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Content isn’t your sales engine. It’s the relationship builder that keeps you top of mind in a “trust recession” where buyers are overwhelmed and skeptical.

In this episode, I talk about the 2025 Digital Business Model – the only strategy that will keep your digital business profitable in the age of AI. We also go deep into strategies to stay consistent with content creation, even when you don’t feel like it!

Key Takeaways

• Why I create content even when I don’t want to—and why waiting to feel inspired is capping your growth

• The 90/10 rule for content strategy—what content actually does for your business (hint: it’s not direct sales)

• The trust recession & touchpoints—people need to see you more times than you think before they consider buying, and what that means for your content

• Every business needs to become a tech + media company—my prediction for what’s happening in 2025 and how to stay relevant with AI

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh: 

AI is changing everything because it’s changing the pace at which people can execute. Every single company is gonna be a media and a software company. The game is consistency. Data is feedback, but it’s not the measurement of, am I going to keep doing this or not. I just create more. Then it’s going to equal more sales.

And they pour so much energy into it. It doesn’t equal more sales, and then they feel burnt out. If we say that somebody needs 30 touch points with a brand before they buy content can be one of the best ways that that happens. The more you can really own that time, energy, and money and put it into the most needle moving things, the better results you’ll get.

Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends. They pave the way they lead from within. Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. We are gonna do two solos this week. I am making that decision just based off of big priorities in the business.

Interviews do take a lot of time coordinating. They’re definitely longer episodes and I have some super exciting things happening. One of them being, I’m hosting a brand new training Tuesday next week, September 30th, and. You’re gonna wanna be there if you’re not registered yet. It is the 2025 digital business model.

I have been working on kind of this concept and bringing it all together for months now as I look at my predictions and where things are going and just, man, you know, I, I feel like every big name in the industry that I know. From connections I have to the Mastermind and Min to my own business. The last year, the last two years has been all about pivoting, adjusting offers, strategy, and the business model.

And so I feel like all these pieces have kind of clicked into place for me as I got clarity around what that is and the era we’re in with ai. I mean, AI is changing everything and I know it’s like so annoying. Everybody’s talking about it. Like, let’s just stop talking about AI for a second. But here’s like the reality behind it.

AI is changing everything because it’s changing the pace at which people can. Execute. And so if you help somebody in your offers do something, whether that’s lose weight, build their business, make more money, I don’t care, whatever the outcome is, like if you have a digital brand, a course, a program, something that helps somebody get an outcome, AI is making that.

Possible so much faster. And so in order to stay competitive, you have to combine your content somehow and what you teach in your methods with ai or it’s going to become irrelevant and or people aren’t gonna have the patience for it anymore. And so if we just, you know, I know a lot of people are tired of hearing about ai, but the reality is it is changing everything and, and the speed at which.

Humans are expecting, output is changing and capacity is changing, right? AI is allowing us to have a lot more capacity for the amount of things we can get done, the amount of things we can execute, you know, brain capacity, good or bad, love it or hate it. Like that’s the reality. And if you are a business who wants to, you know, not just survive honestly, but thrive through this, there, there is a lot of opportunity.

But you gotta change your model. So I am teaching what this new model is, how to adapt your business to this new model. What I’m seeing basically every single big player has been doing for the last year, what I have been doing on this free training. So you can register for that at embodiedmarketing.com/model.

It’s gonna be good. It’s brand new. I’ve been working on it for a while. I’ve been testing this with my own. Content. I’ve teased some of it on here, and I think my in short prediction is this. Every single company for sure, every digital company, but every single company is gonna be a media and a software company, a media and a tech company.

Like that’s the direction that we’re going in. Even if you are a service. You’re gonna become a platform, a system, a tech, you know way that you deliver. And that is the direction we’re going because again, that backs the speed and the media piece I’m gonna talk about on the training. But that’s your brand.

That’s how you garner attention. That’s how you stand out. Because we have two things happening right now. We have AI revolution changing everything, changing the way people consume, the way people. Operate in their day to day and the speed. And then we also have the saturation online. We have the content saturation and the noise and the amount of people that are trying to garner the attention of your ideal customer.

And so those two things have really risen in the last several years. I mean, if you look back 8, 10, 15 years ago online, there wasn’t much competition. In terms of content creation, regardless of what niche you were in. Now it is massive competition, which doesn’t mean you can’t be successful, it just means you have to elevate what you’re doing.

You have to get more creative. So I’m gonna talk about all of that on the training. Blending those two is basically the business model. But I’m gonna get really specific and you should definitely be there. Today I wanted to talk about something that came up in a training I was teaching that I think is a really important thing to talk about.

