When it comes to content marketing, things can get stale very quickly and allow yourself that chance to be a bit weird and out there can definitely shake things up a bit.
Cat Crawford is a full-time, creative content manager, helping creative freelancers and solopreneurs to find their place online and promote their brand to their ideal audience. After graduating University with a Film degree in 2014, Cat has worked with filmmakers, artists, illustrators, and life coaches to help create content marketing strategies that work across their business website and their social media, helping them to reach a wider audience.
With experience in social media management, SEO and copywriting, Cat decided to start a simple blog that helped those looking to create their own blogs and online businesses. Offering tips and tutorials on how to use popular online marketing tools such as Google Analytics and WordPress, it wasn’t long before she started to attract the attention of those looking for online marketing help.
These days, she spends her time balancing a full-time job and part-time solopreneurship. Working with creative freelancers to build an online reputation and managing various creative marketing campaigns. Cat has both a blog and YouTube channel that offers easy to understand and simplified advice and tips on SEO and online marketing. Whether it’s setting up a new WordPress website, getting to grips with Twitter advertising or creating a content strategy to build links and gain traffic, Cat can do it all.
Where did the idea for Cat Crawford Marketing come from?
I started blogging and teaching myself about SEO and online marketing while making way through my Film degree, back in 2013. Since then I’ve developed a passion for online marketing and with being surrounded by creative freelancers wanting to market themselves and their services better online, I just fell into doing their online marketing. Now I regularly work with people such as artists, illustrators, and freelance filmmakers to promote themselves online..
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I run my online marketing business alongside full-time employment, so from 9-5 I will be at my day job. Once I’m home, I start work on my freelance clients, checking my emails and making a note of anything that is urgent. I also make sure I get at least 1 hour of learning in, whether it’s Social Media advertising or updating my SEO knowledge.
Depending on what clients I’m working with, I’ll either start writing website copy or log in to manage the creation of a website. Should work be a little slow, you’ll find me writing blogs for my website catcrawfordmarketing.com or creating tutorial videos for my YouTube channel.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I use in-situ examples a lot, especially when it comes to showing clients what their social media ads will look like. I also use photoshop to create examples of web designs. I like to talk through my ideas and find examples of other’s that have done something similar to get my point across.
I’ve found that for any design work, Pinterest is an essential tool.Shared Pinterest boards can really help to visualise a product and get a better idea of the client’s view.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I am a huge fan of video and I love when people find creative ways to use Snapchat stories or Instagram stories. Not only does it help to engage your target audience, but it adds an extra dimension to your content marketing campaign.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I am a serial list maker and I love apps like Wunderlist that allow me to tick things off. Even the smallest of jobs get added and it means that I rarely forget to do anything before the deadline!
What advice would you give your younger self?
Probably to not stress so much on finding a career and focus more on finding a passion. There’s far too much pressure on young people to decide what one job they’re going to do for the rest of their lives, to settle down, buy a house, be in a relationship etc. What I’ve learned over the past few months, in particular, is that none of that matters in the grand scheme of things. Feeling passionate about something and doing what you love is far more important than constantly chasing a particular lifestyle.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
The weirder the better. When it comes to content marketing, things can get stale very quickly and allow yourself that chance to be a bit weird and out there can definitely shake things up a bit. As long as you can justify what return it will have, don’t be afraid to travel miles outside of the box.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Blog. It’s something that many freelancers and solopreneurs are jumping on at the moment, but blogging is something I make sure I do a lot of and not just on my own site catcrawfordmarketing.com, but on others as well. Getting your name out there and demonstrating your expertise will do wonders for your brand and your website.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Twitter chats and Facebook groups. Joining in with the conversation has introduced me to many of my clients. Finding the place online where your potential clients hang out and actually having a conversation with them has proven to be my best source for work.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
A while ago I tried to start a weekly newsletter, but I didn’t do my research or planning, so it fell flat. It had no focus and people just didn’t care about what I was sending them. Now I have a new weekly newsletter with a more niche focus and content lined up ready to be pushed out when needed.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Animations for social media marketing. If you can animate or know how to use an animation software, you could be in demand by those looking for videos for their marketing campaigns, but don’t have a business that lends itself to live action video content.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Professionally, I recently paid out to really focus on my freelance website, pouring money into how it looks and UX. It’s made a huge difference and I’ve seen a very positive reception to it so far!
Personally, I bought a snowboard, something I’ve always wanted to do! It’s nice to have a hobby that is far away from the digital world as I’m plugged in for pretty much 17 hours a day!
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I’d have to say Wunderlist, I use it for my own business and for my day-to-day job as well. I can schedule tasks in for the week, use the starred list to organise my to-do’s for that day and I can even share people in. Sometimes, if I’m working with multiple clients, I will create different lists for each client and it helps me keep up to date with everyone.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Probably ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.‘ by Paul Arden. It was recommended to me a while ago and I love how easy it is to read. You tend to find that creative people struggle to collect their thoughts and ideas and this book is a simple and easy way to do just that!
What is your favorite quote?
‘What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?’ – I love that quote because most of the time we are prevented from doing amazing things, by the fear of failing or being embarrassed trying. If you approach any challenge with the mindset that you can’t fail, then not only will you enjoy the experience a lot more, but you’ll learn so much more on the way!
Key Learnings
- Don’t be afraid to be extremely creative with your content ideas. Brainstorm as if the box doesn’t even exist!
- Use visuals as much as possible in your planning stage, especially in the design stage of a brand or website.
- Get into the habit of writing lists for everything possible. The sooner you get organised, the more streamlined your workflow will be and the less stressed you’ll be!
- Make sure to read ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.’ by Paul Arden to help you hone your creativity and get those amazing ideas down on paper.
- Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from pursuing something you are really passionate about. Pretend like failure doesn’t exist and go all in.
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Steve (Stefan) Junge hails from Germany and helps with the day-to-day publishing of interviews on IdeaMensch. While he and Mario don’t share a favorite soccer club, their enthusiasm to help entrepreneurs is a shared passion.