Winston A. Henderson’s Post

I generated US$95,628 in qualified sales pipeline over the last 37 days (here's how) I've generated a lot of qualified pipeline and deals from inbound leads just from my content But I needed a predictable system to generate predictable revenue Here's how I adjusted my approach in order to do that 1️⃣ Focused on One Client Segment This was probably the most important step in the entire process I was trying to balance marketing to two segments at once But doing so meant even though the positioning could apply to both The messaging was off and confusing Focusing on one segment created a lot of clarity on how to better position the brand and communicate its value Where I could speak more directly to their needs with more nuance 2️⃣ Started More DM Conversations Rather than relying only on my content to do the heavy lifting, I decided to become more proactive Reaching out to people who fit within my Best-Fit Buyer profile But the purpose of this wasn't to pitch or sell It was to see if I could be helpful in a way that is in-line with what I offer Truth is I'm average at best when it comes to selling But I love helping and educating So I leaned more into my strengths and that paid off in creating immediate rapport Which further helped to position me as the go-to expert to them as well 3️⃣ Did Zoom Calls For those who I thought needed more nuanced guidance I offered to hop on a call with them Again, purpose wasn't to sell, but to offer advice and suggestions how they could build brand authority In most cases I didn't bring up my services, but treated it as a free consultation Understanding their needs, their problems, their goals and making my recommendations And putting it in a 1-page doc for them for free The goal was providing value upfront, even if they never choose to do business with me For those who I believe would benefit more from my services I offered it 4️⃣ Created Relevant Content Finally, from the insights gathered from those conversations I used to guide my content Rather than guessing what I believe will resonate with my audience The Zoom calls gave me a better understanding on where they needed help most Then I crafted my content to be relevant to their specific situation The result of this approach is what I call Problem Resonance That is, when your Best-Fit Buyers identify with the problem you're trying to solve, and willing to pay to solve it Taking this 4️⃣-Step approach has allowed: ➡ Faster conversions at different stages of the sales process ➡ Made conversations that build rapport easier ➡ Generated more and better quality leads ------------------------------------------- If you're a Founder or Business Owner that provides a service That's curious how to build your brand authority with content To position as the go-to expert for what you offer To generate more sales opportunities and pipeline for your business Send me a message and let's talk #contentmarketing #branding #sales

After speaking with 9 Business Owners over the last 3 weeks, a big problem most struggle with is differentiation How to stand out from other competitors offering the same service This was one of my biggest challenges as well up to 6 months ago The frustration and many iterations I went through trying to figure it out was overwhelming at best I mean if you really think about saying "I offer content marketing services" doesn't do much to help us stand out Especially when there are thousands if not tens of thousands of others saying they offer the same thing But eventually I cracked the code that helped me figure it out Took me 3 years to get there, but here I am After my last session where it came up I decided to do a video that walks through what I did There are 4️⃣ steps to the process 🟠 Competitive Analysis - Knowing competitor strengths - Using their weakness to your advantage 🔵 SWOT Analysis - Doubling down on your strengths - Avoiding your weaknesses 🟢 Client Interviews Identifying: - What they're trying to do (use case) - Why they're trying to do it (desired outcome) - The problems with getting the outcome 🔴 Positioning & Messaging - How you position your value to target buyers - How you communicate that value I go through all four in this video Hopefully it's helpful! P.S. I'm thinking of doing more of these explainer type videos where I can better break down a concept, instead of using a graphic. Let me know if you'd prefer this way (or maybe I'll do both) #contentmarketing #positioning #differentiation

How to make your Lead Generation campaigns more effective by building Brand Authority We're assuming you've already got these few things nailed down 1️⃣ Identified your Best-Fit Buyers (ICP) 2️⃣ Understand why they buy from you (and not competitors) 3️⃣ Developed your positioning and messaging to match them 4️⃣ Know their specific problems your offer solves that delivers value If not I would recommend doing client/customer research before starting Let's begin... 🟠 Q1: Launch your Brand Authority program In the first Quarter start by building your authority with content (not lead gen) Why do we start here instead of jumping into lead generation? The goal here is to do three things: ➡ Start building momentum around your brand you can leverage later on ➡ Start building trust to slowly win over your target buyers ➡ Start building credibility so they are confident in your ability to deliver Without these it will make it much harder to generate quality leads that convert Unlike Lead Gen campaigns that are launched once per quarter with a start and end date Building your authority is a year-round continuous activity that never ends 🟢 Q2: Launch first Lead Gen campaign By now you should have enough momentum and leverage to tap into the demand generated You want to build your campaigns following The Rule of 1 That is focusing on 1 Segment with 1 Problem that is solved with 1 Solution/Offer The biggest mistake made when launching lead gen campaigns is trying to target everyone at once This never works as the message won't resonate and be relevant, which makes it ineffective 🔴 Q3: Launch second Lead Gen campaign When launching your second campaign you can choose to: 🅰 Target the same segment from the previous campaign 🅱 Target a new segment with the same or new offer Here you're taking the learnings from the first launch and applying it to the second The goal is to get better at delivering results with each new campaign 🔵 Q4: Launch third Lead Gen campaign By now you should have a fairly good idea of what works to drive pipeline and conversions for your offer The focus here is building the systems and process that can generate high quality leads repeatedly The basis for any successful lead gen campaign is building trust and confidence with buyers The best way to do so is by positioning as the go-to expert for what you offer So those in-market will choose you over your competitors almost everytime Building your authority makes this choice a no-brainer! #contentmarketing #branding #leadgeneration

