I have a confession to make. I totally procrastinated whilst writing this article. I meant to write this in between Christmas and New Year but I got distracted. I took a nap (or three). I cleared out my son’s playroom. I checked Facebook. In fact, I did everything I could to avoid writing this article. But today, I did it and ‘whooooosh’ (tick) – don’t you just love that sound as you tick things off your TO DO list?!
When it comes to marketing our business, we often put our own needs at the bottom of the TO DO list, and to some degree this is understandable as fee earning always takes priority. But then we worry when work dries up or we’re not growing and we need to rev our own engine again, create more content, send out emails and network like a trouper to bring in more work.
Planning and writing your own content for your own business can be painstakingly difficult. It can be challenging to come up with a new topic, and that’s the easiest stage to be distracted by all sorts of ideas and open tabs on your laptop.
We’re already in the second week of January and if you’re not ready to blast 2018 with great content around your business, you’re missing a trick. And here’s why: 2018 will see Apple investing over $1 billion on original content; Google purchasing original content specifically to fill content gaps found through their search algorithms, and Facebook shelling out on original video.
Content is moving beyond just blog ideas. It’s interactive, personal and delivered in real time. Look at how we interact with Personal Assistants now, like Siri that provide audiences with content on the fly. Just churning out content doesn’t cut it anymore. It needs a broader strategy that meets the demands of your audience.
If you’re procrastinating about what content to create for your business, here are 5 tips that will kick start your 2018 into ACTION:
- Get it in the diary: Document what you need to do against a given day will help you commit to the task. I have a whiteboard in my home office where I can plan my week and then look forward to the ‘whooosh’ sound as I tick things off!
- Outsource: Have you ever considered how much time you could free up by outsourcing the things you hate (or are not so good at)? Hiring a third party consultant to plan and/or create your content for you could deliver great rewards. See my great offer below that runs until 31 January.
- Accept imperfection: Quite often the fear of failure can be caused because we’re always striving for perfection. Get into a habit of committing to each task anyway – even if it isn’t your best work. Learn from your mistakes and celebrate your small wins and move onto the next one.
- Set a timer: If you need to complete a task, set an hour on your iPhone’s stopwatch and commit to completing that task within that time. It stops you context switching (another trait of the ‘P’ word!).
- Accountability: This is something that has really helped me get things done. Tell someone, whether it be a colleague, boss, friend or business mentor what you are setting out to achieve this week and then report back.
Are you ready to ditch the “I’ll get to my content plan sometime” mentality? If so, then I’m ready to help you. My Content Plan offer runs until 31 January and will keep you focused on what you need to achieve to drive more leads, sales and revenue for your business.
Email to find out more: clare@moorhousedigital.com
