life, right? That’s going to be a one, but if it is a thing and people are engaging and people are loving that kind of content, do make sure you search the hashtag and see if you want to be included in what people are saying, because you might do a hashtag search and think there’s no way I want my content coming up in that feed.
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I might search it and think there’s some really good conversations going on here. I will get involved in those conversations. And actually, and that’s, that’s how I want to use this content idea. And that might then, you know, you might see what leads to that in the future. You might see the sign ups to your email list trickle up, so you can, yeah, you can use it in different ways. And then next year when you come to plan for July, you’ll be like, oh, I did something on national tell the truth day. It was brilliant. What did I do? I did that. Okay, I’ll do that again. Or I’ll try something different this year.
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So I think we’re a lot about trying to make your marketing life easier, aren’t we Nic? And not always trying to reinvent the wheel and it’s OK to do things again because people either will want to see it again, or they never saw it first time around or they saw it first time around and they’ve completely forgotten about it. So I’ve already posted about that once. I cannot post about it again. Yes you can!
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Because most people didn’t actually see it. That’s a totally different training video, by the way, which I would be absolutely happy to do for you. teddy bears picnic on the 10th of July, I mean, how many derivations could we get? I just know my Henry, like my Teddy bear that I had since my first Christmas sits next to my bed. And that is the thing I’d save. Apart from my husband. That’s the thing I’d save.
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I’ve got my Mickey the monkey who I got when I was five. And he came with me to uni and he travelled all over the world with me. And even now, I mean, I’ve got, I’ve got an, there’s an owl that side above me, and above, sitting above the owl is a, it’s a little white sheep. So I’ve got, I think, you know, yeah my old business was called Custard and Bear and Bear was a teddy bear in my, in my brand. So do you have teddy bears in your office? Obviously if you make and sell teddy bears, if you supply, you’re a teddy bear suppliers, think about it creatively, but
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Just like precious things. I mean, you can see how me and Michelle have now gone off, off here into our teddy bears and our stories and our history. What that does let you do is sort of bring out stuff from your business past, you know, you’ve got this teddy bear. You’ve had it since you were a kid and it’s been on your journey with you this whole time. I mean, Michelle’s travelling around the world. All of a sudden, just a stratosphere of content. Without that thing that led you there, you wouldn’t have got to it. Right. So you don’t have to say, it’s teddy bears picnic day, again, back to your point from the day before. But, but these are ideas for new and exciting things. Right? Right.
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And it’s good to just to sit and watch what, just chat and see what comes up. We’ve had some people like come up with some crack and ideas for like, oh, you were talking about this. And it made me think of that. And I, and I tried it, but a simple selfie with your teddy bear, you know, sitting outside with your morning cup of tea. This is what we’re doing for teddy bears picnic day. Then brilliant. And you probably find that’ll spark you know, and not so much on Instagram cause you can’t reply with images, but if you’ve got a Facebook group, you know, this is my teddy bear, what’s yours? And it’ll spark off in your Facebook group or on your Facebook page, everyone replying. And it would just be lovely. Yeah.
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That’s just the loveliest idea, just seeing everybody’s teddy bear. And if you sit and nothing and go, what’s that got to do with my business and the stuff I sell, it’s just about the human aspect. It’s about, it’s about bringing people in, it’s about making sure people see you and talk to you and be part of those conversations that make us all human, because it’s humans that buy our stuff. Not algorithms, it’s humans.
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You’ve got a big group for Mint. Your big public group and well over a thousand people in that. And if someone was thinking about your paid for group and they saw that thread with teddy bears and then they run another business group and it was very, it was much more formal and it, you know, someone’s going to go towards the formal one, but someone’s going to go towards the one with all the pictures of the teddy bears, because it’s telling them actually a lot about the ethos and the community and the, the that they both might be very supportive, but they might deliver support in a different way. So even something as simple as a photo of you with your teddy bear says quite a lot about you as a business owner.
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Totally. Now I don’t suppose we’re anywhere close to time, but I’m just going to give a nod to all of the sports for July. So we’ve got football. And if any of you watched the England match last night, cause we are recording this on the 30th of June for July, hence, I forgot day. We obviously know that England right now. Oh, man. There’s no words, but the Olympics is on this month. The golf starts this month. Wimbledon is on right now and it finishes. So if you were in any kind of sport yourself personally, or if you run any kind of sport type business, surely there’s some stuff that you could be inspired by to share as content. I mean, there’s just so much. Like yesterday, Kathryn, one of our members, she, she’s a personal trainer and she was still out when the match was on.
