Content marketing secrets from MasterJack

Boxers & Briefs Podcast #32: How to attract leads and retain clients through content marketing with Lisa Garrud

This week on the Boxes and Briefs podcast, we decided to shake things up. John Maybury joined us again as our professional speaker and Master Storyteller, but this time he helped run the show while we put our very own Lisa Garrud in the hot seat.

Lisa represents Gilligan Sheppard’s marketing team, better known as MasterJack. She spilled all our content marketing secrets, covering when and where you should share content, how to create valuable and engaging material, and why content marketing is the key to attracting leads and building lasting relationships with your current clients.

The MasterJack story

Lisa’s journey into content marketing wasn’t straightforward. She ran her own marketing business for 11 years as a generalist, doing everything you can think of related to marketing. When some major challenges hit, she didn’t have the energy to continue and sold the business to Gilligan Sheppard.

“It was strange for an accounting firm to buy a marketing business,” Lisa explains. She started providing marketing services to their clients, but the clients found it odd that an accounting firm was trying to sell them marketing services. So they pivoted, calling it MasterJack and operating as a generalist marketing agency.

The competition was fierce, so they decided to niche down into content marketing. It was what they excelled at and what brought the most rewards for both clients and the team. The name MasterJack comes from the saying “a jack of all trades is better than a master of none,” reflecting their ability to write content for any business, whether corporate, trade, retail, product, or service.

Competing with AI in content creation

With tools like ChatGPT now available, many clients ask whether they can write their own content. Lisa’s response is refreshingly honest. “They absolutely can. It’s a tool for writing content.”

She draws parallels to the accounting world when Xero was introduced. “People said accountants were going to die because of Xero. It didn’t happen. People who got better with the tool became better accountants, and it’s the same with writing content.”

The evolution of AI messaging has been interesting. First, it was “don’t be scared, AI is not going to take your job, it’s a tool.” Then it became “AI won’t steal your job, but somebody who knows how to use it might steal your job.”

Now the challenge is different. If everybody uses AI, they’ll all sound the same. That’s where MasterJack’s secret sauce comes in.

Making AI talk in your unique brand voice

The key to standing out with AI content is in the information you feed into the tool. “You’re only as good as the prompt that you put in,” Lisa explains.

To teach AI your brand voice, you need to tell it your business purpose, mission, values, brand archetype, what your customers look like, their pain points, and the services you provide that answer those pain points. This might look like a page-long prompt.

You can also upload presentations, website copy, and other brand materials as attachments. Once the AI understands your brand, you can ask it to write social media content for a year, newsletter articles, or website pages.

The challenge for many businesses is that they don’t know these fundamental elements about their own brand. That’s where MasterJack’s expertise in understanding customers and audiences becomes invaluable.

Content strategy that works

MasterJack uses pillar cluster strategies to generate content ideas. A pillar is a theme, such as ‘speaking with confidence’ or ‘client stories.’ The clusters are all the topics that can come under that pillar. These strategies can often last a year or even two before you need to try new pillars.

For personal content, Lisa focuses on the ‘why’ behind what clients do. She often finds that when businesses state their point of difference, it’s something generic like ‘we put our clients first’ or ‘we want the right insurance for you.’ Every business says this.

The gold comes from digging deeper into why someone does what they do. Lisa shares an example of an insurance broker whose mother didn’t have insurance, and the family had to rally around and fundraise to help with her health issues. That story became the reason why she does what she does, and it resonated with potential clients.

How often and where to share content

Lisa has a simple formula for content frequency based on how often someone buys from you. If you’re a real estate agent and someone’s looking to purchase property, they might want to hear from you weekly. If they’ve already purchased and settled, maybe quarterly contact is enough for brand awareness.

For social media, she recommends basing frequency around your newsletter schedule. If you send a monthly newsletter, post at least once a week on social media. If it’s quarterly, maybe once or twice a month.

“If you have nothing valuable to post, what are you going to write? Fluff stuff that provides no value to anybody,” Lisa warns.

As for where to post, it’s the age-old answer of where your audience lives. MasterJack is on most platforms except Pinterest and TikTok, but they have the resources to manage multiple channels. For smaller businesses, she recommends starting with Facebook and LinkedIn as the easier options.

The power of newsletters

This year has seen a drop in business for many, with people laying off staff and closing down. In this environment, Lisa strongly advocates for keeping newsletters as the priority.

“Newsletters keep you in touch with your audience, your database that you own, and they will talk to people in their networks,” she explains.

One of her clients, a mortgage broker, decided to stop their social media because their newsletter was working so well. They use it to address client questions, market changes, and provide valuable perspectives. The newsletter software shows who clicked on what, allowing them to follow up with interested prospects and turn that into more business.

Tools and tips for DIY content

For businesses wanting to create their own content, Lisa recommends starting with keyword research. Tools like Answer the Public can help you understand what people type into Google to find solutions you provide.

She warns about using MailChimp if you have corporate email addresses, as it might be considered spam by servers and not get through. Vision6 is MasterJack’s preferred choice for newsletter software.

The most important advice for DIY content creators is simple but crucial. Don’t drop the ball. If you’re going to do it yourself, set up a routine you can stick with no matter how quiet or busy you are. Starting with good intentions and then dropping off will make readers question your reliability.

Common content mistakes

Beyond dropping the ball, the biggest mistake businesses make is using jargon. MasterJack is strongly anti-jargon. On their website, marketing jargon appears in different colours that you can click on, and their mascot, Jack, will explain what the word means.

“When you’re explaining the problem you solve and you use jargon, keep it at a language that people will be able to understand easily,” Lisa advises. A first-time home buyer might not know what ‘triple CFA’ means, even though it’s obvious to mortgage brokers and finance professionals.

The philosophy behind giving away knowledge

Lisa’s willingness to share knowledge comes from her belief in ‘give and gain.’ The more you give away, the more comes back. She learned this through networking with Business Network International, where ‘Givers Gain’ is the number one value.

MasterJack is even writing content to teach people how to do it themselves, because Lisa has learned that sharing knowledge leads to more opportunities rather than fewer.

For businesses looking to understand what value means in a newsletter, Lisa invites them to subscribe to MasterJack’s newsletter, where they’re constantly giving away value as their main driver.

Content marketing is about solving problems, providing value, and building relationships. When done right, it becomes the foundation for business growth and client retention that no amount of AI can replicate without the human insight and authentic voice that makes each business unique.

This article and podcast is proudly brought to you by Gilligan Sheppard, the problem solvers in business who believe in thinking differently.