So when creating content and creating, you are a creator. And if you have a digital business, most likely you create some form of content in order to garner attention. Attention is currency. It is like gold today. If you can get the attention of your ideal customer, you can. Do anything. I mean, that is truly a, a mentor that I follow.

Dan Martel said it’s like building a moat around you that nobody can touch you. When you build the media, when you build the attention, in order to do that, a lot of times it’s through content. I think a lot of people do this wrong. They create, you know. Endless pieces is social media content and they just like cross their fingers, hope that if I create more, it’ll eventually work and it doesn’t work.

They get frustrated, they get burnt out, they stop creating. Content can be in the form of social media. It can be in the form of podcast, YouTube, video, something longer form. It can also be emails that you send your list in ways that you nurture. I think a lot of times people look at content as only a way to grow and find new people, and it for sure can do that, but it also.

Is a nurture strategy. And I talked about that with Nikki when she was on my podcast. So with that, you, you hear me say this, a lot of consistency and that that’s the game. The game is consistency. And I think also on that note, a lot of people, including myself. Prefer to create content from an inspired place from that flow.

You know what? You know how that feels when you’re in flow. It’s like it’s just coming naturally. It’s just flowing through you and you’ve got all this inspirations. The excitement, this buzz in creating content feels really easy. And I was teaching a training and one of the questions that I asked our members was deciding what their content strategy could look like.

That blends. Creating from a place of inspiration and consistency. And so here’s what I mean, and what I explain to them is consistency actually has to come before the inspiration. Meaning when you have whatever your consistent goal is that you’ve set, let’s say it’s, I’m gonna create three pieces of content a week.

I’m gonna send an email out to my list every week. I’m going to. Post on social media on my stories five times a week, whatever that is, you need to define what that is, and that needs to be something that you feel like you could do most weeks no matter what, and you can show up and you can do that with the time and energy resources that you have right now that needs to come above.

Inspiration. Meaning if you have a week where you’re not feeling super inspired, you’re busy, your kid is sick, you don’t feel well, life is happening as it does to all of us. You still have a consistency goal that you’re gonna meet. And I think that’s sometimes where people fall off is like ideally in an ideal world, I sit down in my podcast studio every single day and I feel so inspired to record and so excited, and ideas are just flowing and I’m ready to go.

Is that reality? No. There are some weeks that I am like, I’m so busy. What am I gonna record on this podcast? I gotta dig through my notes. I gotta think of something. I gotta tune in. I don’t really wanna do this, but I’m committed to my Tuesday, Thursday episodes, and I very rarely miss those. Very rarely because consistency trumps it all.

It’s the number one. It’s just like anything that you wanna grow right in life. If you wanna work out and get healthier, if you want to eat better, if you wanna lose weight, consistency trumps it. You’re not gonna feel inspired and motivated every single day. And so I think content creators and business owners are counting on that motivation and that inspiration too much.

Now, ideally, you do feel that. So the question I ask them is, when do you feel most inspired? So these are questions you can answer right now listening to this. When do you feel most inspired to create content? When do you feel like the most ideas are coming through and flowing through you To create content?

Let’s leverage that one person on the training said when I drive, so I’m gonna voice note those things for me when I travel. When I get outta my day to day, especially when I solo travel, I feel so creative, so inspired, like so many ideas because I have less noise. I don’t have my three kids, I don’t have all the things happening with my kids.

You know, I can, I can think a lot more. I have a lot more capacity for that. So I feel inspired when I’m coaching. You guys will hear on this podcast all the time, including this content. I get inspired through interactions with people. When somebody asks me a really good question, I’m like, that’s such a good question.

Let me dig into that. Or I’m teaching and I pull a point out and it really resonates with people. So what I do is I have a note in my notes app, and it’s just like endless content ideas. Like if something sparks literally middle of the training. I wrote this down because I was like, this needs to be talked about.

And it was resonating with the people that I was. Teaching. And so I wrote it down. And so then the days when it’s like, this is a podcast recording day. I don’t have to sit there and go, what am I gonna do? Like, let me think about this. Because what happens when you do that? You go, I’m just not gonna record.

I’m just gonna skip my content this week. Same with a workout, right? What’s the amount of times that you’re gonna work out in a week? What’s the consistent commitment that trumps everything? When you’re not motivated, you do it anyways. You still show up and you still do it. So when you are committed to those consistent things in your business, which I believe content creation, connecting with your audience and just being a consistent brand, like being somebody who consistently shows up, is so important.

And it’s why I talked about on that episode with Nikki, like forget about the numbers. You can use the numbers. The numbers are valuable. I love data. I love to see what podcast episodes do better than others. I love to see that. I love to see social media. Are we growing? Are we not growing? Data is feedback, but it’s not the measurement of am I going to keep doing this or not?