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And she said, she’ll only cancel it if England get to the final, like you go and you do your PT sessions, even if England are in the semifinals. Right? So, you know, content is there and if you’re in the sport world, then by goodness, you’ve got some choice this month, haven’t you?
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Love it, love it, love it. So moving on at speed. National simplicity day on the 12th, Michelle. I just think, well, I think that’s really lovely because I think a lot of us now are small businesses trying to make things Uber difficult, or we’re trying to keep up with big businesses or people who’ve told us what to do. And how nice to have a moment in the middle of the month and just go, do you know what? I’m keeping it simple today. You might not post, you might, or you might schedule a post and go it’s national simplicity day. I’m having a day off and keep it simple.
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We see it all the time. Everyone trying to over-complicate their marketing even overcomplicate their business. And actually, and sometimes, you know, I think it’s because the simple answers are staring us in the face and it’s like, that’s all imposter syndrome. Well, that’s a simple way. I can’t do that. Yes you can actually, you’re allowed to, it’s allowed to be simple. It’s allowed to be enjoyable. So just, just go for it. We are a real, I don’t know, nation of overcomplicaters, so let’s just bring it back and let’s keep it simple. Let’s have a bit of that California vibe, you know,
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Me and you will go for nice coffee and have a nice walk and we’ll just keep it simple for the day. Sounds like a plan. I didn’t mention this one, but on the 14th national nude day, I’m just saying, right. Like any amount of stuff could happen with that one. And it made me smile then I was thinking, but what other way could you use nude? So I’m going to skirt by that one, and go onto the 15th. World youth skills day.
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Nice one.
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I think it’s really cool. I mean, for those of you watching, Mint is a kickstart gateway for 16 to 24 year olds, who’ve been unemployed trying to get them a placement with real meaningful work, like a proper job placement, not just go make the tea placement. And to date we’ve placed about 30 young people. We’re really proud of that. And a lot of our members have taken their first member of staff because you do have to employ them. And we’ve been able to support that and support that growth. And for me, you know, as a business club owner, being able to support true business growth in those terms has been an absolute joy. It’s not been easy, but it is, it is incredibly amazing. So, I mean, for me, as our business, I would be really celebrating these young people who we’ve helped find this placement in businesses that have taken them, you know, and, and just shouting about young people and the skills and the skills they need and what you could do as a business to bring people on, you know, and obviously if you need a kickstarter get in touch, cause it finishes at Christmas and it takes a while to get it in the system, but it, it has been absolutely joyous being able to help and support and offer training to a lot of young people who, who might not have had that opportunity.
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Michelle just, you know, there’s thirty of them in work. And so does that lead to, what does that lead to do? You know, it’s, it’s just lush. Okay. So I mean some of these days, and I was saying this to Michelle off camera. Some of these days just sound truly made up. And, and there was a question on this for me because are we just creating these awareness days over and over again, just to have something to say? And I think part of it is that because people get stuck with what they’re saying, which is why we record this, but you know, you’ve got content all around. Content is absolutely everywhere for your business. And a lot of this, I’m looking going, you know, it’s not really relevant, but all you need is three or four or five ideas to spark another idea.
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So, you know, we’ll get past the Olympics starting, and that, by the way is on the 23rd. And there’s loads of content about the Olympics starting. 24th is national tequila day. Let’s move on from that. But something personally close to my heart, national aunties and uncles day.
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Oh yeah.
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My two favourite humans, my niece and nephew, I’m going to obviously demand a card off them because I didn’t even know there was an aunties and uncle’s day.
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But there should be.
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You’ve got one for everything else, haven’t you? Right, aunties and uncles and nieces and nephews.
That’s where we’re at. So for me on the 26th, I will be sharing loads of glorious stuff about our two kids. And also it’s national dog day, national dog photography day on the 26th, Michelle. Who doesn’t like? If you don’t like dogs, I guess.
