0:04

Hey , what's up , guys ? This is Ivan Meakin and you are listening

0:06

to Content Untap , sponsored by Riot Business

0:08

Results . This is a show where I go on a mission

0:10

to unpack all those tiny little details that

0:13

make up fantastic content . I

0:15

report my findings back to you and I try and give you

0:17

some practical tips that you guys can take home into

0:19

your next project . If you do like what you

0:21

hear , please do all those classic podcasty things

0:23

you know , like share , subscribe , tell

0:26

your friends about us all that kind of stuff that helps us spread

0:28

the word and reach more people just like you , which is awesome

0:30

. Also , if you wanted to have a

0:32

more in-depth conversation about what you're hearing today

0:34

, just set us up on LinkedIn . You can go to

0:36

the Riot Business Results LinkedIn page or

0:39

you can go to my own personal LinkedIn page and at Enfire

0:41

as a DM . We can spark a whole conversation there

0:43

. Thanks , guys . Let's just crack on with the episode

0:45

.

0:48

In the dead of night , under a moonlit sky

0:50

, skilled and daring figure moves stealthily

0:53

through the corridors of Prince John's castle . This

0:55

is Robin Hood , the legendary outlaw and

0:57

hero of the common people , and he's come with a purpose

1:00

to reclaim the gold that the greedy prince

1:02

has extracted from the pockets of the already struggling

1:04

population . In his hands

1:06

, robin Hood holds a sack of gold coins , hard-earned

1:09

money that Prince John has hoarded away . But tonight

1:11

this gold won't be lying in the royal coffers

1:13

. Tonight it will be returned into the

1:15

hands of those who need it most , as

1:18

dawn breaks and a humble village faces

1:20

light up with joy and relief , as Robin

1:22

Hood with his band of merry men generously distribute

1:24

the stolen gold . Finally , parents

1:27

can feed their children , craftsmen can

1:29

continue their trades and hope is restored

1:31

at Nottingham , all thanks to the champion of the everyman

1:33

. And that is a story that most of

1:35

us will probably be familiar with . Right , the tale of

1:37

Robin Hood robbing the rich and feeding the poor

1:39

. But what's really interesting about Robin Hood

1:41

is he's so much more than just an art character

1:43

in a story . I think Robin Hood represents a

1:46

powerful narrative archetype seen in so

1:48

many other stories across different cultures

1:50

. Think of those classic

1:52

vigilante tales . Right , you have the

1:54

Mexican hero , zorro , you know

1:56

, doing exactly the same thing standing up for

1:58

the everyman in the face of a new greedy

2:01

age . You've got the Australian

2:03

Ned Kelly , who , although incredibly

2:05

violent and did a lot of terrible things , for

2:08

some reason people still revere him as some

2:10

kind of folk hero , because he was going outside

2:12

of the law , rebelling against a corrupt system

2:14

, and we love them for it . What's

2:17

really interesting here is this kind of narrative can

2:19

be a really powerful tool for business content

2:21

, okay , one that , if you know how to leverage

2:23

properly , can add a huge amount of resonance

2:25

to your story and bring people onto your

2:27

side . And today , what we want to do is take a trip into

2:29

nodding off . We want to look at this timeless , heroic

2:32

law narrative and how it can inspire

2:34

content creators to craft messages

2:36

that position you as a modern

2:38

day Robin Hood right , a hero returning

2:40

from successful heights with valuable knowledge to

2:43

share with the masses . And if you can

2:45

do this right , it's going to be an incredibly powerful

2:47

narrative for your content . So let's

2:49

just take a look at why this might work . Okay , well

2:51

, the Robin Hood narrative can set you and your brand

2:53

up not only as people who strive for

2:55

every success and strive to be at the top , but

2:58

also can reach back down and pick people up

3:00

. This is the kind of essence of that

3:02

Robin Hood message in business storytelling

3:04

. What we want to do is , rather than hoarding

3:06

knowledge and advantages for ourselves you

3:09

know the modern day Robin Hoods can see value

3:11

in sharing what they know and ensuring

3:13

that others can join them on this journey to

3:15

success too . It's the perfect example

3:17

of businesses that adopt a mindset of abundance

3:20

, let's say , rather than scarcity . You

3:22

know , they know that there's enough to go around for everyone

3:24

and make it their business to champion those people

3:26

who are less fortunate . So , although the world of

3:28

business content doesn't necessarily have swashbuckling

3:31

, sword fights and royal carriage heists

3:33

although that's a massive shame , because if it did again

3:36

it would be incredibly awesome but

3:38

it's about positioning your brand as a champion

3:40

for your audience , a kind of guardian figure

3:42

who'd come back from the battlefield of industry with

3:44

insights and knowledge that they're now willing

3:46

to share freely with the common folk

3:48

for the common folks good . So let's use an example

3:51

here , right , let's say that there's a seasoned marketing expert

3:53

who's for years been working at the top of the corporate

3:55

ladder in large marketing agencies has been working

