#186: The Year I Confused My Own Audience

You can build a good business and still market it into confusion. That's what Chris Hanna did for the last year.

He leaned into selling low-ticket raw recording sessions. Book the room, hit record, take your files, edit it yourself. It sounded like an easy entry point. In practice, it made people unsure what All In Content specializes in; it attracted the wrong conversations, and it generated more headaches than revenue.

The actual core never changed. Batch content creation, done-for-you social media management, and podcast production. Clients record with him once, and he and his team edit it, publish it, and keep them visible for months. That's the model that has worked for years, and it's the one he stopped leading with.

This episode is the correction. What he pushed, why he pushed it, what it cost, and what All In Content is going back to leading with.

In it:

• How a small pivot in what you sell rewrites what people think you do
• Why the cheapest thing on your menu becomes your identity whether you like it or not
• The difference between selling access and selling an outcome
• What "done for you" has to actually mean before you charge for it
• Why he's putting batch creation, social media management, and podcast production back at the front

If your own marketing has drifted from the work you're best at, this one's worth a listen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. The cheapest thing you sell becomes what people think you are.
2. Selling access to a room is a different business than selling an outcome. Pick one.
3. Confused prospects don't argue with you. They just don't call.
4. Volume of interest is not the same as volume of revenue. Raw sessions generated conversations, not money.
5. Going back to what worked is not a retreat. It's a correction.

