049 Phil McGrath | 3 Principles to Content Strategy Success

Content Marketing is all the rage in marketing today.  It’s the strategy of creating valuable content that positions you as the authority in your market.

Phil McGrath has built a business based on his passion for the idea of writing valuable content for people that crave it.  Phil has been passionate about this topic for years and decided to fill a gap in the market to create valuable content for his audience.  This journey started with a simple document and a passion for English premier league football (aka soccer) and now has him creating live radio segments for huge brands in his market.  Discover the 3 principles of content marketing with our guest, Phil McGrath.

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Phil’s Target Audience: Phil’s target market for his fantasy sports web site is men between the ages of 18-34, who live in Europe, have a 3rd level education, and also have disposable income. 

Phil’s journey began as a simple hobby: his love for all things English premier league football. No one had created the type of web site he and his business partner, Paul Caffrey, wanted so they decided to create one. They began creating the kind of content they wanted and reaching out to an audience they knew firsthand.

Though it was never their intention for Fantasy Sports Ireland to become a business, their audience following became so great it simply made sense to make a business out of it. And as their content was consumed and shared more and more by their rabid followers, they branched out into other sports, larger markets and bigger, nationally-recognized brands.

TWEET THIS: "People relate to people, they don't relate to businesses so be personal." Phil McGrath

Before they knew it, they were seen as experts in their field. And in a brilliant move, they marketed their content to Ireland’s leading brands: RTE, which is Ireland’s national broadcast network. RTE agreed to have them on and soon Phil and Paul were producing their podcast for a national audience.

Having RTE in their back pocket allowed them to leverage into other national brands like The Irish Times and to providing even more content on RTE with a weekly live broadcast.

Though Phil says they are lucky to do what they love every day, it’s also clear they’ve done an exceptional job of providing quality content no matter the size of their audience. And Phil says this boils down to knowing and applying the three principles of content strategy.

TWEET THIS: "Take some time to understand who your audience is and what they're looking for.” Phil McGrath

The three principles of content strategy are knowing who your audience is, knowing what you want them to get from your content and knowing what you want them to do once they finish consuming your content; what call to action do you give them after they finish with your content?

When you know these three strategies and you use them every time you create content, you’ll be producing content that will set you apart from everyone else in the marketplace.

TWEET THIS: "Give your market something it truly wants, you're going to be seen as an expert." Phil McGrath

In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover:

• What’s the “craic”?
• How did they get their podcast on Ireland’s national radio?
• What’s the premise behind what they do?
• Why you have to create content, no matter what industry you’re in.
• How to promote good content, whether it’s yours or someone else’s.
• The importance of a call to action in your content.
• What you must bear in mind every time you sit down to create content.
• What is the concept behind “Live Time” and what can it teach you about your business?

TWEET THIS: "If this all ended tomorrow, we'd have one helluva story to tell." Phil McGrath

Practical & Actionable ([28:19]):

For practical and actionable steps, Phil says to  take stock of where your business is at least once a month. Look at what you have going on at the moment, what projects you’re working on and see if they have worked the way you thought they’d work. How far away are they from completion?

And really look at what’s working for you now and what’s not working. It’s all about deciding what tasks are best worth your time so take stock regularly and adjust accordingly.

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS SESSION INCLUDE:

• Phil and Paul’s Fantasy Sports web site
• Phil and Paul’s content strategy site
• Phil on Twitter
• Phil and Paul’s complementary gift
• Share the LOVE and TWEET about this episode

To give Phil a shout out for being on the show, follow him and send him a message: Phil McGrath. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter at @genehammett and let me know what you liked about the episode!

Do you have questions about today’s episode!?!

Did you know that you can apply to chat with me by phone? This is a limited time offer to help anyone that is serious about refining their business as well as developing a clear & compelling strategy that will drive them forward. Complete the questions and our team will follow up with you to schedule time for your “Business Breakthrough Session”. These are limited to 30 minutes, completely free and oh, so valuable.  Apply Now!

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