From College Basketball to Unique Content
Have you ever watched a college basketball game where one team has a drastically different style of play than the other? Or even drastically different from most other teams? The different one was from a small program without a lot of resources, wasn’t it?
It’s usually the small programs that try something different. They have to. If they do what everybody else is doing, they’ll probably lose. But by taking full advantage of what strengths they do have, they can find a way to play that works for them. They can stand out. Even win.
Maybe they have a seven-footer on their team, whereas most teams don’t have that. They can utilize that big man every time down the court.
Or maybe they have a few people who are really good at taking three-point shots. Most teams take three-pointers 15-40% of the time. What if this team does it 60% of the time?
Or, do you remember Princeton’s upset of UCLA and their almost-upset of Georgetown? It was because of their slow and methodical offense. We wrote about this some years ago. This takes patience, a lot of patience, that not all teams have.
Are all of the ideas above risk-free? Not at all. Whatever strategy you choose, there is a team out there that can counter it. There are circumstances where the strategy won’t work. But risk exists at all levels—a Fortune 500 company could get hacked because an employee’s email was exposed, and now the entire company has to shut their servers down. The point is that doing something different is how small teams stand out. It’s how they maximize their chance to win.
Your company is small. It’s nimble. It can be unique. And one way to be unique is content.
Create content, if you’re not doing it already. Seriously, many businesses still don’t produce content. You’ll stand out for that right there.
But make sure the content itself is unique, too. Take some chances. Do your own thing. Don’t just talk about your services and products, because everybody does that. Instead, tell the story of how you started the business, or where you found your newest employee, or how you are taking leadership classes because, well, you feel you need to be a better leader. No one else has your story.
Think about how you share your content, too. Posting it on a website that is slow, hard to navigate, and difficult to read doesn’t get you much. Too many people are doing that already anyway. Instead, send your content in an email or text to someone you think may like it and tell them why. Share it on Twitter, but instead of posting a link to the article, share a few of your favorite lines from the article in a tweetstorm and then maybe include the link to the article in the last tweet.
The 3 Feelings in Sports and Entrepreneurship.
A Twitter thread…
— Eric Kasimov (@Eric_Kaz) September 8, 2020
But make sure that the website is a nice place to send your reader. Or read the article out loud into a mic and post it as an episode in your new podcast. If you haven’t heard, Audible is a big deal. People like to be read to. Ask your kids.
As I finish this article, I am not certain that the college basketball comparison fits here. It’s questionable. But you know what? For the business leader who enjoys college basketball, it may be the way to get through to them. Maybe that’s you, and you’re sitting there thinking oh I see what you mean. That’s colliding sports and entrepreneurship…and content marketing!
That kind of connection is why this SE+ platform exists in the first place. It’s part of what I do that’s unique.