The Surprising Business Lesson Hidden in a Walk Through the Forest

I always found new strength, more creativity, and peace of mind by wandering through the quiet mountain forest. That's what I discovered on my solo hikes with my dog in the mountain forest surrounding my second home.

Then, a couple of years back, this thing called Forest Bathing became highly popular. Spending time in nature has been around for centuries, but it really took off a couple of years ago.

Suddenly, all around me, seminars, weekend retreats, and courses appeared focused on finding your peace, calming down, and drawing strength from the tranquility of the forest.

Many of my mountain friends have done this for years without a fancy name for it, without needing a teacher or paying considerable amounts of money for it.

But from a business standpoint, someone really did their job well. They realized that not everyone can naturally draw on this strength from the quiet forest; some people need guidance. And they found a fancy name for it, created content promoting something that could be accessed for free, put a framework around it, and offered guidance to people who don't trust their own gut to give it to them.

This shows that the value of what you have to offer sometimes is not that someone cannot get it for free. Of course, you can just go into the forest, breathe the fresh air, smell nature, listen to the quiet (which in reality is not really quiet because a lot is going on in the forest).

Most of the time there is a 'free' or cheaper option that you are competing against. That does not mean that you need to compete with a low price.

It is up to you to make people see the value you bring to the table even against a lower-priced or free offer. Your content should demonstrate what makes your expertise valuable, make your audience want that experience, and build trust in your ability to deliver it.

It is your expertise, your ability to speed up the learning curve, your unique point of view, or the explanation that makes things click that people pay (more) money for.

And your daily content is where you build up the trust from your audience that you can deliver this.

Let's stick to the above example. If we want to sell seminars, courses, or guided tours for forest bathing, our content needs to do something different from just informing about the benefits of the forest on our mental health and nervous system.

Our content needs to include what we can bring to the table that goes beyond going into the forest and figuring it out ourselves.

What can that be?

Special methods: We can talk about the benefit of combining forest bathing with breathing techniques or slow walking.

Special places: We can offer to bring people to special places where they can experience the forest uninterrupted, or in crowded areas we can offer to guide people to very quiet places or places that combine special sound effects like mountain creeks, birds singing, or foliage swooshing. Our content can describe the experience and talk about the impact it has on us.

Guidance: While someone new to the idea of forest bathing may simply walk around, a guide can point them to where to stop, what to listen to, and what to feel. You can bring them closer to the results by enabling them to learn faster.

Community: Some people may not even look for forest bathing as the most important thing. For them, forest bathing may be a way to meet people and connect over shared experiences.

Others may be looking for entertainment; you could combine the forest bathing experience with regional lore, witch stories, or animal watching.

Your content needs to demonstrate the difference between what people can get without you and what they get because of you:

Just because you can have something for free does not mean that nobody is willing to pay for guidance, expertise, interpretation, and better experiences.

Your content needs to demonstrate your particular contribution and what sets it apart from other options. That is why copying someone else's content, repeating general information about the benefits of something, or 'generic AI-created content' isn't enough.

Your content needs to demonstrate that you have something meaningful to contribute and let people experience something of your expertise and perspective before they buy.

You don't have to convince people that the free alternative is bad; most of the time it isn't, and people know it. You need to show why your offer provides something additional that makes it worth paying for.

If someone can get the basic result without you, what is it that they get because of you? And how does your content guide your audience toward the realization of what your offer adds to their experience over the free version or other offers?

You know your offer has value. But does your content make people see it?

If you are not sure whether your content communicates what makes you different, attracts the right people, and gives them a reason to buy, it is time to take a closer look.

The Content System Diagnostic Kit helps you identify what is working, what is missing, and where your content system might be losing potential customers.

​Take a closer look at your content system!​

Happy Weekend - I will spend mine meeting friends back in Berlin.

Susanna