We know you want your brand to be a leader in your industry — and it’s the same whether it’s your personal brand or your business brand. Doing this means you have to keep promoting your expertise to the world, and that requires creating content.
For most business people this is an excruciating task. We’re already time-poor, and the idea of producing a piece of content to be distributed via a blog, the media or even a newsletter can end up causing a lot of (unnecessary) stress.
Some choose to outsource this task to a professional writer, which is not a bad option. However, you can’t outsource your knowledge or expertise. No matter how much you would like to dodge it, you can’t avoid being a part of the content marketing process altogether.
But there ARE ways you can create content yourself or prepare your outsourced professional with enough information so they can make you look fantastic.
- Allocate one solid hour to write down 10 headings for possible articles (videos or even infographics). Yep … just the headings only.
For example: 5 ways to streamline your accounts, 3 ways to start property developments.
Hint: These headings should be based on the common issues faced by your clients and also the common questions you are asked by those around you or at events.
- Wait a week and then spend one hour (again) and flesh out your headings with relevant points or subheadings, with one sentence per point. A great way to approach this is to use examples from your experience and also statistics if you have them.
- The final step before sending it to a professional writer is to think of any relevant pictures or images you feel would suit your content piece.
- Now you are ready to send off a series of article-starters to your writer to fully develop them into a piece of engaging content. But if you are keen on doing it yourself all the way there are two more steps.
- Doing it yourself will require you to flesh out your points (sentences) into paragraphs with a goal of 600 words for your article (or thereabouts).
- Once you have finished writing the articles, send them to someone to edit and review. Best to send it to a professional or someone who will tell you the truth about what needs fixing or what may not make sense.
Once they’ve had their final polish, you have TEN pieces of content marketing for your business. If you’re going to publish something every five weeks or so, this can last you an entire year for your newsletters, blogs and LinkedIn (and social media) posts. Of course, if you want to publish more frequently, you will have to write more often. But with my steps to get you started, you’ll find it’s not the dreaded task you feared.
If you would like to ensure you get the maximum reach for each article make sure you check out this article.
If you need help with the above, send me an email and we can have a chat about how I can help you develop a content marketing plan and produce some content to get you going.
Speaker. Connector. Advocate. Influencer.
Amanda Rose is a Strategic Connector. A Keynote Speaker and CEO of The Business Woman Media.
As one of the most influential people on LinkedIn, Amanda Rose (#BossLady) is quoted as an “internet winning blogger” by TIME.com and contributes regularly to HuffingtonPost, The Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, SkyBusiness, and SmartCompany.com.au on how to master a successful brand, career and business.