Content Creation Tips for Consistent Content

Marketing Tips

Jan 24

I love creating content. You might not feel the same way, but I just wanted to put that out there. I genuinely love creating content, but I do not want to spend all of my time and energy making it happen.

It's one of the reasons that I have focused on more evergreen strategies in my business, like relying on Google, Pinterest, YouTube videos, podcasting, and blogging, rather than focusing on social media. But wherever you want to show up is A-okay with me, and I want to share with you some of my top tips to streamline your content creation process.

Last week, I shared ways to streamline your workflow process. Watch that video right here. I have a lot of videos on my channel on content creation, but some of the tips I'm sharing with you today are first timers. I have not put them together in a single video. So you are in the right spot if you want to create content, which is kind of necessary, and not hate the entire process.

I've got eight tips for you today. But last week, I did share with you more about repurposing and batch scheduling your content. So make sure you check that out as well, because that's really going to help you with the systems and organization of your content creation strategy.

Without further ado, let's get into the eight tips today. You're going to notice that the majority of these tips are all around finding content ideas. I find that this is the most stressful part for entrepreneurs.

What are you supposed to write about?
What are you supposed to create videos on?
What is going to attract your ideal customer?

This is something that we talk about in great deal inside of my membership, Brandmerry Academy. But I wanted to share with you some of my top tips today.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #1: KEEP RECORDS

So let's dive into the first one, which is all about keeping records. So as you begin to create your content, it's really important to keep clear records of the content you've already created. We have individual cards inside of ClickUp with every piece of content that we've created, our notes about that content, the title, the release date, all of that.

So if I ever want to go revisit a piece of content, maybe repurpose it or create a part two or part three or something like that, I have all of the information right there. You also want to keep a log of all of your content and where it was posted.

So maybe you want to create a spreadsheet. We have a spreadsheet that shares the title of the content that we created, a link to the content that we created, and where it was posted. This can be really helpful if you ever want to reference a piece of content that you've already done or you want to use something that you've already done and reinvent it.

One of the things that's going to help you as you show up and consistently create content is to analyze the content you've already created, because your audience will show you what they resonate with most.

On YouTube, we find that planning videos, content creation videos, and messaging videos do really well. So I know that every few weeks, I want to have a video that is in one of those categories. The only reason I know that is because we keep records and we look at our analytics.

Another example of this is something like social media. If you're constantly creating new content for social media, it is going to take you a ton of time. But you have amazing analytics right there on the platform.

Let's use Instagram as an example, where you can see what type of content has done really well with your audience. You could repurpose that content exactly as it is. Yes, I give you permission to post the exact same thing again on social media, because the reality is your audience is not going to remember that you already posted it. Or you can use that idea and you can create something new or refresh that content and post it again.

This is going to save you a lot of time when it comes to thinking of content that you want to post.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #2: ASK YOUR AUDIENCE

The second tip I have for you is to just ask. This is something that I think we often overlook. But if you have an audience, even if it is 10 people, you can ask them what type of content they would love for you to create.

They're already your warm audience. They're already there, creating engagement. They're already speaking with you, reading your blog, answering your emails, opening your emails, looking at your posts, watching your videos. Why not ask them?

This is something that I do multiple times a year in my business. I'll even do it on Instagram quite frequently. But every 90 days, we try to send out a market research survey to my audience. And in that survey, we ask very specific questions on the type of content that they would like to see from us at Brandmerry.

This video came from our most recent market research. In fact, all of the videos in Q1 came from that most recent market research. So I don't have to sit there and guess and really constantly be in my head about what my audience would like. I can simply ask.

So if you're not already doing that, please start doing that. Whether that's a simple Instagram story, you DM a few people, you ask in your email, or you have them fill a complete survey, it doesn't matter. If you have a Facebook group, you can also ask inside of the Facebook group and see what people have to say.

So please don't overlook the power of simply asking your audience what they would like to see from you.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #3: ORGANIZE YOUR IDEAS

The third tip I have for you is a way to organize all of your amazing ideas. Okay. I don't know about you, but do you get ideas for what you can create with your content in the most crazy places? Whether you're on a plane or at the grocery store or your kid's soccer practice or doing dishes. You're not in a place where you necessarily are going to sit down and write down all of your ideas and completely map out, but you do need a place to jot down that idea that you have.

So I like to have an idea bank, and this idea bank is simply a note in my Google Drive because then I can access it from my phone, from my computer, no matter where I am in the world. And I can just jot down that idea. Then when I go to map out my content strategy for 90 days, something I talk about in this video right here, I can pull from my idea bank.

I am telling you, if you start implementing this practice, you are going to find how easy it is to come up with ideas. What I have always found is I will get these ideas in the moment when I'm feeling inspired. But then the second I sit down to write out my content plan, I'm like, "I can't think of anything."

But I have an idea bank, so I can just go look at that. And I allow that to get my juices rolling. So create some sort of idea bank, preferably digital, where you can jot down these ideas and circle back to when you're mapping out your content.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #4: CORE BRAND MESSAGES

Another tip I have for you is to create core messages or core offers for your brand. This is something that I teach inside of my branding module inside of Brandmerry Academy. They're called core brand messages, or CBMs.

