Faced with the task of creating consistently awesome and engaging content, many people find themselves pining instead for the days of the two-martini lunch. Unfortunately, (and contrary to literary legend), inspiration and creativity don’t come in a glass. Behind all great content is a boatload of planning, research and collaboration, and the larger your agency, the more you struggle with keeping the process on an even keel. There are ways, however, to keep your content creation routine organized and streamlined. Here are just five ways you may want to try.
1. Gather Your Thoughts
Want to avoid the like-clockwork content creation crunch? Don’t sit down to a blank page. If you regularly gather ideas and keep good notes, you’ll avoid spending longer periods of time on each piece.
Keep all your ideas in one place. Scraps of paper and notes on napkins are fine, but organize them in one central location that everyone on your agency’s team has access to. Since more than half the battle in content creation is coming up with great ideas, now’s the time to brainstorm. Ask your team for additional suggestions and pull ideas from customers’ FAQs. The result? Plenty of ideas to keep your editorial calendar full and your writing process that much faster.
2. Do Your Homework
Homework doesn’t end with your schooldays, and just as it prepares you to perform better on tests, content creation prep helps you deliver dependable copy that converts. Before you begin, gather the input you need, including:
- Data sources and information resources
- Quotes, citations, and links to both internal and external content
- Examples or case studies
- Relevant keywords
- Photos, infographics, and other media that will attract reader attention
3. Create Boards for Your Buyer Personas
As you and your team gather your thoughts and present ideas, think about whether they apply to your buyer persona(s). Some agencies use a project management tool to create separate boards for each persona. As you consider each topic and hash out outlines, check to see if they meet the needs of one or more of those personas. If not, it may be time to scrap the idea, at least until an angle can be developed that targets your audience.
4. Use Spreadsheets for Planning
Extremely helpful in preparing and organizing your agency’s editorial calendar, spreadsheets can be used to:
- Keep track of keywords
- Identify target audiences
- Establish posting dates
- Determine what makes the content shareworthy
5. Track Performance Metrics
At your bi-weekly or monthly content creation meetings, share performance metrics, focusing on your top 3-5 best posts. This helps you and your team focus on those topics that resonate most with your targeted demographics. If you “meet” remotely, Google Docs is a terrific way to easily collaborate with your team, as it’s a platform most of them are already familiar with.
All of these ideas are fairly easy to implement and adapt to your content creation process. Many agencies swear by their productivity tools of choice to keep the content flowing. Try a few out for yourself to see if they’ll work for your agency as well.
Invest in Talent
Take a quick read around the Internet and you’ll see that just about anyone can create and publish mediocre content. Creating relevant, quality and, above all, valuable content is hard. Your agency will need to invest time, effort, knowledge, and resources into each and every piece it creates. If your agency’s ultimate goal is to turn out consistently amazing content— and it should be—do whatever it takes to bring on the brightest, sharpest and most talented content writers your budget allows. When all is said and done, you’ll find there’s plenty to celebrate and raise a toast to.
