Create An Effective Marketing Funnel and Content Strategy for Product-based Businesses with Ruthie Sterrett

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Product Powerhouse Podcast! I’m thrilled you’re here. Today, we have a fantastic guest, Ruthie Sterrett, from The Consistency Corner. Recording and re-listening to this episode was an absolute blast, and I'm excited to share this actionable conversation with you.

Meet Ruthie Sterrett

Ruthie Sterrett is a content and marketing strategist and the founder of The Consistency Corner, a content management agency dedicated to helping small business owners create consistent, revenue-driving content. Ruthie’s agency focuses on quarterly planning, simple marketing best practices, positive reinforcement, and accountability.

Often, entrepreneurs find themselves overwhelmed with managing content, prioritizing their ideas, or holding themselves accountable. The Consistency Corner simplifies this with straightforward content frameworks that build trust and lead to consistent sales. Ruthie’s journey from a retail veteran to a self-taught marketer and agency owner is inspiring. Balancing corporate retail marketing, blogging, direct sales, health and wellness coaching, and motherhood, Ruthie has become a beacon of strategic thinking and detail-oriented execution.

Ruthie’s Journey and Expertise

In our conversation, Ruthie shared her incredible journey, from her 15 years in corporate retail marketing to founding The Consistency Corner. Initially hesitant about marketing due to her sales background, Ruthie’s experience in merchandising and close collaboration with marketing teams sparked her interest and confidence in the field. Her ability to understand people and how they buy, honed on the sales floor, proved invaluable as she transitioned to marketing.

One pivotal moment was when she scaled an e-commerce division by 900% in a year, leveraging her branding and messaging expertise. This success, alongside her side hustles in health and fitness coaching, taught Ruthie that she could teach others what she had learned. This realization led her to pivot her podcast and side hustle toward helping small business owners with marketing.

Understanding Content Marketing

Content marketing can seem like a daunting term, but Ruthie breaks it down simply: content is anything your audience can consume that isn’t a product. This includes videos, blog posts, social media updates, and emails. The key is understanding that different pieces of content serve different purposes—some attract new audiences, some nurture existing ones, and some convert prospects into customers.

A crucial insight Ruthie shared is the importance of having a strategy rather than just a schedule. Posting on social media three times a day is not a strategy; it’s a schedule. A strategy involves understanding your audience, creating content that meets their needs, and guiding them through the sales funnel.

The Salad Analogy and Content Layers

Ruthie uses a powerful analogy to explain content strategy: it’s like making a salad. You can have a basic salad that meets your needs, but a well-thought-out, nutrient-rich salad does a much better job. Similarly, your marketing strategy should be layered and balanced, with different types of content providing different “nutrients” to your audience.

When planning content, it’s essential to understand your business goals and create content that supports them. Ruthie emphasizes the need for focus—trying to achieve too many goals at once can dilute your efforts and effectiveness. Instead, focus on one goal at a time and build from there.

Quarterly Content Planning

Ruthie’s approach to content planning involves quarterly sessions where she helps clients map out their content based on attract, nurture, and convert phases. By breaking down the content into manageable chunks and focusing on consistency, businesses can build a sustainable and effective content strategy.

A significant part of Ruthie’s process is repurposing content. For example, a long-form blog post can be broken down into social media posts, email newsletters, and more. This approach maximizes the value of each piece of content and ensures consistency across platforms.

Scaling and Learning

Ruthie is constantly learning and growing, currently focusing on scaling her agency to help more working moms balance their careers and family lives. By creating an agency model that supports flexible work schedules, Ruthie aims to empower other women to work in their zones of genius while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Final Tips and Resources

For those feeling overwhelmed by content marketing, Ruthie recommends starting small and focusing on what you can do consistently. She offers a content planning bundle on her website, which includes a spreadsheet and a mini-course to help you get started with quarterly content planning.

You can find Ruthie on Instagram @theconsistencycorner, visit her website, and check out her podcast, The Consistency Corner, for more marketing and mindset tips.