Hello, coaches! Welcome to the first monthly Content&Cadence email newsletter.
In each of these newsletters, you’ll find valuable content and marketing-related advice to help you take small but important steps toward engaging your audience of runners and endurance athletes and growing your coaching business.
Here are a few topics we’ll get into in the months ahead:
Organizing your content development process
Pitching stories to the media
Becoming a guest contributor
Repurposing your content on different channels
Starting a newsletter or improving an existing one
Promoting partnerships with running stores and races
Showcasing client success stories
And much more!
Today, I thought it would be helpful to cover the do’s and don’ts of sharing external content with your audience.
Why? Because that’s what the second half of each month’s newsletter includes: running and endurance news, studies, and interesting articles. This roundup is intended to provide you with ideas to create your own content around or simply share with your audience.
But first, let’s cover the basics to keep you out of copyright trouble and ensure that what you share with your audience positively positions your coaching leadership and expertise.
Take what you need, leave the rest, and make great content!
— Kimberly, founder of Running Lifestyle Media and Content&Cadence
💡 Do’s and Don’ts of Sharing External Content with Your Audience
When you see an interesting article or study that you can tie back to your coaching experience, you should absolutely seize the opportunity!
Brand new research that will help shape your approach to how you structure a workout? Transparently share it. A new trend you believe is dangerous? Let your audience know why you’re not in support of it and what you advise instead.
Why it’s valuable: By sharing your coaching-specific thoughts, opinions, and advice on content you’ve read, watched, or listened to, you’re able to position your expertise to your audience of runners and endurance athletes. It’s a great way to jump into the conversation on timely and relevant topics, and it helps build your credibility as a coach. You may even open up new conversations with potential coaching clients.
Here’s what to do:
Have an opinion or find an angle. Identify something interesting in the content that you want to share your expertise on or highlight the importance of for your athletes. Then, add more than what’s already provided — your take, your approach, your tips for your athletes.
Consider how you want to share your content based on how quickly you want to get it in front of your audience and how much you have to say on the topic. Is there a lot to explain? Perhaps a blog post makes the most sense. Is there a critical training myth to address? A quick video might be best, with more on the topic in an email newsletter that you send out at a later date.
Always credit the original source and include a link back to the content that inspired you, if it’s available.
Here’s what not to do:
Don’t publish the exact wording in an article or post without putting it in quotes and giving credit (e.g., article title, author, and name of the publication). Remember, using five or more exact words in a row is considered plagiarism.
Don’t criticize the author or subject of the article! Even if you think the advice, opinion, or take is completely wrong, misleading, or dangerous. Instead, find a tactful way to discuss it and rely on your coaching expertise to address the topic. While it may be true that social media algorithms reward divisiveness and controversy, a measured and educated response is much more valuable to building your credibility as a coach. Going viral for the wrong reasons will damage your reputation and business.
Pro Tip: Be intentional with the external content you choose to create your own content around. If your ideal coaching clients are beginner runners training for their first marathons, for example, find content that you can tie to training advice, helpful education, or challenges they’ll find relevant. This will better resonate with your audience and attract more of your ideal clients than sharing your thoughts about a recent study on the metabolic ceiling of ultramarathon runners.
Looking for more content marketing development guidance? Book a Content&Cadence Consulting project!
🔥 Join a Private Membership Community
Interested in diving deeper on this topic, having an editor (me!) on standby, and collaborating with fellow coaches? Sign up to be the first to know when the Content&Cadence private membership community launches!
🗞️ Running & Endurance News, Studies, and Articles of Interest
Write a blog post or email newsletter on one of the topics below, record a short video with your reactions to the content, or simply reshare something you find interesting with your audience of endurance athletes!
A new TikTok trend called “locking in” urges people to commit to self-improvement from September through December. Not a bad idea, but this article shares why all-in trends like this can be dangerous, especially when locking into running without working up to the training load. (Sustain Health)
Researchers from Stanford analyzed the blood samples of 108 participants over several years and found that significant aging changes tended to occur at 44 and 60. (Men’s Fitness)
According to Penn State Berks researchers, who looked at the vertical and torsional loading metrics of 38 runners, running with a stroller reduces impact and injury risk. (PennState)
The British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study that identifies increases in single running sessions as an indicator of injuries. Results and analysis suggest less than a 10% increase in long runs from one week to the next. (British Journal of Sports Medicine Blog)
Rasmus Østergaard Nielsen, one of the authors of the study mentioned above, provides more context around a single run session's injury risk and what research still needs to be done. (Healio)
An interesting study by universities in Ireland and Poland found higher rates of depression and anxiety among "multi-marathoners." (Worth noting, the 576 participants had run an average of 146 marathons each.) (Men's Health)
Running has been found to offset (but not eliminate) depression-related behaviors caused by a bad diet, according to a recent study. (Science Direct)
Increased cortisol levels in response to stress were found among less-hydrated research participants, according to a study by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University. (Muscle & Fitness)
After following ultramarathon runners for a year to attempt to determine the body's metabolic ceiling, a small study found that these runners can burn 11,000 calories in a day, but not for a prolonged time. (Scientific American)
Harvard biomechanics experts tested whether wearable sensors and machine learning can track a runner's braking and propulsion forces — not only on a treadmill, but also outside. (Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)
Want more content to share with your endurance athletes? Be sure to subscribe to Running Lifestyle on Substack.