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Thinking you don’t really have time for Content Marketing? Here are some tips to help!

Trust me, we hear this all the time.

Everyone is busy. I am busy – running a business, working with my team, meetings every day, and an overflowing inbox. And I keep a consistent presence on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram. They are a part of my life. And I don’t think I am superwoman or anything but thanks for the compliment!
I personally have an abundance of ideas for content but many of them are still to be done. They include ideas for videos I want to shoot, Powerpoint presentations I want to make, infographics I want to design and more.
But in spite of that I know I am consistently visible as we get a lot of people enquiring from our website, blogs and social media presence and that is because of the content I have created and shared.

And it works with my offline activities too:

1. If I attend an event I can write a blog about it, interview the speakers, follow up on social media
2. When I travel for business, I write about my trips – people need to know about my jet setting lifestyle!
3. I meet people online and in networking events, and ask them for guest blogs or to be interviewed

Yes, but what about the time?

I know it takes time! I have created it to be a part of my life – my marketing muscles are constantly flexed. I am always thinking of ideas (often when not at my desk) and when I get back to my desk I am excited to get them out of my head!

Here are 9 things I do to save time:

1. I use Evernote and Trello – and keep a bank of ideas and headlines there
2. I read a lot – and collect articles on Pocket and check Feedly regularly for content sharing and this means I am constantly educating myself which feeds more ideas.
3. I delegate – if I have an idea for something that needs illustration, I ask Tamlyn who is an incredibly talented illustrator and happens to work for me!
4. I cowork – I meet with clients and friends and we sit together and work on writing/planning/strategy – in between catchup and food of course
5. I diarise – If there is something I need to do like film a video, I book that into my diary and then its part of my plans
6. I draft – it always starts with a draft – a brain dump of ideas – and this can be quite quick. I do this separately from the more detailed work of
7. I repurpose content – so a blogs key points can be made into a Powerpoint file, a video, and an ebook
8. I schedule – using tools like Buffer and Hootsuite
9. I collect – I buy images in bulk, and collect ideas together and keep them organised
We’re helping our clients with content also, using our design skills, copywriting skills and technical knowledge – to create content and help with content sharing.
Tools I use for content marketing

But – and this a big but:

At the core of today’s digital marketing is content.
We don’t do this without a proper strategy and plan. Marketing needs to always start with a knowledge of who your audience is, what your key messages are, what you want people to believe about you, and how you want to meet them.
Content is the fuel for all your other activity online (and often offline) including social media, your website, your blog, your email campaigns and more. Your digital marketing efforts are far more likely to succeed if you invest time and effort into planning. When we work with clients, we start with a content strategy which provides a plan of attack for the coming months. It has three core areas of focus: your business objectives, your target audiences, and your key campaigns.

The phrase “A stitch in time saves 9” makes perfect sense now

Yes, that’s right. They too were talking about content marketing! Taking the time to plan means you have a clear roadmap to follow when trying out my 9 different ways to save time. If you have any further tips, please share in the comments below!

 

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