For more information about Chris Hanna, visit https://chrishanna.ca

If you want to batch-record video content and have our team schedule them on social media, remember that one day of working with us will set you up for months of consistent content. Visit https://allincontent.ca today to get started. Let's go all in together.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Chris Hannah Show where business as usual is a swift kick in the ass. If you're tired of a stable device and ready to disrupt the status quo, you're in the right place. Uncutting through the noise of old strategies, unfiltered truth, and a no-nonsense approach to entrepreneurship, video marketing, and content creation. Buckle up because it's time to level up. Stand out and dominate your market. This isn't just another podcast, it's a wake-up call for entrepreneurs and would-be aspiring solopreneurs who are all in. Let's get started. Welcome back, listener to the Chris Hanna Show. We're doing a few more audio-only episodes before we get ready to launch our show into the video world. Even though I've run a video business now for the last number of years, the podcast has always primarily been audio only. And I think part of it is just because it's been easier to kind of do and produce and record whenever I needed to. I just flip on the mic and just hit record and talk. Obviously, with the studio that I've had now for the last year, I've got the perfect spot to turn this into a video, but I haven't for whatever reason. And I don't know why. But going forward, you will start to see that happen. It'll be flipping to a video first podcast where you can watch everything on YouTube and then, of course, have the audio versions on Spotify, Apple, whatever, right? All the places where you listen to your podcasts. The part of the episode though I want to talk about here today is identity. Because as I'm shifting both the podcast and certain aspects of the business in recent weeks and months, I've thinking a lot about identity and a lot about the past. And even though in past episodes I have said that I will never talk about certain subjects again, I am gonna briefly mention getting fired. Only from the perspective of identity. You see, when I got fired in 2011, the first time I ever got fired, I not only just lost my job and eventually relationship, but I lost my identity. I didn't know who I was. At the time, I was a manager in the car rental industry, and that is all I knew. I would meet people and say, Hey Chris, who are you? What do you do? I'd say I'm a manager in the car rental business. That was my entire world because I spent so much time, hours, energy doing that. And it took me a long time to rebuild and to get myself back on track and to eventually realize that I am more than just whatever the business card is. And even though I started in a different company after that and worked my way up and was there for nine and a half years before I was eventually let go again, the thing was different when I got let go the second time. Because I never felt like my identity was stripped from me by losing my job the second time around, because I had done so many different things. I was coaching, I was consulting, I was speaking, I was playing probably a lot more poker, and I just wasn't just the manager of the place that I worked at. So when one thing ended, it was okay for me. And so the reason I bring this up in that in recent months, I have realized that at all in content, the company that I've ran for the last number of years, I've been going through a bit of an identity crisis. You see, it was about a year ago that I launched my studio, the all-in content studio, right? Where you could come in, you could batch record content, you could batch record podcasts, whatever it is you wanted to create, but choose between one of four rooms, and you're going to be able to take that footage, raw footage, go give it to your editors, you're set. I really truly believed this was going to be the future of the business. That was my identity that I've pushed really hardcore for the last year. But at the same time, as I've said in past episodes, I've made some mistakes along the way by, you know, trying to go full service, trying to offer different types of support that are marketing related, but probably not the stuff that's video related. So I struggled with my identity of who it ultimately all in content was. But then as I dropped those additional full service offerings, I still came back to, well, we're a studio. And I went to networking probably about a month ago, and people were asking me questions about the business and what I did, and I kept leading with the studio, and then it dawned on me that's not what my business and identity is. I'm not a studio first business in the sense that that defines what all in content offers the world. You see, all in content was centered around the concept of batch creation. Like I always said, you spend a couple hours with me, I'll set you up for months of consistent content. And while that remains true, and then of course we also schedule that content for you so you're done across your social media. I was leading everything pretty much over the course of the last number of months, and I'd say a year, especially with the studio, to be centered around the studio offering, which was a low-ticket offering. Right? Come in, 90 minutes, record your content, leave with it, or take it to your editor. That was the wrong way to lead. But with the I say wider community, people started seeing me just as uh a guy with a studio and a studio offering. The challenge being, and this is being fully transparent, this past year has been absolute hell for me because of the studio. See, the studio is a fixed monthly cost, right? We have monthly rents and expenses that go with it. We invested a lot of money in furniture and tools, and when I say tools, I mean like gear. And we put a lot of money into this. But the reality is it has not been used even close to the level to justify this past year and the investment that was put in it. But all my marketing has been geared around the studio, but it has not resonated with the wider community. Now, people have used the space, again, not how I had it hoped and envisioned, but people have recorded podcasts, and I say people, I mean businesses have recorded podcast content, I've had somebody record webinar training content. Uh, there's been some overview videos that people have wanted to do, and I, of course, have recorded a lot of content, but the intended use that I had for it has not been fulfilled. And I think that I have confused now the greater business community with what we're offering. Because in my head, it was all still batch creation, but what I verbalized is that we're basically a studio rental business. You come in and book a studio. Windsor and the surrounding region doesn't have enough content creators that are having a need for a studio. So my identity has been wrong. And maybe it's a loose connection trying to talk about, you know, being fired early on and losing my identity and losing track of who I am. But I feel like over the course of this past year, I've lost track of who I am and what we offer. So it's