Give Value. Built Trust.

Back when I started making content I had zero idea what I was doing.

I was missing a crucial but simple piece of the puzzle.

Which is why it took so long to start growing a good sized audience.

Now, it’s my core focus when I sit down to create content.

It’s become second nature to me. But recently I got a good question from Mick.

He’s an Autolab subscriber who replied to my last email. The one asking what you want to get out of reading this newsletter. (thanks man)

This was his question.

“When you say value, what do you mean?”

We were talking about how to focus on making content that has value. Not content that screams “Look how cool I am”.

I think the easiest way to frame this is to ask yourself this one question before you make a post.

What’s in it for them?

Them being the person viewing your content.

Why should they spend their precious time consuming your content?

What do they get out of it?

Did you entertain, educate, or inspire them?

I’ll give you a car washing example.

Let’s say you took photos/videos of your car during or after you washed it. Then you posted them with the caption “So fresh and so clean”

Now, stop and think before you post this.

Ask yourself the questions above. If you are having a hard time answering them you need to reframe the post in a valuable way.

Think about other related aspects of washing the car. Or specific ways you do it. Here are some ideas.

• How I avoid scratching my paint with the two bucket method.

• This is how I spend just $2.80 per wash.

• This is how I wash my car in less than 10 minutes.

• 5 things I avoid when washing my car.

• Keeping my black car free of swirl-marks by doing these 2 things.

See how different this is? (We call these hooks)

You can use the same photos and videos. But frame it in a way that entertains, educates, or inspires the viewer.

Obviously you need to deliver on the value by explaining what you are talking about. But that’s a topic for another day.

Always providing value in your content gets people coming back for more. And they will start to trust that you will deliver on it time and time again.

If you noticed, the value in this email today is teaching about delivering value.

But I think the true value of this email is actually getting you to take action on what we just talked about.

Challenge

Go back to your last two posts and look at the caption. Ask yourself these three questions. Then come up with 3 possible hooks for each.

1. Why should they spend their precious time consuming your content?

2. What do they get out of it?

3. Did you entertain, educate, or inspire them?

Take the main idea of the post and reframe it into something valuable. Like we did above.

As you’ll see when you go through the Car Creator Crash Course, I LOVE me a good template. It’s filled with them.

So here are some to tide you over until it’s ready to be released. 4 hook templates to plug your ideas into. Feel free to use these ones or come up with your own.

• How I avoid [bad thing] by doing [simple action]

• This is how I [do thing] just OR with just [small effort]

• 5 things I avoid when [doing car related thing]

• Keeping my [item] [bad thing] free by doing these 2 things

Bonus Tip: Instead of saying “How to” use “How I” instead. If you don’t have much credibility to talk about the topic “How I” avoids any backlash. You are simply just talking about how you do stuff. Nobody can refute that.

Mick, I hope this helps answer your question and was valuable to you.

Chat soon,

Sam “values your replies” Webster

P.S. I’m going to be answering a lot more questions like this one. If you want me to address your questions too just hit reply to this email and let me know your thoughts to the question below. ↓

What is your biggest hurdle with creating content or building a following?

Let me know.