I can't be the only one who's feeling like the end of the year is slipping by way too fast, right?… Please tell me I'm not the only one!

It feels like, despite the fact that December is advertised as the most magical time of the year, when we operate a business that needs to generate a lot of revenue during the holidays that it can be a challenge to balance it all while also feeling ‘magical’.

So what the heck is a gal supposed to do? 

In marketing, the answer is – Lean in hard on Evergreen content!

Every time I get on a stage and teach other farmers and rural business owners how to grow thriving businesses, I always get asked, ‘but how much time do you spend creating content?’

And every time I share a REALLY unpopular option… I'm a marketer first and a farmer second.

Now hear me out, while that might feel a little uncomfortable to say out loud, I cannot be the second if I don't focus on the first.

That doesn't mean I just leave the animals out in the field without care because I need to film a Reel but it does mean that I also prioritize creating strategic content that generates sales, otherwise there's really no point of any of the other work I do on the farm. 

Here's the truth, in order for my farm to work, I need to sell thousands of dollars EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. To make it even more challenging, with an average order value is $121 that means I need to to have a lot of individual transactions EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

So how do I make it easier on me?

By developing a library of evergreen content that I can use over and over again. Evergreen content is content that is repeatedly or constantly relevant so it stays ‘fresh’ and can be used year after year.

That way, each year I have more content to pull from that's ready to go to market my business allowing me more breathing room.

So instead of wasting time creating content with a shelf life, let's make content that your future self will thank you for.

Now I know y'all like examples so here's a real one from my business. 

Whenever I was making broth and sharing about it over in my Instagram Stories I would get countless DM's asking for tips on how I make my broth ‘jiggly' so instead of wasting time typing the same dang thing every time, I knew I should create a blog post on it.

Now here's where the magic happens, so follow along:

1. I identified a topic my community was interested in that helps me sell a product.

2. I created a blog post to answer their questions and wrote it in a way that stands the test of time. Bonus is I used ChatGPT to help me format it to save time when I was having a mental block. 

3. I added a call to action at the bottom of the blog post directing readers to order the product I featured to move them into my online store to generate a sale.

4. Then I made a super easy Instagram Reel promoting the blog post, which then gets followers off my social media and over the my website where they're more likely to purchase from me. When I check my Insights it was viewed 8,400 times, saved and shared lots, 39.7% of the people who viewed it weren't followers and it gained me 15 new followers. 

5. I followed that up with featuring the blog post in my email newsletter, getting more bang for my effort.

6. Now I rinse and repeat using that same blog post over and over. Any time I make broth I share it in my Stories linking to the blog post which saves me time from answering the questions I would get in my DM's and move them closer to a sale, I use it in an email newsletter annually, and have more than once created a very similar Reel promoting it.

7. The blog post is one of the biggest drivers of visitors to my website – See the screenshot below. That's close to 4,000 different people who have read that blog post recently.

   

And I do this with countless topics including those that help me market our farm during the holidays, for example…

• Top Ten Festive Charcuterie Board Tips

• How To Throw The Perfect Holiday Party 

• How To Cook A Ham

Mix that in with some seasonal recipes we have on our website and I have a bank of previously produced material just waiting to be mixed in with the new stuff that I'm adding each year.

It's all about creating Evergreen content that builds an ecosystem where you move your potential customers to making the sale. 

Want more support to help create content that converts? Join us over in our signature group coaching program, The Workhorse Collective!