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Yes. But it’s like, it’s a similar to the sort of the teddy bear, show us your dog, you know, who’s, you know, who’s got the favourite dog. Who’s got the daftest dog. Who’s got the, just share. So it’s a nice one to get your followers, to engage with you. The dog photographers out there, you could do like, you know, a little informal competition, you know, today I’m not the one taking the photos. I’m going to be judging it. You take your, take your own photos and I’ll do a little contest. There’s a lot of things you could do around that to sort of build it up into something different.
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If, if aunts and uncles day, I didn’t know there was one, I’m guessing there’s not going to be a big display in Tesco for it this year. But if you are a gifts retailer, or you’re a card manufacturer, if you can print it on demand, if you can design something up and print on demand, then send out an email, you know, a week or so before. And let people know this, whilst I think some of these days are made up and brands make them up. You know, they, they make them up, but some actually are nice and they do give you just a nice reason for getting in touch with your audience. So I hope Nic, on aunts and uncles day, you get a lovely card and you get spoiled rotten, as only you deserve to do. Yeah.
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I’ll have to ask them to do that. Cause they don’t know it exists, but isn’t it strange, you know, because you’re right. Brands make these days up, you know, if you’re sitting there in your business, do you want to do something on the same day, every year? Like we all celebrate our business birthdays. When we remember. Back to I forgot day, you know. Is there something that you could start for your clients for your day that really brings forth your business? You know, is there a Mint day I could have every year? Probably, you know, we don’t have to rely on other brands and big brands making this kind of stuff up. You could start that for your own business. Now that will be a one. So you’ll have to tell us how you get on, but what we’re going to leave you on is my particular favourite, I think, is international friendship day on the 30th of July.
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I mean, the content, the content about your friends, friends, content about your business friends, the content about when the business friends become some of your best friends, right? And you know that from a business point of view, there’s all sorts of stuff, but just how nice to give a nod to your mates, whether they’re in business or not. It’s for me, you know, the community that we have in Mint, Michelle and I, how we work together, you know, and how we met however many years ago, it’s stories that we need to celebrate and treasure it’s really precious. You know, and, and that to me is just a day where you can celebrate that wonderfulness that is friendship, whether it be business or personal.
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Definitely. And you’ve got to think about, because of what me and Nic do, we’re sort of business to business. So we meet a lot of people who become friends, or we have people who we’d class as business friends, but we might not sort of socialise with them in, in non-business circles, but your, you might be business to consumer and a little bit like aunts and uncles day, you might sell stuff, with like, you know, top friend on or, or mugs with like, you’re my bestie. I just, you know, use the fact that even in where we are now with, with COVID, we’re still with restrictions. We’re still not traveling as freely. We’re still not meeting up as freely. There’s going to be, you know, a lot of your best mates that you’ve not seen for over a year. So do you want to get in touch? Or do you want your customers to get in touch with their best friends or buy them a gift?
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And it, I think it will be a nice day to, to celebrate that friendships exist and change and evolve naturally. But then when something like COVID happens, they have to evolve and change and the ones where you stick through it are the strongest ones. I did see someone it’s Michael Ball. This is a random one to end on, Michael Ball has been with, the opera singer Michael Ball, has been with his wife for something like 30 years. And he was like, if you can survive a pandemic together, then you can survive anything together. So it’s like, you know, my hubby is my best friend, but then the friendships that have survived or flourished through lockdown, the friendships that have survived and flourished through Zoom, celebrate those and sell things that celebrate those.
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I don’t think we’ve given a direct, remember to sell message this this month, but there it is. I’ve just managed to squeeze it in at the end, you’re allowed to sell in your content. It doesn’t have to all be sell, sell, sell, but ultimately that’s what it’s there to support, but you’re also allowed to sell through it as well. So don’t forget those valuable opportunities.
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Well, thank you for watching, as always. I hope that’s inspired you for some content for July. We’ll be a bit sooner with the August stuff next, we’re going to get it planned though. You know, I’m not going to forget it, but you know, as always, if you’ve got any questions, just, you know, drop us, drop us an email. I’m nicola@mintbusinessclub.co.uk, Michelle, your email is…
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michelle@michellerosemarketing, and that’s all the same for the hashtags and everything else.
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Share us. If you appreciate this video, just tag us in somewhere and say you appreciate it. And just thank you very, very much for watching and we’ll see you August.