Frustrated by how time-consuming it is to create content for your business? You’re not alone. Many business owners stop creating content because they don’t have the bandwidth to be consistent with it and hiring help is out of their budget.
I’ve talked about batching content before and creating a content plan so you know what you’re creating before you sit down to do it. But there are a few more secrets to saving time when creating content that you’re going to want to hear.
Sometimes, it’s about just doing the thing. Creating content even if circumstances aren’t ideal. This week on the podcast, I’m sharing what that looks like as well as some other tips to keep you on track.
Mentioned in This Episode Podcast
Transcript:
Welcome to episode 228 of The Content Experiment Podcast, a podcast for service-driven business owners who know that content is important but there’s so much more to marketing and business growth.
Here we talk about showing up for your audience that they want to hear, in a way that’s sustainable for you. This might mean publishing a weekly podcast or blog, but it also means paying attention to your email list, leveraging other people’s audiences, building relationships, and getting over the limiting mindsets that often hit when we’re reaching for the next level in our business.
I’m Abby Herman, content strategist and podcast manager for business owners who want to make their marketing feel easier and more streamlined so they can get back to serving their clients and making those sales. I’ll show you how OR do it for you, while you do business in a way that works for you–I can help by supporting you through building a content and marketing strategy, taking care of the podcast management for you, or giving you the tools and resources to take this on yourself.
As I’m outlining and recording this, it’s mid-March. I’m about a month ahead on recording and writing show notes and social media for the podcast.
Am I bragging? Yeah, maybe a little.
I’ve mentioned this on a previous episode but I’m doing a lot of traveling this year and I didn’t want to record any episodes when I was gone. So right now, I have interviews scheduled in the next few weeks that will take me through mid-August, and I have plans for some episodes after that.
I planned ahead so my travel time is covered AND I’m already recorded ahead for when I get back so I don’t have to jump right back into it. Interviews will be recorded. Show notes will be done. My assistant will have all the content ready to load.
I’m going to share what works for me and what I know works for my clients.
It starts with motivation. Motivation is the positive feeling that takes you out of the comfort of inaction and drives you into the unknown of making a change. Momentum is the force that keeps you going. While motivation is a feeling, momentum is the action part of the equation.
Remember your motivation. Basically your why.
What’s your motivation for having your podcast, your business, posting on social media, sending your emails? Sure, it’s probably to market your business, to have some visibility out there. To get your message out there.
But my guess is that there’s more to it than that. It’s to help others. Move other business owners forward. Offer support. Maybe a little bit of venting about what you’re seeing out there. I like to do that a bit here.
Once you know your motivation, you can take action and keeping up the momentum around your content is easier. Here are some other ways to create more momentum and save time while you’re at it.
First, have a plan. Know what you want to create in any given quarter, month, or week. Write it down and map out all the content topics for each piece of pillar content and your social media. That way when you sit down to start creating, you already know where you’re going to go.
Next, make time to create content for your business. For me, that’s Mondays. I usually have other things going on on Mondays, but I have a big part of the day blocked off to create for my own business. If I don’t do that, chances are it’s not going to happen. Or it’ll happen but I’ll have to squeeze it into a weird segment of my day and it won’t feel right.
Batch your content. When you sit down to write a blog post or email, create some additional social content around that too. If you’re outlining a podcast episode, outline several at once. Better yet, record several at once.
When you’re hosting guests, sit down and write the show notes and social media and email at immediately after recording the interview. Block time on your calendar so you can do this. It’s a game-changer, I promise. When I do this for my own interviews on this podcast, I probably save an hour or more of time because I don’t have to go back through my notes or relisten to any part of the episode again.
If you’re writing blog posts or social media, create your content around a theme and create all the written content for a week or theme. Then create all the graphics you might need. Then load everything all at once.
There have been a few times when I haven’t done this and I’m always mad at myself for it. It throws me off my schedule.
You can’t wait until you’re in the mood to create content. You can’t wait for the perfect circumstances. Sometimes you just need to do the best you can with what you have. That might look like outlining your content in a spiral notebook as you’re sitting at your kid’s baseball practice or carving out time first thing in the morning to get it off your plate. Even if that’s not your most productive time.
I think a lot of business owners wait until they’re really excited about creating the content before they start. If you do that, you’re never going to publish anything.
You just have to get started. Open up the document that you’re using to create your content and just start writing down ideas. If you have a plan, and you have time blocked off your schedule, you have the space to get it done. Even if you don’t feel like it right at that moment.
Do it anyway. I promise you that your future self will thank you.
If you found value in what you learned here today, be sure to share it on social media. Take a screenshot of the episode on your phone and share it over on Instagram stories. Tag me at thecontentexperiment. Or head over to LinkedIn and connect with me. Be sure to tell me you found me on the podcast when you send the connection invite! The more you share this podcast with others, the more we can get it into the hands of more business owners, just like you, who need to hear the message that they are not alone.
