This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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How do you offer content strategy services? Content strategy, not just creating content, but helping clients plan their content strategy. That's what we're gonna talk about here today. Very brief, action-packed episode. Welcome back, Side Hustle School listeners.
Today's caller, Ethan, gives us an ideal example of how to pivot a Side Hustle to match your evolving interests and skills. Now he's been a successful freelance copywriter for a while. That was Side Hustle number one, or at least the most recent Side Hustle. But now he's looking to transition into content strategy, which, you know, as I mentioned, it's where you're helping clients, not just with their writing needs, but also shaping their overall content plan. And if you wanna get paid, this is something that can help you get paid more.
Not just doing all the low-level work, but helping with something more strategic and hopefully better paying. Ethan is seeking advice on rebranding himself and finding clients in this new space. So let's dive in, share a couple of tips that hopefully will help him level up his hustle. It's all coming up after this quick message from our sponsor. [Music]
Hello, I'm Ethan from Denver.
Big fan for many years. I've been working part-time as a freelance copywriter for a while. My Side Hustle focuses on creating website copy, blog posts, and email campaigns for small businesses. Lately, I've been thinking about offering content strategy services to my clients as well. How can I learn the necessary skills to become an effective content strategist?
And what's the best way to package and promote this new service alongside my existing copywriting business? - All right, Ethan, thanks for the call. Thanks for the question. Congratulations on the side hustle that you've built thus far and good for you on thinking where you want to go to next. So many people start a project and they just kind of keep doing that thing without any evolution or transformation or next leveling.
And it sounds like you are making plans for, I guess, all three of those, which is pretty cool. So let's talk about content strategy and making this transition. First of all, familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of that field, which of course goes beyond writing. Content strategy involves understanding the business goals, the target audience, the overall messaging, what does a business hope to accomplish? Business wants to bring in more customers or clients, strengthen the relationship between the existing customers and clients, sell more to those people.
In short, you usually want to have a comprehensive content plan. That's what a strategist does. There are a bunch of resources online with LinkedIn Learning, HubSpot Academy. They've got some great free tools where you can build that knowledge more. And then of course you want to update your portfolio to reflect your expertise in content strategy.
You want to show or demonstrate your ability in this field, your skill, especially if you have any case studies that can highlight the impact of your work on a client's business goals. Maybe content strategy audits. This would be a great transition or bridge to go from you've got your existing clients you've been doing writing for, to saying, hey, let's look at your overall funnel, your overall output, like everything that you have that you're publishing on social media, on your blog, your podcast, your YouTube, whatever it is, just kind of doing an audit and seeing what's working and what's not, and maybe some opportunities. I think that is a great first step to actually begin offering that service. Then of course, at some point you want to promote your new services, whether it's that or something else.
Don't forget to update your website, your email signature, reach out to those existing clients, let them know about your expanded offerings. I mean, this is the way, essentially. This is the transition plan, and I think it's really smart to be thinking this way. So, especially in this day and age with AI and so many other things, going into the role of strategy, as opposed to just content creation is smart. Good luck, Ethan.
Good luck, listeners. I'm cheering you on wherever you are in the world, whatever you're up to. Happy to help if I can. sidehustleschool.com/questions. We've got a new episode every single day.
It's all completely free. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Try to make it as easy as possible. But that's all for today. So, new episode tomorrow.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