3:57

on brands like Coca Cola

3:59

and Nike , for example

4:01

, and now that they leave and they want to set up

4:03

their own little consultancy . Well , here a great

4:05

little narrative or marketing tool might be

4:07

that they position themselves as people who are

4:09

sharing industry secrets and proven strategies

4:12

that worked for Coca Cola and Nike

4:14

with small , local businesses so they

4:16

can equip them with the tools that they need to compete

4:18

with the giants . And if you can do that , what you're doing is

4:20

you're setting yourself up as that champion of the every man

4:22

, this person who's trying to level the playing field

4:24

and become that folk hero in their own

4:26

little niche . So in a way , this is kind of

4:28

like redistributing the wealth of knowledge

4:30

that people have . The top of the big companies

4:33

hold on to all of their secrets because they

4:35

don't want everyone to know , because they operate a super

4:37

competitive kind of capitalist way

4:40

of doing business . And if you can

4:42

challenge that and say I'm leveling the playing field , I'm giving

4:44

out this information for free because everyone

4:46

deserves to have access to this information , you're

4:48

going to set yourself up as a really popular figure

4:50

in your niche industry and in fact , that's

4:53

how a lot of great small businesses begin right . A

4:55

lot of thought leaders and business owners

4:57

started their businesses because they were fed up with the

4:59

way things currently work and they wanted

5:01

to try and fix it in some way . And

5:03

for these people , right , creating a kind of Robin Hood style

5:06

narrative can be a great theme

5:08

for a content campaign , because you can share

5:10

certain stories and knowledge for free that

5:13

others might charge for , and , if you

5:15

do it well enough , you can even potentially disrupt

5:17

an entire industry . By showing the world how things

5:19

really work , or showing that behind the

5:21

curtain scene and inner workings of the way that other

5:24

industries operate , you might expose some

5:26

secrets that might get some people upset or mad

5:28

or inflame their passions in a way , when they see

5:30

something that's a slight injustice , and they'll

5:32

see you as that noble figure who's lived in the veil

5:34

giving them that information . Now , great , but

5:36

I'll be hit . Pretty dramatic example to this is someone

5:39

like Edward Snowden , right , he's probably

5:41

got one of the most compelling stories in modern history

5:43

because he felt compelled to

5:46

share knowledge that no one else dared

5:48

to , and we love him for that , although

5:50

, to be fair , he has paid the price for that . I'm

5:52

not sure that many people would be brave enough to do that

5:54

. But if you can kind of take an essence of

5:56

that and show that you're brave to go outside

5:58

this data score and comment on things that normally

6:01

other people wouldn't or don't

6:03

think they should be able to comment on , because that information

6:05

should be kept private , you're going to

6:07

set yourself apart from everyone else and

6:09

show that it's you're on the side of the every

6:11

man , and it's you and the people

6:13

versus the big system . So

6:15

the Robin Hood message is about kind of portraying

6:17

your business or brand as a force that strives to create

6:20

a fairer , more equitable situation

6:22

for your audience . Think of your

6:24

tribe or your team as your own little band

6:26

of married men and women , and it's a narrative that

6:28

says hey look , we're on your side , we're fighting for

6:30

you against the big bad system , and

6:33

it's a fantastic way to make your brand stand

6:35

out from the crowd , right ? But even at a more

6:37

simple level , it's also a great hook for blogs

6:40

, posts , reels and even a book . Just

6:43

make sure that you're not like peddling snake oil or

6:45

harmful products , right ? Because

6:47

one thing that springs to mind here is those spammy ads

6:49

that you see about dentists , right ? Dentists

6:51

will hate these three things of teeth whitening which , to be

6:53

fair , a lot of those products are super harmful . So

6:55

don't like get wrapped up in this idea

6:58

of clickbait . Make sure you're doing it from a very genuine

7:00

place . Okay , so how do we actually

7:02

? Okay , so how do we actually begin to develop

7:04

a Robin Hood style strategy here ? So

7:07

remember , the first thing that we need to do is become

7:10

authentic and have a sincere desire to help

7:12

people . Remember Robin Hood's backstory he's

7:14

forsaken the wealth and the

7:16

prestige of nobility and the

7:18

upper echelons of society in order

7:20

to give back to the people , because he saw

7:22

something that was unfair with the system . So

7:24

it needs to come from a place of raw passion and

7:26

belief , and that's the most important . So

7:29

if we want to start building on top of that , let's break

7:31

it down into some actionable steps here . The

7:33

first thing that you have to do to create a Robin Hood

7:35

narrative is establish your authority , because

7:38

before you can really adopt this figure of

7:40

Robin Hood in your industry , you obviously

7:42

first have to establish your expertise

7:44

as a credible person who has the knowledge to

7:47

