After many late nights and extra shots of espresso in my lattes, ordered at Panera’s drive-thru window from a barista that knows me all too well by now…
Phase One has been completed of the Content Strategy Course 2018 relaunch.
Watch the video for more, and scroll down to read the full story.
[ss_click_to_tweet tweet=”Many late nights and lattes with extra shots of espresso from Panera’s drive-thru helped @JuliaEMcCoy get through a major rebrand of The Content Strategy & Marketing Course. ☕️” content=”Many late nights and lattes with extra shots of espresso from Panera’s drive-thru helped @JuliaEMcCoy get through a major rebrand of The Content Strategy & Marketing Course. ☕️” style=”default”]
Recapping the Content Strategy Course Relaunch Changes
You might notice a few things are different around here.
Here’s the lowdown on the biggest changes…
- The Practical Content Strategy Certification Course -> has become Content Strategy & Marketing Course! Thanks to many late nights, lots of copywriting on my end, editing help from my amazing team of copywriters, and a lot of technical, behind-the-scenes, hair-pulling work from my wonderful husband, site designer Josh McCoy. My two top favorite pages are the Student Stories, and my About page.
- Why the name change? The name change to Content Strategy & Marketing Course is because I’m focusing in on giving my students an industry roadmap to success – the focus isn’t on the piece of paper you earn.
- The curriculum has been entirely updated, fresh for the year. See it here.
- Individual modules, for purchase and enrollment, are gone. After a lot of thought and studying my students results, I’m focused on refining and building one comprehensive course only.
- The All-Access Course just got better with NEW lessons! All-Access Enrollment now comes with the 6-week course, and for all current students, an additional course entitled Bonuses. Bonuses & Extras is a new section with up-to-date social media and content marketing tactics I’ve tested that will help you net leads, $, and results RIGHT AWAY (either for yourself or your clients).
- My course has always been about actionable advice, from the start: and the new trainings I create for the Bonuses, I guarantee you won’t find anywhere else online. They’re up-to-date and even include the contact details of who I use to outsource a few high-caliber marketing tasks here and there. See more on the course page.
- I’ve added a full-time Course Support Lead! Her name is Diana, and she’ll be assisting you live on chat as well as through email. She’s been training 1:1 with me for weeks now, and has gone through my course. Diana is a smart cookie – and friendly, too. You’ll enjoy talking to her!
The name change is a reflection of the full-circle evolution and impact the course has made, since I launched it late last year.
I’ve changed a lot over the years as I’ve tried new strategies, and I want to help YOU as your content marketing business / career grows and evolves with the times constantly, too!
I launched my evergreen course last September – today, I’m super excited to see where it’s headed.
…When I first started, I never thought the course would grow in just five months to over 250 enrolled students (that’s both in the free 101 course, and the paid course)!
If you’ve been a part of the journey so far, THANK YOU.
Launching this course has already turned into a secondary source of income for my little family and me, which is a blessing since we rely 100% on our entrepreneurial-driven efforts for income – no outside employers, no family support, etc. Plus, working with the students in my course has been so very rewarding in a personal way for me.
I appreciate the positive feedback and support I hear from each and every one of you, so much. <3
Now for some Q/A…
Q: With the course name change, does the process of certification change?
A: Not at all. You’ll still be certified after finishing the Brand Strategy Exercises. We wanted to get clearer on the purpose of the course training, which is to offer a full-circle, practical training on content strategy and marketing for freelancers and agencies.
Q: Does my place in the course change at all?
A: Nope! You should be seeing the course bundle (two courses: your All-Access 6-week training, and the Bonuses & Extras), when you login to the course.
Why the Name Change? Practical Content Strategy Certification Becomes Content Strategy & Marketing Course
A student back in 2017, among my early student group, asked me, “Why didn’t you call this the Ultimate Content Strategy & Marketing course? Because, you know, it is.”
That stayed in my head, and as the curriculum and course has evolved the last year, it made more and more sense.
The certification process isn’t (ever) a reason to invest in my course.
The real-life training you get that enables you to succeed in the industry, however, is.
A piece of paper means NOTHING without the skillsets to back it up.
So, instead of focusing on the word Certification in the course, I’m now focusing on the term Content Strategy & Marketing, which is a far better definition for the training I’m teaching inside this comprehensive course.
What Are My Goals with the Course?
You might be asking yourself, What are Julia’s goals with her course?
Great question.
So back in early 2017, I identified something in our wonderful industry of content marketing: a problem you might already be aware of.
First… 91% of content marketers are using content marketing. That’s higher than all previous years to date.
But on the flip side… the strategic success hasn’t really gone up at all.
Today, only 4% of these marketers feel they’re very successful at content marketing in 2018.
You know what’s worse? Take a look at previous years’ records.
In 2016, 88% of marketers were doing content marketing – now, 91% are. In 2016, 32% had a documented content strategy: today, 37% do. In 2016, 6% rated themselves as highly effective. (CMI) Today, that same metric is at 4%.
That’s -2% from two years ago!
In my firm, I’ve seen success rise for my content marketing year-after-year.
I know by now that it is all about consistent content, and I also knew, after five years of trial and error, beyond a doubt the value of great content in content marketing – provided you get consistent and you know what you’re doing. When I hit 1,000 published blogs, I wrote about the results after looking through our sales forms. It’s rather mind-blowing. 500+ inbound lead inquiries from those 1,000 blogs, closed with a sale at an 80-85% rate. Those were high-value leads: just one converted at $75,000.
The success I’d experienced by using content marketing to power 99% of my own business success (for six years!) is the very reason I created this content strategy course and the book.
I go through all the cores I just mentioned, and teach strategists at all beginner levels how to be successful.
How to be in the top 4%.
By doing this, I want that industry metric to expand.
Expand from 4% to 10, 20%.
That was one of the #1 reasons I launched my course. Read the full story behind the course here.
(I’m not saying I’m the final guru you should learn from. That’s why I brought in multiple industry experts as I created my course, in fact.)
So, If This is Phase One… What’s Phase Two?
Phase Two is finishing all my new bonuses lined up. I’m still filming and recording a few more.
Phase Two also includes the launch of free resources for newcomers to the course site:
- Creating tabulated, comprehensive industry guides that better define content strategy / the work of today’s strategists
- Launching free, reoccurring webinars!
Stay tuned. I’ll keep you all posted when that goes live.
Are You Enrolled in the Content Strategy & Marketing Course Already?!
Our paid student group of 45+ is growing every week.
The activity in our private student group is full of good stuff.
Come join us!
Enroll here, and check with Diana on chat for any coupons we might currently be running.