been tough from a number of perspectives, whether it's financially or with customers, people being confused, uh, people not really understanding how it works, but like trying to offer such a low-ticket offering and leading with that, I think has hurt my business significantly. So I made the decision then in recent weeks, especially after networking, and people were confused in meeting me because they didn't know who we are and what we did. Whereas before it used to be so obvious, I uh I've decided that I'm gonna be shifting a lot of our content creation, a lot of the marketing efforts that we do, and where we put our spend, really. You know, I did try and run some different uh campaigns to try and generate studio business, but it just didn't seem to happen. Even though we're getting, say, thousands and thousands of people hitting our website and views, and um it just hasn't worked. And so we're gonna downplay the identity piece of hey, we're a studio first, even though we have a studio, it's not the primary thing that we lead with anymore. We get back to what works, and I think that's a key lesson. This is where I want to be really transparent with anybody who does listen to this who is a business owner. Transparency is scary, but I have to be real trying to build a studio business is not what I intended to do. I wanted to create a space that people could come and record, and people, while they do, it's just not to the level that we need it to be. We still have the space, you know, still have the lease for a while, but when it gets close to renewal, we'll have to figure out what we want to do. Right? What makes sense? Maybe it doesn't make sense to keep a studio space. Maybe there's other ways to use it. It has given me definitely a level of more legitimacy as opposed to just operating everything from my home. I has definitely leveled up the quality and the production of the work that we do, not only for ourselves, for our clients. Like I definitely feel that clients who record here get a better quality, I'd say, experience than they do being recorded in the field. Now, the challenge being some businesses, their work has to necessitate us recording in the field. But just with the multiple camera angles that we're able to do, the less distractions here. It is a better quality experience, but it's such an expense that I have to make sure it's the right decision for us to keep as we move forward. I was worried about it, right? I was worried initially when I created this business that is there going to be a demand for it? Like if there are lots of businesses and people who want to start creating podcasts, sure, then great. This is awesome. But the problem is there's only four rooms. And if everyone has a podcast, things could look repetitive and the same. That's a risk, of course. Um, not everybody can keep the momentum up when it comes to a podcast either, right? Some people will record a few episodes, decide I don't really like it, and they'll stop. Some people will record content and never share it. Some people will record and keep up with it for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, and decide they need to take a break because it's hard to find guests. So having a space then like this makes it challenging because you're banking on consistent demand because you've got consistent expenses going out. So again, I go back to the identity side. I wanted to build a production space, but people thinking that's all I do has become kind of now I'd say almost debilitating in some way because I've gone to so many different events, and that's what people are leading with, because that's what I've projected to the world is the studio. That I oh, I have a studio. But makes it sound like, at least maybe I'm hearing it this way. I'm Chris Hanna, I own all in content studio, and you can come in, you can record your content, but I do so much more than that, and the stuff that's most valuable, like the batch recording sessions that are guided and coaching through that and scheduling of the content, that became forgotten about in a way, because I've kind of lost the message, I've lost the identity. You gotta be careful with you know what you do and what you put out there to the world. Um, it can easily be confused. So I'm gonna be working hard on that over the next while to try and re-ignite, I think, the interest in the core of what we do, downplaying the rental of the studio space. We'll still have it as an option. People can still self-select and and choose to come in and record, uh, but it's not the primary driver of which we're going to lead. We're gonna lead with what worked best for us. And uh, I think it's been a good lesson for us to learn about messaging and identity. And again, not everyone would probably feel comfortable with being so transparent as I am right now, but uh that's okay. You know what? Um, I think either you win or you learn. And uh I hate saying the word lose, but I definitely think that uh I've learned a lot of lessons or and this is one that I've learned is you know what? I have to lead with the right product and service, and the right service isn't just come and rent a space. It's you're getting the whole option. So now we can provide obviously options to our clients to come in and use you know what we have here. Uh it's a better experience for them, but got going for the the low ticket side has been tough. Um, I'll admit, even I've kind of broken my processes in a little in some spaces as well, where the uh low ticket side, I'm like, oh, it's such a small amount, you know, I'll I'll do the work and I'll just invoice you after. I've been burned by that too. So I've kind of gone into a new method of which I should have always done, is like you don't get the space until you pay for it, right? But uh, you know, chasing low-ticket pricing and people dodging me is just also not worth it. It's not worth my time. So, you know, lowering that I think is going to be core to our identity and what we do moving forward. So, as always, though, if you are looking for help in making sure you can create enough content to promote yourself, promote your business the right way, visit us at allincontent.ca. If you do want to check out, you know, the offerings of recording content in here yourself, obviously you can. You can still do that at studio.allincontent.ca as well. Uh, and until next time, this is the Chris Hanna Show. Um, whatever you do, keep going all in. All right, that's a wrap for today's dose of reality on the Chris Hanna Show. If you're fired up and ready to kick some serious ass, then I've done my job. But remember, knowledge without action is just wasted breath. So what are you gonna do? Sit around and let opportunities pass you by, or are you gonna step up and take what's yours? The choice is yours. But don't expect sympathy if you choose to easy road. If you've got value from today's episode, smash that subscribe button, leave a review, or share it with somebody who needs a wake up call. Don't keep this gold to yourself unless you're afraid of a little competition. Stay bold, stay hungry, and remember, always go all in. Until next time, this is Chris Hannah signing off. Now go out there and take what's yours.