I am showing up consistently no matter what. And the reality is this, the brands that have done this for years have such a competitive advantage right now. And so how do you gain that? You gotta start. You gotta start today. You gotta start showing up consistently. You gotta make that the goal. You have to separate yourself from, if I don’t get the positive feedback I want right away, I’m not gonna keep doing this.

And you have to decide what is my consistent goal. That I’m committing to. And so I ask them first, when do you feel the most inspired to create content? And how can you cultivate that more in your day to day? How do you give yourself more interactions, more unplugged time? You know, how do you take these ideas and inspiration and turn it into content?

I had a friend who would always be like, everything’s content. And it’s so true. I think content’s the easiest to create when you just leverage what you’re experiencing in life anyways. And it can be hard to think that way. ’cause I think I feel like that a lot. I’m like, my day’s not that exciting. Like, I do basically the same thing every day, but then there are so many people who wanna know the behind the scenes of my day and how I spent my day.

You know how I’m fitting everything in, blah, blah, blah. So I take my experience and experiences that I have in life and the business and with coaching and with my kids and with my training, and that’s my brand, and that’s also how I create authenticity. That’s how I create connection to me, and it’s how I create really good content, really good, embodied, authentic content that is based off of my values, what I’m thinking, what I’m learning, how I’m growing, and what I’m experiencing.

So I try to cultivate that inspiration as much as possible. But there are some weeks that I don’t feel inspired. I have a mile long to-do list dealing with something in the business, dealing with something with the kids, dealing with something in life, whatever. I still create the content. I still show up, just like the days I don’t feel like working out.

I still show up. And I think that is, you know, it’s discipline, it’s it’s self-discipline, it’s devotion to the mission, to the bigger picture, and you’ve gotta balance those two. And I really wanted to bring that to the light so that you guys could do two things. One, define when you feel the most inspired, how you create content in the easiest way, like you will create more content and you will create more if you feel it’s easy for you.

So set yourself up for success there. One of the girls said on the training, she’s like, I love to write, but no one’s reading blogs anymore. And I said, okay. So write and then put that in chat and have it, turn it into a carousel post or take it and turn it into a podcast script that you could then go record, like leverage what you love doing and what is your art Because content is art.

Set yourself up for success. As much as possible. And then part two, what’s your consistent commitment? And I swear to you, like if you choose that consistent commitment, just like with anything, if I was like, Hey, you wanna get fit? How many times are you working out a week? Do that for the next 90 days, six months, 12 months, and 100% guaranteed you the.

Just by showing up and doing it. Same with content creation. 100% guaranteed. You’re gonna get better at it. You’re gonna grow your audience, you’re gonna nurture your audience, and you’re gonna start building that ecosystem. Now, of course, disclaimer, content creation can’t be the only part of your strategy.

People definitely make the mistake of thinking, okay, if I just create more. Then it’s going to equal more sales. And they pour so much energy into it. It doesn’t equal more sales and then they feel burnt out. And here’s kind of my thoughts on that. I think that the you’re, if you’re going into it with that expectation, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment because content creation is a non-negotiable for any brand today.

’cause I’m talking about that on the training, the media. You’ve gotta have content. ’cause content creates content connection. Attention, but it’s not your main sales driver. It is a nurture strategy for the most part. Let’s say it’s a 90% nurture strategy for most businesses. There are some who. Are incredible at organic because they have always had a big following before things got saturated and they crush it or they went viral or whatever.

But that’s not the norm. Organic is 90% nurture, maybe 10% growth, and then you use ads and referrals and connections. But we’re in a day and age where we’re in a trust recession, so. People don’t trust brands as easily as they used to, especially online. Second thing is people have a hard time making a decision because they’re overwhelmed, they’re overstimulated, and there’s so much noise in their world.

How do we solve those two things? Many, many touch points with your brand, constantly, top of mind, constantly in front of them every week, so that when they’re ready to make that decision, when the pain gets to be too much or the desire gets bigger, they finally pull the trigger. You are the answer. So when you go into it, understanding that content creation should come from that place of consistency because it’s nurturing, 90% nurturing.

Now, you won’t get burnout because you’re not going into it with this expectation of, I better get a bunch of followers. I better get a bunch of sales. You implement other things for that, you build a funnel. You run ads, you DM all your leads. You start conversations like you get in the driver’s seat with your growth, and then your content becomes the nurture and the consistency.

Because if we say that somebody needs 30 touch points with a brand before they buy, then content can be one of the best ways that that happens. Posts that they see stories, that they see emails, they open emails, they don’t open subject lines, they read, you’re top of mind. You’ve gotta be top of mind. You gotta win.