Struggling to grow your business outside of your network? 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘀 Most Owners and Founders grew their business through their network and referrals When they realize to scale they need to find new sales opportunities outside of their network, the immediate go-to is to run ads to generate leads But this is a terrible idea. Here's why... ❌ No one knows who you are or your value (outside your network) The most obvious is no value = no trust And trust is the number one factor in order to close the deal and make the sale ❌ Generate unqualified leads Most ads are generic in their messaging and targeting Due to lack of segmentation and proper customer research This leads to a lot of unqualified leads who aren't a fit ❌ Harder and slower to convert leads Even if you do manage to generate qualified leads, closing them will be even more difficult Because they have no point of reference to judge your competence Which means they aren't confident you can deliver on your promise I once had a company working with who thought this was the way Prior to working with us they spent thousands over a few months generating over 200 leads Most were unqualified, less than 1% converted A lot of wasted marketing spend. Little to no returns The better approach is through building your Brand Authority first That is positioning yourself as the go-to expert for what you offer It creates the opposite effect of going cold right out the gate ✅ Established relevance and resonance ➡ better fit and quality leads ✅ Established trust and confidence ➡ easier and faster conversions ✅ Established authority and credibility ➡ lower ad spend and acquisition costs When people Know Like and Trust you first, it makes it a no-brainer why they should choose you That can't be done running lead gen ads 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 Then leveraging that authority to attract and convert the Best-Fit Buyers to grow your business #contentmarketing #demandgeneration #branding

4 stages of building brand authority to grow your business (without a huge budget) 🟠 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝟭: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝘁 There are three (3) objectives here ➡️ Identify a problem for a specific segment (preferably an unmet need) ➡️ Validate that the problem is big enough and worth solving ➡️ Confirm people are willing to pay to have it solved Then create an offer that is the solution to that specific problem This first stage can be done in a short time Spending maximum 30 days to interview 10 clients (existing or potential) You'll know when you have Problem-Solution Fit if people confirm they would pay to solve this problem 🔵 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝟮: 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲-𝗦𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘁 Here the goal is crafting your value proposition and your positioning Also, crafting your messaging that communicates and connects the problem to your solution Done right your message should be relevant and resonate with your chosen segment Qualitative feedback such as "I have been struggling with this problem for months/years" Or "I saw your content and it really resonated with me completely" Use your content, social media ads and/or sales pitches to test and refine your messaging Noting it typically takes 60-90 days to really find that sweet spot 🟢 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝟯: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗦𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘁 Here you'll start to see the business impact of building your authority The entire focus is creating content that generates sales opportunities for your business We do so by educating your chosen segment that positions you as the go-to expert to help them solve their specific problem This requires a lot of patience and consistency, and can take a few months to really see the impact of your efforts But done effectively you should start getting inbound leads and inquiries asking about your services Another indicator is people will mention your content in sales conversations Some may even let you know it was your content why they decided to do business with you 🔴 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝟰: 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘁 (or Product-Market Fit) Whereas Content-Segment Fit focuses on growing your business in one specific segment Here the question is "Can we duplicate this success across other segments?" The goal is creating a predictable and repeatable way to solve the same problem with the same offer for multiple segments in a large market This is by far the hardest to achieve Mostly because each segment has its own nuances that may change your positioning, messaging, content and even offer However, if you're able to do it, it creates significant revenue growth across several segments in a large market Without having to reinvent your solution As always... #FYRG - Fuel Your Revenue Growth with Content Marketing 🚀 #contentmarketing #contentstrategy #demandgeneration

You're getting clients and growing your business through your network and referrals This works well, and I would highly recommend it at the Founding stage of your business But as you think about growing and expanding, you have to consider that your existing network isn't the best place to do so It's because growth opportunities are limited to only people you know (Warm Market) Whereas the Cold Market (people you don't know) is where massive revenue growth potential lies The mistake most Business Owners make when moving from the Warm to the Cold Market is thinking it's the same because they have existing trust It's not, and it's much harder ❌ There is no trust because they don't know you ❌ And because they don't know you have no credibility ❌ And because you have no credibility they can't see the value you deliver ❌ And because they can't see your value, to them you're no different than others who offer the same thing The best way to overcome these challenges is by building your brand authority That is positioning as the go-to expert for what you offer using content This allows you to build trust, confidence and credibility with buyers in the Cold Market Which allows you to: ✅ 𝗧𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 ✅ 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁-𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 ✅ 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 ✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 You can play it safe and limit the growth of your business Or step into enormous growth potential to expand bigger than you thought possible #contentmarketing #business #revenuegrowth

