Are you feeling tired of your current content creation system?
If you’re scared of your content to-do list, you might be doing it the hard way.
You are about to learn about my “lazy” approach to content marketing.
Of course, that’s not completely lazy. You will still be working hard to produce high quality copy.
But you will work smart. You will work lazily.
Here’s the thing:
Your content marketing plan shouldn’t be a marathon or a sprint. It should be an easy relay race.
When you create content like you’re running a relay race, content marketing becomes a habit, like brushing your teeth.
You’re not afraid of brushing your teeth, are you?
Why your marathon content creation system isn’t working
Marathon content creation sessions are not smart.
You have to find a large block of uninterrupted time to do it. Who has free time lying around? (Not me!)
During your one-on-one marathon session, you need to come up with a topic, create an outline and write a first draft.
After your brain is exhausted from all of this work, it’s time to edit your content.
The finish line is in sight! But you’re tired – so you’re blind to your content-related omissions, typos, and logic errors.
You work for hours and still publish subpar content.
Why your content creation sprints are a disaster
Let’s say you don’t have a lot of time, but you absolutely need to create new content.
You decide to create your content in a sprint session.
You drink extra coffee, do a few burpees next to your desk and – heart racing – you use your charged brain to hammer a first draft.
Yes, you could get this design done quickly.
But if you’re in a hurry to get it published, you need to edit it quickly too.
Because you’re in a rush, you can miss out on obvious mistakes.
Your “helpful” readers will alert you to these errors if you email them a link to your new content.
What is the solution?
I recommend making your content marketing plan a part of your weekly routine.
Make it a habit – not a task on your to-do list.
Warning: What I’m going to teach you is simple. So simple that you might be able to resist trying.
Take it from the readers of my content marketing books – resist anything you want, but once you’ve tried this lazy approach you may never come back.
Introducing a content creation system that you can adapt to your life
This is not a marathon content marketing plan that leads to a tired brain and subpar content.
And it’s not a sprint session that leads you to hurriedly post-bugged content.
It’s a relay race. A relay race that you run with yourself.
You will create your content in leisurely blocks of time spread over several days instead of struggling through several hours of work at the same time.
You take on a single content creation task and approach it with all your energy, rested brain, and fresh eyes.
Then you take a break.
Like a relay race, each stage of the plan is short.
With this efficient content marketing plan, you can fit content creation into almost any schedule.
Read on to learn how it works.
The 4-day content creation system
“I don’t have four days to create content!”
Relax. I am not asking you for that here.
We’re not going to spend four whole days. We divide your content project into four smaller sections and assign a day of the week to each section.
Once you get used to this type of weekly content schedule, it becomes easier to make your writing sessions a habit to follow, just like brushing your teeth or having dinner.
The “lazy” content creation system:
- Day 1: Build your content backbone
- Day 2: Create your first draft
- Day 3: polishing and preparing to publish
- Day 4: Publish and Promote
Let’s see what you will be doing each of these days.
Day 1: Build your content backbone
Your goal for day 1? Create a structure for your content. I call it a content backbone.
You will tackle three things:
- Select your content topic. What will your content cover?
- Write your headline. Write lots of headline ideas until you come across one that says, “Oooh, I can’t wait to create this content!”
- Map your Subheadings. Decide how you will develop your topic and guide your audience through the main points that you want to cover.
The sneaky result of your day 1 work? You have created a table of contents.
But let’s call it the content backbone – that sounds a lot cooler, doesn’t it?
Once your content backbone is in place, go away. Take a break.
Give your brain time to think about your content without working on it.
You need all the ideas you can get for tomorrow’s task!
Day 2: Create your first draft
Bring your ideas, energy and enthusiasm to Day 2: It’s the first day of design!
You are going to tackle four sections of your content today. Read these 7 essential elements to gain content [Infographic] if you want to learn more about how these sections work together.
- Write your first sentence and an introduction. Attract your audience to your content from the first words they read or hear.
- Complete under each sub-heading. Your subheadings set out the premise – use them as a guide to flesh out your information.
- Include a summary. Briefly summarize what your content includes.
- Add a call-to-action. Ask your audience to take action. This could be to share the content, leave a comment, opt for a lead magnet, or book a sales pitch – choose an action that makes sense for your business model.
Create your first draft ASAP and aim for a messy first draft.
Important: Do not try to work during day 2! Your creative brain and your processing brain compete for your energy and attention.
For this system to work, you need to separate the process of creating content from editing.
Read about how to invite your creative angel and diabolical editor to help you write.
The processing will take place tomorrow.
For today, focus on making a messy, imperfect, but complete version of what you want to edit.
Day 3: polishing and preparing to publish
Time to put on your editing hat and polish up your content so it’s ready to be published.
You will be working on four things:
- Read, hear or see your first draft from start to finish. Use those rested, fresh eyes and ears to “see” your content like you’ve never seen it before.
- Proofread, add, delete and polish. As you work through your first draft, pay attention to whether something seems unclear or verbose. Trim, clear and clean up.
- Format for skimmability. When you’re happy with your design, take a look at it. Is your content scannable? Format it so that it is easy to read and understand.
- Add pictures. Visual content marketing is your last step! You can learn how to incorporate your reader’s visual cortex – even if you’re not a designer.
How is your content now?
At this point in the process, you should feel like the proud creator of brand new content. You are ready to bring it out so that it can make a difference in the world.
Day 4: Publish and Promote
Time to share your content with the world. Let’s make sure it gets through to the people who need it most.
Here’s how you can stand up for your new content:
- Promote your new content on your email list. Submit a link and brief summary and ask them to read the full article on your website.
- Share your new content on your social platforms. Wherever you are on social media, mention your new content and share a link.
- Set up your content for ongoing advertising. Don’t publish or ghost your own content! Make sure your future audience sees this content by linking to it from relevant email sequences and in future social posts.
Congratulations. You have created sophisticated, thoughtful, new content.
You managed!
Do you need to research your topic? Add day 0 day
Where does research fit into this lazy content creation system?
Many of us can draw our content-related topics from our own experiences and those of our customers.
The only research we do is find a keyword phrase that we are targeting.
However, many content marketers need to start with research – research that must be done before the content backbone is created.
If that is you, add a “Day 0”.
I strongly recommend that you set a time limit for your research. If you don’t limit your research time, you may fall into the rabbit hole of research and never set out to create your content.
Use day 0 to do the research needed to decide what topic to write about and how to approach it.
Set aside your research once it’s done, then use it to build your content backbone on Day 1.
Start using this custom content creation system
To apply this lazy approach to content marketing now, pick a release day and work backwards.
Assign days of the week to the content tasks described above:
- Day 1: Build your content backbone
- Day 2: Create your first draft
- Day 3: polishing and preparing to publish
- Day 4: Publish and Promote
Choose a schedule that works for you and mark those days on your calendar.
Use your calendar and your habits to create a custom content creation system that feels as automatic as brushing your teeth.