give back to people . So this could involve

7:49

sharing your background , sharing your struggles

7:51

, your victories , the reason why you left the big

7:53

bad corporate world or the big bad industry that

7:55

you left to share some secrets , the

7:57

injustices that you have . You could talk about

7:59

some of the successes that you had in that field before

8:01

you decided to leave and the lessons that

8:03

you've learned along the way as well , and chronicle that

8:06

in a podcast or a book or a series of

8:08

social media posts . Whatever your medium right

8:10

, just make sure that you are establishing authority

8:12

and credibility . So the second thing is you

8:14

have to identify your sheriff of not

8:16

yet . So you have to know what

8:19

it is that you've come from and what kind

8:21

of information that you're bestowing on people to enlighten

8:24

them on something they didn't know before . Okay

8:26

, every Robin Hood story there's a villain , and

8:28

every and then , in fact , in any story that there's a villain

8:30

. But in the Robin Hood story , the villain in particular

8:32

needs to be something that is holding

8:34

on to information or holding on

8:37

to value for

8:39

potentially nefarious purposes or

8:41

just because they feel like they don't want to share

8:43

it . So in the

8:45

world of business , this villain could be an unfair system

8:48

. Perhaps it's an outdated way of thinking

8:50

or maybe a problematic industry

8:52

standard that you want to break . Okay , just be

8:54

careful that you're not attacking anyone

8:56

in particular . You're more

8:58

attacking like a general system . You don't want to finger

9:00

point at , like a specific CEO

9:03

of a company or like an old boss or something

9:05

, because you're going to be burning some bridges there . So

9:07

just don't point the finger or blame anyone in particular

9:09

, unless , of course , like it's Donald Trump . Okay

9:11

, let's go for it . So the third thing that we want to

9:13

do is we want to define our group

9:16

, our little tribe , our niche , or like our think

9:18

of it , as our little nary band of men and women . Right

9:20

? So who is it that you're fighting for ? We

9:22

have to clearly define our target audience the people

9:25

who were passionately striving to help

9:27

, and what industry secrets or hidden knowledge

9:29

do they need to know that's going to give them the

9:31

most value ? Because if you're adopting

9:33

this Robin Hood kind of narrative or this Robin

9:36

Hood archetype as a business , you have

9:38

to make sure that what you're giving back , that goal

9:40

that you're stealing from Prince John to give to the people , is

9:42

actually going to be valuable to them and

9:45

help them solve a real problem that they have that they

9:47

couldn't otherwise solve . So what

9:49

industry secrets or hidden knowledge

9:51

are going to give them the most value

9:53

, and how is this going to help them solve a

9:55

problem they have ? Okay , once you've established

9:57

that , then you can move on to the next bit , which is

9:59

sharing the wealth . This is where the

10:02

giving aspect comes into play , so you have to

10:04

regularly share valuable , actionable

10:06

insights with your audience , and that could be through blogs

10:08

, podcasts , social media

10:11

, downloadable tools . You

10:13

know different resources that you can give them

10:15

for free . This is coming from a place of

10:17

complete generosity and

10:19

value giving , so the first thing

10:21

you have to do is give them a windfall

10:23

of information that they didn't otherwise have . You

10:26

know , although we may not be the most obvious Robin

10:28

Hood brand at right business results , we do try

10:30

to stay up to date with things like publishing

10:32

information , to provide you with latest

10:35

updates on what people are looking for in the

10:37

publishing world and what books are being published and what

10:39

industry standards are looking like . You know , we're

10:41

not obviously we're not in defiance of

10:43

the publishing industry , so I wouldn't necessarily label

10:45

us as a Robin Hood brand , but

10:47

we do try and provide knowledge to businesses

10:49

and to authors that they may not have

10:52

had access to before or

10:54

may not have access to otherwise if it wasn't

10:56

for us , kind of with our publishing connection , providing

10:58

people with that kind of information . Okay , so

11:00

this is a form of taking knowledge from a big industry

11:02

and giving it to the people who need it , so you

11:05

don't always have to develop an aggressive campaign

11:07

against an industry . It can just be something

11:09

that here's an industry secret that you may

11:11

not have known before , and , from our experience

11:13

working in the industry , we're here to share it with you . So

11:16

that's the kind of softer approach , but you

11:18

could definitely lean into this a little bit heavier

11:20

, especially if you do feel passionate about changing

11:23

things socially , or positive

11:25

change for social cause as well and there are

11:27

injustices in the world that are getting in the way of that . This

11:30

narrative could be a great way of getting

11:32

people on your side . So the final thing here

11:34

is just keeping it real . Okay , authenticity

11:36

is key if you want to be a Robin Hood brand . Right , you want