The space in their mental capacity every week in your audience in order to convert them into sales. So then you make the goal consistency, and then you start to build an ecosystem and no matter what, you show up and you see where that goes. And I, again, I said this in the podcast with Nikki, but. You never know who’s looking at your content.

Like you can’t see who’s reading the post and not liking it, or who’s watching your, I guess you can see who’s watching your story, but you don’t know if that’s gonna move them into buying Consistency’s gotta be the goal. It’s gotta trump the. Feeling of inspiration you cannot make creating and content creation contingent on, am I inspired or not?

Today, if you are great and the moments that I am super inspired and on fire, it’s some of my best content for sure. I try to leverage the heck outta that, right? Create more in those seasons and really leverage that flow. But I don’t feel it every week. Nobody does. Even the best content creators and I, and I think that’s why some of them, you know, take breaks because they’re like, I, I’m lacking that.

And that’s okay. But if your goal right now is to really grow the brand and you really have to work to stand out, you’ve got to be the one who’s consistent because you’ll win. ’cause most brands are not. So, last thing I wanna say on this is I think content creation. Is one of the most overwhelming things for people.

I think when I talk to entrepreneurs about their marketing, most are overwhelmed with the volume at which they feel they have to create and how much they’re not doing and how much they should be doing, and they’re all on their own. And so another thing is I that I asked in this training was like, how can you make it easier on yourself?

What are some strategic ways that you could use. AI that you could leverage a contractor like stop looking at. I have to do everything myself and say, well, if I had help doing just this, that’s taking me so much time to edit a video, write copy, whatever. I took that away, I would be able to be in a more inspired, creative place.

So how can you set yourself up for success? Making this easy. That also means the consistent volume that you commit to has to be doable. So don’t be like the overachievers that we all are and be like, I’m gonna post every single day for 30 days. Like that’s a lot of work. Maybe it’s two times a week. I actually don’t think in the beginning you have to do a massive amount of volume.

I think as you grow, like volume is something I’m wanting to increase. With our content, we’re looking at putting resources into hiring more in-person video support, more content support. ’cause I wanna take it to the next level. But you gotta start with where you’re at and it’s. You know better than nothing.

So how can you set yourself up for success? How can you make it feel easier? And then set that consistency goal, make that the goal. And also realizing with marketing, the more you can keep it simple to that first five, $10,000, the better. You don’t have to overcomplicate things. You don’t even need a massively complicated funnel to get to that first.

Success metric. And then once you get there, you should be able to hire help. You should be able to be, start delegating things and deciding, you know, what would take the most off my plate? Or what am I not good at that I’m wasting a bunch of time doing? So e, everything in business is constantly this question of like, what’s gonna move the needle the most?

Where do we put the resources? I think like one of the biggest jobs of A CEO is resource allocation, time, energy, money, resource allocation. At first it’s your own. Then that evolves to the team and you’re deciding based on the vision, here is the best way for us to do this. And you make those decisions even today.

That’s something that I’m constantly kind of deciding, like this is priority, this is not for myself, for my team. And the more you can really own that time, energy, and money and put it into the most needle moving things, the better results you’ll get. So. I hope this episode got you guys thinking today.

Got you. Inspired to commit. Commit to consistency in your business. The other last thing I’ll say on that, if you’re like, I’m not good at creating content, you know, I’m nervous when I create videos. I’m nervous if I create podcasts, guess what? How you get better at creating content is creating content.

And the good thing about content creation is it. Doesn’t last forever, right? People see something, they forget about it. You’re gonna care way more than anybody seeing your content is gonna care. And so like, here’s the thing, I’m, I’ve done 750 podcast episodes. The way I got good at podcasting is through podcasting.

The way I got good at showing up on Instagram stories, creating reels, recording is by doing it. So it’s like you either want it or you don’t. And you gotta just do it. You gotta do it uncomfortable. Leverage your strengths as much as possible, but creating content, it’s, it can be challenging, but showing up consistently through that process alone, you’ll become a better content creator and then therefore, you will stand out more and you’ll learn.

You’ll learn your style, you’ll learn what you’re good at, you’ll learn what feels good to you, what comes natural Leverage that. Don’t try and be somebody else, like the best content creators are authentically them and they’re leveraging what’s easy for them. I podcasted my gym clothes. That’s me kind of today, halfway in my gym clothes.

‘Cause it makes it easier for me. Like I gotta record, I just went to the gym and it’s also my brand and it’s me. So there’s not, there’s also not like a black and white right or wrong way to do this. Be you try things out, nothing’s forever. You are gonna get better through the process. All right everybody, I hope to see you on the live training on Tuesday next week.

I’m so excited. It’s gonna be so good. I’m also announcing something pretty big on that training, so I can’t wait. Have an amazing weekend and I’ll talk to you guys next week.