Donald Trump: A 3 Step Content Writing Strategy

How Donald Trump Became a Real Estate Mogul

Donald John Trump, Sr. was born on June 14, 1946.

His father was Fred Trump, a wealthy New York City real estate developer.

Donald Trump grew up learning about the real estate industry from his father.

He went on to attend the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1968, “The Donald” officially joined his father’s company, which was at the time called Elizabeth Trump & Son.

Because of his natural abilities, the lessons from his father and his education at Wharton, Trump excelled.

After working for five years for his dad, he was eventuallygiven control of his dad’s company in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.

His father’s focus for his business was on middle-class rental housing in Brooklyn, Queens.

Donald decided he had bigger dreams in mind. He wanted to build skyscrapers. And he wanted to do it in Manhattan.

His dream was to change the New York skyline, which in 1971 was a pretty ambitious goal considering New York City was on the verge of bankruptcy.

But Trump saw opportunity where others saw obstacles.

He decided to acquire and develop the old Penn Central building for $60 million and to do that with no money down.

It was a very complex deal, something he hadn’t ever dealt with before, so he hired an experienced lawyer named George Ross.

Later, with the help of a 40-year tax abatement from the New York City government, Trump was able to transform the bankrupt Commodore Hotel into the Grand Hyatt.

Trump had many other achievements which led to his status as “Real Estate Mogul,” but can I be honest with you?

None of these successes are the reasons why you know who Donald Trump is today.

Content Marketing Made Donald Trump a Household Name

The reason you know him is due to content marketing. Yes, I am telling you that if it wasn’t for that, Donald Trump would probably not be a household name like he is now.

Let me explain to you what I mean and reveal important content marketing lessons that will give you a new way to see the power of content writing.

In 1987, Donald Trump published his autobiography called “The Art Of The Deal.”

It was this first step in writing helpful content for others which set into motion his eventual transformation into a personal brand.

The book itself was an instant success and became a national best-seller.

And that took Donald Trump into another level in his life.

He went from “Real Estate Mogul” to “Renowned Author.”

This caused his business deals to be propelled even further. Every banker wanted to work with him.

Why now? He wasn’t just a real estate guy anymore. He was a business “superstar.”

Before we look at how content writing boosted Donald Trump even further as a successful person and brand, let’s look at the first content writing secret you can learn from Donald Trump.

Donald Trump’s 1st Content Writing Secret: Publishing Content Elevates Your Status

A successful real estate mogul is one thing, but a best-selling author is another.

Writing content elevates you in the eyes of your prospects and customers.

You go from being just another professional in your niche to an “expert” in peoples’ eyes.

Am I saying that you need to find an agent and publisher and write a book? You could.

But there are other types of content that are easier to get produced, which still harness the power of Donald Trump’s first content writing secret.

Here are some types of content you could publish:

• Publish your own newsletter (paper or digital)
• Write a white paper or physical booklet about a hot topic in your business
• Write an ebook

All these types of content writing will begin to transform you from “just another professional” to an “expert” in your chosen arena.

And when that happens, the way prospects and customers respond to you will change.

You’ll begin toattract them instead of having to chase after them.

(If you don’t feel like you have the writing skills necessary to publish such a resource, don’t let that stop you. You can hire a content writing service and compile those articles into one of the resources mentioned above.)

After you publish this type of content, you’ll open yourself to new opportunities.

New opportunities you would never get without applying this first content writing secret.

Let’s look at the opportunities that came to Donald Trump after he took this first step.

But first, you need to realize something. All of the expansion Trump had initiated led to financial troubles.

He had growing debts and marital problems. It all came to a head when poor business decisions left him unable to meet loan payments.

It caused a negative domino effect which led Trump to declare bankruptcy. But in true “Trump fashion” he bounced back bigger than ever.

But what brought Donald Trump to next the level of fame and fortune wasn’t just his amazing comeback.

It was something more.

The opportunity came when Mark Burnett (the producer of the reality show Survivor) decided he wanted to move to New York and come up with a new reality show.

Burnett decided to do a show about people competing for a job.

As he was thinking about the idea he wondered, “What’s the job everyone is going to want to sign-up for? Who is someone everyone would want to work for?”

And guess who popped into his mind? Donald Trump. Why?