11:38

to create a message that doesn't just feel like a marketing

11:40

gimmick , and if you do create something like

11:42

that , it's likely going to backfire . Just remember

11:45

that we said earlier on . The backstory of Robin Hood

11:47

is that he's forsaken wealth in

11:49

order to give back to society , so you have to make

11:52

sure this is coming from a place of raw

11:54

passion and belief , and if your audience

11:56

can't feel that from you , you're going to end up sounding

11:58

a lot more like a sheriff of Pottingham than a

12:00

Robin Hood , okay , so just make sure you get that bit right

12:02

. So I believe that the Robin Hood

12:05

style of messaging can be a really powerful

12:07

technique , but you have to use it responsibly . You

12:09

know the risk does lie in

12:11

potentially like villainizing others in your industry

12:14

to put yourself up . So pushing others down to

12:16

pick yourself back up , which can

12:18

create a kind of negative atmosphere and

12:20

a lot of finger pointing and

12:22

even in the most traumatic cases leads us to a lawsuit

12:25

. So you have to position that sheriff

12:27

of Nottingham correctly and it should be more

12:29

about like what you are fighting for rather

12:31

than who you're fighting against , if that makes

12:33

sense . So

12:35

, as I said before , it's not about like pushing someone down

12:37

to bring yourself up . It's about commenting

12:40

on a wider topic or a wider industry

12:42

or a wider problem in a way that

12:44

allows you to give information back to the

12:46

common folk that they wouldn't have otherwise had

12:48

or they've been stopped from receiving

12:50

beforehand , or maybe didn't know , but

12:53

maybe it was like a secret that they weren't privy

12:55

to you before . Okay , all from

12:57

the place of giving them value and bringing

13:00

people up with you . So , just as a quick recap

13:02

, the Robin Hood narrative is a pretty powerful tool , and here are the

13:04

four ways that you can begin to start

13:06

crafting one for your brand . The first

13:08

thing you do is establish your authority okay , your

13:10

story , your experience , your backstory and knowledge

13:13

. You have to be able to show them that you have

13:15

the gold to bring back and offer

13:17

the people right , otherwise this won't work and

13:20

make sure you share it freely . The next thing you need to do is

13:22

identify that sheriff of Nottingham figure

13:24

. You know the problem or systems that you're helping your audience

13:26

navigate or overcome . Then you have

13:28

to define your band of married men

13:30

or , with it , you don't have to know exactly

13:32

your niche tribe and who you're helping , okay . So

13:35

you have to know who whose lives are . You know you're aiming to

13:37

enrich through the giving back

13:39

of that information that you currently are holding on to . And

13:42

then you have to share the wealth . You have to think about what

13:44

medium , what piece of content , or how you're

13:46

going to get that message in front of people

13:48

, how you are going to distribute the

13:50

gold . Is it going to be through a product that you give away

13:52

for free ? Is it going to be through free

13:54

content that you send out there ? It could be social media posts

13:57

, it could be videos . Just think about what it is

13:59

and how you want to share that message and share

14:01

that wealth out and finally , just

14:03

keep it real . Like you're going to adopt the Robin Hood

14:05

like narrative , just to make sure you're doing it from a

14:07

genuine passion and a genuine

14:09

kind of raw , a desire to help

14:12

people . Okay , and if you

14:14

can do all these things , you're going to be able to create really powerful

14:16

content that sets you aside from the competition

14:18

and allows you to side with the everyday

14:20

people . Okay , that are going to be the

14:22

ones that you're going to help , and if you can begin to get on their

14:24

side and be able to comment on a wider problems

14:27

and they can begin to see you as that kind

14:29

of folk hero who's come from upper

14:31

echelons of an industry to bring back knowledge

14:33

to them , they're going to be much more willing to want to work

14:36

with you . So I hope that was useful , guys , and until next

14:38

time , just ask yourself are you ready to don the green

14:40

hat of Robin Hood , are you prepared to become

14:42

that champion of that folk , hero

14:44

of your industry ? If so , I

14:46

hope this helps .

14:49

Hey guys , thanks again for listening to another episode of content

14:51

untapped . If you are interested in

14:53

finding out what we're up to at Right Business Results

14:55

create content to grow loyal

14:57

audience please do get in touch at info

15:00

at rightbusinessresultscom and we'll get

15:02

back to you post haste . Secondly

15:04

, if you wanted to continue the conversation about creating

15:06

great content or anything that you're listening to on

15:08

this show , give us a DM to the Right

15:10

Business Results LinkedIn page , where you can DM my personal

15:13

page , and we can spark a whole new conversation

15:15

about any of this stuff . We love having conversations

15:17

about content , so the more the merrier , guys

15:19

. Thanks again for listening and I will see you next

15:21

time .