Consistent content creation is the holy grail of marketing, yet a constant challenge for busy small business owners.
In my experience of 20+ years as a content marketing professional, it’s consistency that counts; the stamina to write a blog, produce a podcast or record a video every week for many years gives you a competitive edge.
While all business owners want to generate new leads today, the reality with content marketing is usually different. It can take years to become an overnight success.
I’ve written before about how valuable consistency is in creating a ‘long tail’ of content, primarily benefiting your search engine optimisation.
Consistency also gives your target audience greater confidence about doing business with you. If you’ve been around for a long time and delivered consistent messages about your goods or services, you are more trustworthy than newcomers.
But consistent content creation, while simple in theory, isn’t easy in practice.
We all have finite hours in the working week, with a competing list of priorities, many of them urgent and important. How can we carve out the necessary time for this required content consistency level?
Here are some suggestions that have worked for me.
1 – Choose your channels wisely
You don’t need to produce every type of content and be present on every social media channel. Pick your battles.
Rather than attempting to write a blog, produce a podcast and host a YouTube channel, pick one and get comfortable.
Start with your favourite medium and commit to one new piece of content a week. That’s all.
In time, you can expand into a second (and then a third) content medium, even repurposing your original content to make videos, podcasts or blogs.
2 – Plan ahead
Starting with a blank sheet of paper can be demoralising and time-consuming. You need a content calendar.
Brainstorming content titles, preferably with a colleague or trusted adviser, can quickly lead to tens or hundreds of new ideas for blogs, podcasts and videos.
When you sit down to create your content, you can pick from one on the list and use it as inspiration to start writing.
3 – Batch your content creation
Rather than viewing your content creation as a weekly challenge, why not batch it and tackle multiple pieces of content at a time? If you set aside a day a month, you can create the 4-5 pieces of content you need for the 30 days ahead.
Even if your content creation day only gets you to the rough draft stage, it will still save a considerable amount of time when you finish it off.
One thing I’ve found works for me during these content creation days is to change my environment; it tends to spark creativity to get out of my (home) office and into a different location.
I’m currently sitting writing this blog post (and several others) on a balcony overlooking Weymouth Harbour during a fortnight of holiday and remote working.
From where could you work to aid your content creation process?
4 – Repurpose your pillar content
Rather than trying to create lots and lots of fresh content, focus on producing one ‘pillar’ piece of content each week.
With that in place, you can repurpose it to create micro-content suitable for sharing on different social media platforms.
This approach of creating pillar content and repurposing it to create micro-content gives your audience the impression you are a prolific content creator without needing to become a content-generating machine.
And sharing multiple pieces of micro-content based on your pillar content also helps with the consistency of your message; it’s a good thing that your prospective customers see you saying the same stuff consistently but in slightly different ways.
5 – Use AI wisely
I’ve written before about how you can use AI to support your content creation.
Tools like Jasper are brilliant for generating content ideas, breaking writer’s block and optimising copy.
I don’t know where I would be without running everything I write through Grammarly to check for typos and improve my grammar.
By incorporating the right AI tools into your content creation workflow, you can save time and improve the quality of what you share.
6 – Outsource to a specialist
You don’t have to go it alone.
Working with a content creation agency allows you to remain in the driving seat while a team of specialists do the hard work behind the scenes.
The content you share still ultimately has your voice and supports your brand, but you allow others to do the writing, producing and sharing.
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Consistent content creation. It’s not easy, but it is possible.
You may need to get creative with how you approach content creation and use helpful tools and resources, but if you want your business to grow, consistent content marketing is a must.
So, what are you waiting for? Get started today!
How will you introduce consistency to your content marketing?