It wasn’t just because he was a Real Estate Mogul. It was because he was an expert and a superstar based off of his status as an author.

Mark Burnett himself said in an interview for the show CNBC Titans: Donald Trump, “He’s not only a brilliant businessman. He’s a celebrity. He’s a star. “

And that is how The Apprentice was born.

Because of the deal Trump made with Mark Burnett he not only starred in the show but he was alsothe executive producer.

He had a say over the content they created which allowed him to earn $1 million dollars per episode.

Despite the doubts of many people in Trump’s circle, The Apprentice aired in January 2004 and became an instant success.

On CNBC Titans Donald Trump said, “I thought I was known very well before The Apprentice, but now it’s at a much higher level. It’s not even a contest.“

Because of this new exposure Donald Trump was elevated from author to Emmy nominated TV star.

This allowed people to see a whole different side of Trump and at the same time further cemented the “Trump” brand with success in people’s minds.

It launched him from celebrity status to a world-wide brand. And this gave him opportunities for all sorts of licensing deals.

This leads us to the second content writing secret you can learn from Donald Trump.

Donald Trump’s 2nd Content Writing Secret: Elevate the Power of Your Content Marketing through Established Channels

One of the things you will learn very quickly as you begin implementing your content marketing is thatit can often feel like you’re shouting in an empty room.

And that’s because you are.

Until you build a core audience or create a content channel people regularly come to, then your content marketing efforts will only produce small results.

But when you understand Trump’s second content writing secret, you’ll be able to leap-frog ahead.

Trump realized that having a show starring himself on a major network would boost his brand and income into a new stratosphere.

NBC already had an audience and was a desired channel.

All he needed to do was piggyback off of their efforts by putting himself and his content before their audience.

After you take the first step of publishing great content and become established as an “expert” (even if just on a small scale), then it’s time to look for some established channels you can create content for.

This will expose you to a larger audience and bring more momentum to all of your efforts.

And when I say “channel,” don’t think I mean “Network TV.”

I am using “channel” in a broad sense to apply to any information vehicle which draws an audience.  These can be things such as:

• A local newspaper
• A local popular podcast
• A local popular blog
• Other poplar local websites
• Local radio programs

And all of this is under the “content writing” umbrella because no matter what form you present it in, on some level, you will have to create (i.e. write) content for each of these channels.

And here is the good news.

Once you have applied the first secret (published some type of written content to establish yourself and your expertise), then you will find that these local channels will be much more open to having you create content for them.

And just as in the case of Donald Trump, they might approach you to create content for them.

Donald Trump’s 3rd Content Writing Secret: The Content Marketing Snowball Effect

The common analogy for the “Snowball effect“ is a small ball of snow rolling down a snow-covered hillside and growing in size as it gets closer and closer to the bottom of the hill.

It’s a figurative term for any process that starts from a state of small significance and builds upon itself to become larger and larger.

What I call the “Content Marketing Snowball Effect” is the process that happens when the results of your content marketing begin to build upon each other and begin to have a larger effect and produce larger and larger results.

Donald Trump understands this secret on some gut level, because he’s implemented it to build off of his previous content writing successes (his book and his TV show).

He has gone on to:

• Write other books
• Create Trump University
• Speaking opportunities
• Interviews
• Etc.

(Notice again that all of these things involve content writing no matter what the final end-product looks like.)

After you implement Trump’s first two content writing secrets, it’s important for you to remember this third secret.

You need to tap into the power of the “content marketing snowball effect.”

Look for other “channels” that you can tap into or create on your own.

One piece of advice on approaching other people, businesses, and organizations: remember that people who own and run these other “channels” will need content.

They will want your growing expert status. They will need you.

As your momentum grows, keep looking for new ways to use content writing so you can keep building up your own channel up as well.

When this happens, that “shouting into an empty room feeling” that you once had will turn into a “crowd of raving fans” feeling.

And that’s a much better feeling.

Without content marketing Donald Trump would be a successful real estate professional, but he wouldn’t be a personal brand and a modern-day icon.

You might not be able to reach the same level of fame and fortune as Donald Trump but if you tap into these three content writing secrets, you will see a level of success beyond what you are currently experiencing or have ever even imagined.

Which ones of these content writing secrets from Donald Trump are your favorites?
Leave a comment and let us know.