4 Simple Timesaving Techniques for Content Creation

As an entrepreneur, every second of your day is precious. You’re hustling to get your business off the ground in full force with limited resources, and that incredibly important component is left there lingering, waiting to be put into action: marketing.

I know, I know– you’re busy and this is the last item on your to-do list that you want to think about. It has probably been pushed to the bottom of your to-do list for the past few weeks, hasn’t it? Marketing can be time consuming and overwhelming if you’re short on time and want to get the ball rolling everywhere else in the start-up process– but it’s an absolutely must-have that should be prioritized.
Don’t fret- I have good news for you! There are simple, creative ways to streamline both your content marketing (blog posts, social media marketing, brand storytelling, digital marketing, etc.) and email marketing into a strategic, time-saving process.

Time-saving process? Yes, I said it. Read on for the process that will get you on track.

At the beginning of your content planning process, you need to be conscious of your business goals. Being intentional with the content you’re putting out into the world will bring your business more success. It’s important to stay organized and to keep your goals in front of you. This vision will keep you focused as you build your business and will point you in the right direction as you create new content.

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself:

• What do you want to happen as a result of your content marketing? 
• Are you looking for more engagement across social media? 
• Do you want to build your following?
• Is building website traffic a priority?
• Are you looking to sell out of a specific item on your website or shoppable Instagram?
• Have you said “yes!” to all of the above?

Remember: Rome wasn’t built overnight! What is the most important return you need right now at this stage of your business? Don’t overwhelm yourself. Think about what is important right now. Once you’re clear about your goals, you’ll be ready to move onto the next step.

Phew! Now your goals are in place and you’re feeling focused. What a relief!

Now it’s time to create a plan and start moving forward to achieve your goals. Take the questions you answered and consider the message you want to send your audience in order to make this happen. Create a list of brand messaging themes that you can focus on.

Here are some ideas:

• Promotional content
• Inspirational quotes
• Check-in post– just saying “hi!” to your audience with no sales CTA
• Testimonials
• Influencers, Brand Ambassadors, etc. partnership reposts
• Brand Storytelling
• Aesthetic approach
• Life hacks and valuable advice
• Details of a product
• Your unique selling point that sets you apart from competitors

Think of your brand’s story and message you want to deliver, and create impactful themes around these topics. How can you turn your message into a valuable piece of content that delivers a return? Now think of all of these ideas individually and see if you can repurpose one piece of content into multiple different pieces of content (with the same idea behind it!) If you have an amazing idea to post on social media or your blog, you can absolutely turn this content idea into an email. It just has to be tailored for an email. You can take the same topic, and create content with different angles. Intentional content creation will save you so much time!

For example:

Let’s say I am selling women’s athletic-wear exclusively at a Yoga studio. My goal is to drive traffic to this yoga studio and increase my sales. On my social media accounts and blog, I am pushing a specific leggings style, and showing key details that make the garment special– like tech features, wicking innovation, quality materials, etc. I can turn this content into an email easily. Using the same imagery I used on social or the blog, I can then elaborate on on the details. I would add shoppable buttons to the email or a button for the customers to “learn more.” You can take the same idea and create an email based around “how these leggings will affect your Yoga positions…” for this particular item. Another email can be based around how the tech features will enhance your yoga experience compared to other brand. You can even offer a promotion for a specific style. This takes one idea and turns it into a few emails that can deliver an ROI. 

The key here: there’s no need to have multiple brand messages sent in the same week, all with different focal points. It is actually more effective to have repurposed content driving your message’s point home– it gets your business closer to reaching its goals. The more a person sees the same consistent message, the more likely they are to act upon your call to action.

Now that you’re clear about the direction you want to go in, the message you want to deliver, and the goals that are at hand, it’s time to build out your content calendar.

A content calendar is exactly as it sounds- it is an essential roadmap that holds your content marketing plans in clear view. The calendar has a space represented for every messaging platform you want your business to highlight and utilize. You can use it to plan out promotional content, share brand news, create brand storytelling to make a connection and more to share with your audience. You decide when you’ll be posting, the frequency of posting (on each platform), the specific social media platforms that will be effective to have a presence, and the actual content published. Using a content calendar as a guide will keep you organized and on track to accomplish your ROI goals.

Please note, not all platforms are created equal! Every business has a clear target audience somewhere, but it’s your task to find where your specific niche audience is. Research each platform, and decide where your business will make more of an impact. It’s important to focus your attention and time on platforms that will deliver a return. Just because it seems like everyone is on TikTok does not mean it is necessarily the right platform for you.

Once you’ve decided on the platforms to use, decide on the creative visuals and messages for each platform. Since each platform is different, you’ll need to create content according to what is appropriate for your audience on that specific platform. Remember: each platform is its own entity and has its own focused creative medium.

If you have an idea for an inspiring Instagram post, finesse it into an impactful email. If you have a game-changing, click-worthy email message, flip it into a condensed social media post. Pull a few lines from the email and use it in your caption. Two birds with one stone! We’re trying to save time here, remember? Every time you sit down to create content, think about how you can use one idea across several platforms.

Voice Your Call to Action
At the end of each piece of content you create, don’t forget to include a call to action. A call to action is when you tell your audience what to do next. Do you want them to sign up for the giveaway contest? Visit a blog you just published? Check out the new product you launched? Tell them! It takes the average person about 7x before they actually act upon it. Tell them what to do next, and you can achieve your goal much faster. Don’t be afraid to get to the point! If you’re putting in time and effort into content creation, you want to see a return on your hard work.

While it may seem like you can’t pull away from your day to day business processes, it is worth investing your time to put a strategy in place. Creating a content marketing plan at the beginning stages of your business will save you a lot of time and will increase your return on investment. Once you spend a few hours working on this, you’ll walk away feeling relieved that it is done– and surprised at how you can creatively flip ideas to work across multiple platforms, including your email marketing. It will become more natural as you do this process over time.

Have you tried repurposing your content? Do you have a method you use to save time on content creation? Has the above worked for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategies in the comments below!

I’m an expert at marketing & entrepreneurship, and completely obsessed with helping business owners transform their dreams into booming success stories. Sometimes it just takes an extra set of hands and another person’s perspective to make the business magic happen. Contact me today and let's talk shop!