I made a post that we doubled the Closed-Won conversions from 12.6% to 25.4% in 90 days for a client Someone mentioned that it was impressive how we were able to get those results in such a short space of time Truth is we did nothing special (not being modest, just honest) We just spent time extracting the right elements and used those elements to build our marketing campaign 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁" 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Here's how we did it... 1️⃣ Narrowed our focus to a specific customer segment This is the biggest factor when building your authority 2️⃣ Interviewed these customers to identify the following: ➡ Use cases ➡ Problems ➡ Solutions (based on what they believed it to be) We used how they described the solution as a way to mirror how we communicated our client's solution for better resonance 3️⃣ Populated all responses in an Excel sheet We created categories for similar use cases, problems and solutions 4️⃣ Analyzed insights to identify top 3 of each Top 3 use cases Top 3 problems Top 3 solutions 5️⃣ Built our content strategy around these top 3's This meant building a value prop canvas with positioning, messaging, content and ad creatives All based on the top 3 6️⃣ Tested several combinations of all groups Use Case 2 ➡ Problem 3 ➡ Solution 1 Use Case 1 ➡ Problem 3 ➡ Solution 2 And so on We were able to achieve Problem Resonance in a short space of time Hence the fast results The focus was capturing demand for potential clients already in-market Doing so by positioning the company as the go-to expert that could help this specific segment with their specific problems One of the biggest lessons I've learned is the power of building authority with a specific segment This makes your marketing more effective, content more relevant and your sales pitches land better with prospects Make this simple shift in your marketing and sales and watch the magic happen ✨✨ #contentmarketing #contentstrategy

If I had to start over building my authority online with content here's how I would do it Timeline: 6 months FIRST 3-4 MONTHS 1️⃣ Select 3 segments that I believe would benefit from my services 2️⃣ Find 7-10 people from each segment to have a conversation with about their struggles (in-line with my services) 3️⃣ Create content that addresses these struggles for each segment 4️⃣ Share a series of content online and directly with those I spoke with The only metric/signal I'm paying attention to is qualitative feedback that tells me two things: ➡ The problem identified is relevant to them ➡ The content resonates and confirms my understanding of the problem NEXT 2-3 MONTHS Turn qualitative engagement into sales conversations What I'm looking for here is which segment is most willing and able to pay to solve this problem Once I identify that, I'm niching to that one specific segment They now become my Best-Fit Buyers and I build my Ideal Client Profile (ICP) around this segment Also, my entire positioning, messaging and go-to-market content strategy becomes the focus for this ICP for the next 6-12 months Because my goal is becoming the #1 go-to expert for this segment Why is this important? The more I'm seeing as the expert to solve their problem, the more likely clients will immediately think of and come to me when they need it solved I become the first choice over every other competitor that offers the same thing It's a lot more work than creating generic content for a wide audience that appeals to everyone (and no one) But ultimately the return for your marketing spend and efforts are exponentially way better Don't believe me? Try the first 4 steps for 90 days and let me know how it works I promise you won't be disappointed As always... #FYRG - Fuel Your Revenue Growth with Content Marketing 🚀 #contentmarketing #contentstrategy #gotomarketstrategy

In 2018 I started freelancing, getting clients through my network and referrals (but that didn't last long) The first client I got right out the gate was a guy I worked with prior He then brought me on for my second project on a marketing campaign (referral) We made a verbal agreement that we would work together and he would get me referrals What happened next? I got ghosted No response to calls, text or email That's not even the worst part Worst part was because I was relying on him to get business my income went from good to $0 instantly! I was faced with the situation of not knowing what to do to get clients So I took the one skill I was good at (content) and started doing that online Specifically LinkedIn Was a bit slow at first but I learned some things those first few months Then I landed my third client...strictly cold market Honestly, it was an act of God how that worked out (a story for another day) Because of my content he saw the value I could deliver for his business So he hired me as a vendor to help with his Startup When he got his first client, he brought me on to help them with their marketing (referral) By this time I had registered ICAD Marketing as a business to make it official Then guess what happened? Made the same mistake again 🤦🏽♂️ Relying on network and referrals to get new business (You would think I learned my lesson the first time) Again revenues fell to $0 But this time wasn't so bad Because I knew exactly what to do to turn things around 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼-𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 ✅ And it worked! But even better this time! It led to generating multiple sales opportunities, closed deals and speaking engagements Some with the biggest brands here in Jamaica where I live (Pepsi, ATL and JMMB) It wasn't easy, but it's a process I'm glad I went through and learned from The biggest lesson being never rely solely on your network and referrals to grow your business ➡ If you're a Business Owner or Founder that's in a similar place I can help, because I've been there ➡ Send me a message and let's talk to see if we're a fit to work together ➡ And even if we aren't I'll still offer my advice that hopefully helps As always... #FYRG - Fuel Your Revenue Growth with Content Marketing #contentmarketing #revenuegrowth #branding