How to Create More Content in Less Time
One of the biggest pain points in marketing is the time investment required to create good content. As professional content marketers, we can tell you this: the time is worth it. Your product will communicate your brand clearly to your target audience and will, when done well, convert that audience from readers to clients.
That said, there are ways to shorten the amount of time it takes to produce content for your company’s many marketing channels. Here, we share with you our top five tips that, when implemented, will help you create more content in less time. Let’s dive in!
Tip #1: Batch Your Content
Batching content basically involves tackling like-tasks at the same time to create greater consistency in your content while eliminating lost time related to starting and stopping projects.
Here are a handful of ways you can batch your content:
- Write out all of your week’s social posts at one time.
- Dedicate one day to writing the next month’s blog posts.
- Spend one day writing out scripts or outlines for your next several live videos.
- Create all visual images for your upcoming blog posts using Canva or another similar tool.
- Use a social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule the next week’s posts in one sitting.
Put This Tip Into Action
Take one of the above examples and try it out this week. If it works, keep using it moving forward. And, whether it works or not, put a different tactic to work the following week.
Tip #2: Streamline Your Process
There are a few key steps you can take to streamline your content creation process. Each step will incrementally add more time back in your day. Try to do all of the following to make the most of this tip:
- Create a step-by-step to-do list for each piece of content. This’ll help ensure you don’t miss anything. It’ll also help you feel like you’re making progress as you check off each box.
- Do your research before you begin writing in earnest. Gather all the information you need or want to have to support your piece, whether that’s quotes, statistics or other information. To keep yourself from falling down the rabbit hole here, set a specific amount of time you’ll allow for research and move on once your time is up.
- Set a goal for each piece of content. Before you move forward with anything, ask yourself why you’re creating this piece of content. What goal is it serving? Knowing your “why” will help you move forward faster.
Tip #3: Create a Content Calendar
There’s no better way to cut wasted time in the content creation process than by creating a plan of action for your content via a calendar.
Determining what you want to create and when allows you to set chunks of time aside to complete all necessary tasks.
Key elements of a content calendar include:
- Subject / Title
- Content type (e.g., blog posts, web page, infographic, etc.)
- Audience (if you have more than one customer avatar, here’s where you’d define which one you’re targeting with each piece)
- Publication dates (go a step further and also incorporate due dates)
- Where to share (identify which channels you’ll share your content on, such as Facebook, Instagram, your blog, Medium, Reddit, etc.)
Content Creation Challenge
Plan your calendar three-to-six months in advance to ensure your content efforts are tied closely to your company’s marketing goals.
Tip #4: Outline Your Copy
Writing for the web is much more process-oriented than you’d think. If you can find a way to organize your notes by page in a way that helps you create an outline faster, that’ll help you get moving.
Once you create a general outline, spend a little time with each page, diving further into your thoughts and notes to create an organized message.
Still unable to put words down? I recommend writing these two messages first on each page:
- Your conclusion: What’s the key message you want people to understand when visiting this page or post?
- Your call to action: What’s the one thing you want people to do once they’ve read this page or post?
With answers to those two questions and your general outline, I guarantee you’ll be able to write more and write clearer without the lost time often caused by writer’s block.
Tip #5: Outsource to a Trusted Provider
All the tips above focus on the planning portion of your content marketing efforts, which is a fundamental part of the creation process. They don’t speed up the actual writing process, however.
If you find that you’re still crunched for time, even after implementing the above steps, you may want to consider outsourcing your content writing. A professional copywriter can take your outlines, follow your calendar, and refine your processes to help you get to publishing faster.
Outsourcing your content, often referred to as white label copywriting, can be just what you need to get your brand in front of your audience in a more consistent and timely manner.
Related Post: White Label Copywriting: Myth vs. Reality
Looking for More Help With Your Marketing Content?
Do you find that no matter what you do, and no matter how much you focus on creating more content in less time, you’re always behind in your marketing efforts? Now is likely a good time to reach out to a dedicated team of copywriters to support you.
Our Word Nerds are here and happy to chat with you to help you find the right next step for your content marketing needs. Reach out to us today.