I teach you how to create structured messaging for your brand as a whole. We also talk about the importance of having clear streamlined offers, typically one to start, so that everything that you're creating can come back to that signature offer.

What this does from a branding perspective is it gives you focus. So whenever you're thinking of content ideas, you can look at your signature offer and say, "What does my audience need to know in order to take advantage of this offer? What are some obstacles that are standing in their way that are keeping them from taking advantage of this offer? What are some objections my audience might have about taking advantage of this offer?"

So you can create various forms of content that are actually going to help you sell your offer. Having these core brand messages, having these signature offers with these pillars, is a great way to streamline your content and make sure you never run out of ideas.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #5: STORYTELLING

One of the things that I talk about a lot at Brandmerry is the power of storytelling. Not just your brand story, although very, very important, but also your ability to incorporate micro stories into your marketing, everyday things that are happening, things that you're seeing, things that are happening with your customers and your clients and really start to incorporate storytelling as just a natural form of marketing.

One of the strategies that I use when I am not feeling inspired is to think about my own story. And I will just sit there and start to brainstorm things that have happened or things that I have heard or pieces of my brand story, and I will use that to inspire my content.

This works incredibly well on social media, because we know storytelling is such a powerful tool on those platforms. And so if you don't already, maybe take an hour every 30 days to go into your idea bank and write down a bunch of story ideas. My clients who join us inside of Brandmerry Academy get story ideas from me as well as multiple trainings on storytelling.

So if you find that you are really at a loss for storytelling, you want to refine your storytelling practice and get better at it, I highly suggest you check out Brandmerry Academy for some more details.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #6: HAVE BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS

The last three I have for you are really some time saving strategies that I wanted to make sure that we touched on. As I mentioned in the beginning, a big part of the stress that comes with content creation is just coming up with ideas. We've talked about a lot of those, but let's talk about some little strategies that you can implement to save you time overall.

The first one is having those brainstorming sessions. So one of the things that I talked about in last week's video, which you can watch right here, was the power of sitting down for two to three hours every 90 days and mapping out your content for that particular quarter.

I also like to call this a brainstorm session. This is my opportunity to sit down, look at my idea bank, look at some of the things my audience has been asking for, look at my keyword research using Google or a tool like Ubersuggest, and just sit down and write out all the different ideas that I have.

Then I take that information and I put it into an organized spreadsheet, where I actually choose the title, choose the topic, and choose the date that I'm going to release it. But I find this brainstorm session saves me so much time in the long run, because rather than trying to think of something every single week to post because, let's be honest, sometimes you're just not feeling it, If you focus in on brainstorming when you are inspired, then you can just always pull from that list and create the content.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #7: SET A TIMER

The next tip I have for you is to set a timer. So we talk a lot about having a system or repurposing workflow. And when you're just starting, it can still feel like it's taking a long time.

That's because you're building up that content creation muscle. It's going to take some time. But one of the things that I started doing in my second year of business is setting timers, and I would use these timers as motivation to see if I could create stuff in a specific chunk of time.

Rather than giving myself a whole day to create content, I'd say, "All right. I've got two hours to record as many videos as possible. My goal is four." Or I would say, "All right. I've got 45 minutes to write this blog post." And I would set a timer for 45 minutes.

Now, when I was first starting, I always went over, always, because I was still trying to refine my strategy. I was becoming a better copywriter. I was getting better at talking on video. But over time, I started meeting those mini deadlines that I set for myself. And as a result, I was saving hours every single week.

So I highly suggest you play with it, set a time that feels a little challenging, and see how you do.

CONTENT CREATION TIP #8: STREAMLINE YOUR PROCESS

That leads me to my last tip. You're not going to master this out of the gate, but every single time you create content, I want to find ways that you can streamline your process. So every time you do it, have an opportunity to analyze and say, "How did that feel? My blog took a really long time. Why do I think it took a long time? Is there anything that I can do to speed up this process? My graphics are taking forever. Maybe if I create templates, I'll save myself time in the long run."

Look at these little opportunities to analyze every week in your business, or maybe every 30 days, to find where you can streamline your process. This is honestly a strategy that's just great for marketing and business in general, but using it with your content creation will save you time and it will save you energy. Having these clear systems is what's really going to support you to show up consistently for your audience.

I hope those tips got the juices flowing in your brain, and you are thinking about all the ways that you can gather ideas for your content creation and also save a little bit of time. As I said before, I have a lot of videos on this channel that can be incredibly helpful for you in your content creation journey.

You can also look for my videos on market research, planning out 90 days of content, as well as our content creation video that we posted last week on saving time with your existing workflow.

If you want more support with content creation, branding, and ultimately sharing your brand with the world, AKA marketing, I highly suggest you check out Brandmerry Academy. You can go to brandmerryacademy.com to gather more details.

And I have a fantastic preview for you as well. I have my content creation bundle. This bad boy includes a clear walkthrough, step by step, of a repurposing workflow, so you can create your own for your business, as well as my content calendar. There's a training video teaching you how to use it, and this puppy is going to save you so much time. You can go to brandmerry.com/content to grab that resource.

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