Businesses know content marketing is important. They don’t dispute the value that comes from sending regular email communications, posting thought leadership videos on LinkedIn, or telling a story on Instagram. 

The problem is figuring out exactly what to create. They struggle to generate ideas, keep those ideas organized, and then execute on them. How can we make this process easier? How can businesses develop valuable content and stay connected to their audience without spending hours a week or month on content creation? 

I’ve developed a process to make content creation easier. Let’s dig in!

 

1. Start with Anchor Content

This is a larger, probably longer, piece of content. Examples are a blog post, video, podcast or article. This piece likely takes a little more time to create. 

The trick is to chop this anchor content up into smaller elements to use across your various marketing platforms. This one piece of content becomes shorter video clips, social media content, audio clips and items for your regular nurture emails. 

Here are some topics to help you get started on your ANCHOR content: 

Answer questions. You likely get a lot of the same questions from your clients and customers (and from potential customers!). Turn those questions into content. [A great book dedicated to this topic is “They Ask, You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan.]

New products/services. Share about something new you have to offer. This might be a new product, a new package, a new course or a new book/ebook you’ve created. Remember, if you’ve been sharing valuable, helpful content consistently, it doesn’t come off as “salesy” to share a new offer. 

Curate content. There is no shortage of excellent content out in the world. Why not share items you’ve found that would be helpful to your audience? Share your perspective and fresh thoughts on an article by a leader in your industry. Curate a list of top books, tools or podcasts that would be helpful to your audience. 

Hot topics or timely information. If big news in your industry just dropped, talk about it. If it makes sense for your business, talk about a news story or industry report. Holidays and special events fall into this category. 

Original content. This is where you can position yourself as a thought leader or authority in your particular space. Develop new ideas, frameworks and fresh takes. Sure, we all like a good remake from time to time, but what’s really fun is a brand-new concept. 

Resources. I’m the first to click on a holiday gift guide, top list of kitchen gadgets, best marketing books of the year. A new report on industry trends, a roundup of time-saving tools or products … think of what would be most valuable for your audience. Sure, they can find these items on their own, but help them save time and energy by offering up helpful resources in an easily digestible format. 

 

2. Plan and Organize Your Content Marketing Ideas

Now that you understand ANCHOR content, you can easily make a list of ideas to carry you through the next several weeks or even months. 

Organize your ideas in a calendar format. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet or a Google Doc. 

I realized business owners were having a hard time getting their content ideas organized and staying on track, so I created a paper planner. 

The Fuel For Your Marketing Ultimate Content Planner gives you space to brainstorm ideas each month and then fill in ideas week to week. Often the hardest step is getting your thoughts together so when you sit down to write, you’re not wasting time. 

My best advice, though, is to find the system that works for you. 

 

3. Carve Out Time for Content Creation + Editing 

This might be the toughest piece of the content marketing puzzle. Idea generation isn’t usually the issue. The problem is sitting down for an hour or two and creating the content – writing the blog post, filming the video, drafting the social media posts. 

Even when we set aside the time, it’s easy for other “more pressing” items to take over. We get caught up in client requests, meeting invites or putting out fires with staff. I get it. It happens to me too. 

Here are some ways to stay on track: 

Block off time on your calendar. Dedicate two hours on the second Tuesday of the month, for example, to writing or filming videos. 

For anyone who purchases my Fuel For Your Marketing Planner, they get invited to a monthly content planning session where we spend a little time brainstorming and then spend the rest of the time focused on creating. You suddenly have built-in accountability! 

Repurpose and reuse your content. This is where that ANCHOR content comes in handy. 

Don’t create a blog post and talk about it one time. Don’t take the time to film a video, put it on YouTube, and then hope people find it. 

Chop up that anchor content into a lot of smaller pieces and share them more than once.

So let’s say you’ve written a blog post with five reasons why people should be doing email marketing. Well, there’s at least five different social media posts plus content for your nurture email campaigns. 

If you’ve done a video, can you edit that video up into smaller sound bites that then can be used on Instagram or in an email? 

The whole idea is to maximize the content that you’ve created. Don’t sit down at your desk every day and feel pressure to create something brand new or spend hours on content marketing. 

Invest in tools and resources. This might be software for scheduling your social media content. [I’ve been a fan of Loomly. Or, simply schedule within the social media platform.]

Consider hiring a virtual assistant who can help edit your ANCHOR content for social media or emails. This can be a huge time saver. You focus on developing those big pieces and hire the VA to help with editing, scheduling and even creating the graphics. 

Many business owners and leaders feel overwhelmed by the idea of content marketing. Don’t feel the need to create a mountain of brand-new content every week. Simply, generate a list of ideas that become your ANCHOR content. Then, repurpose and reshare that content, so you’re making the most of the work you’ve done. 

That’s how you turn content creation into a powerful marketing tool instead of a dreaded task on your to-do list.

Purchase your copy of the Fuel For Your Marketing Ultimate Content Planner today!