Batching content: A Must if you want to have Consistent Marketing & Leads {How to have Consistent Marketing Part 5}

This email is the 5th email of my email series – How to be Consistent with Marketing your Business.

Let’s quickly recap steps 1 thru 4:

1 – Overthinking before creating 

2 – Knowing what to say vs. being clear with your message

3 – Being clear on your offer (with a framework to help you clarify it)

4 –  Creating a Marketing Plan (with a free template to an actual plan format you can use)

This is the exact content I share with my clients – it’s the blueprint of a marketing plan that will keep you consistent and have clients come to you – and it’s yours  – FREE. 

No more asking, “How will l get clients now?”

Today is part 5 – a crucial piece of the marketing consistency dilemma.

It’s a lifesaver and  the THING that’ll change marketing from being frustrating, inconsistent, and all around annoying to something you’ll look forward to doing, because it won’t suck up your time and waste your energy.

Problem: What I see most consultants and service providers do,  is create content when they’re inspired or when a good idea lands in their mind.

Fact: You have a lot of ideas brewing around in your head anyway.

If you sit in a quiet, distraction-free space (put your phone away & turn off all notifications), giving your brain time to think slowly, remembering moments of learnings, important lessons, tid-bits you’d want to share  – you’ll be surprised at how much content will pour out of you, in one sitting.  Ahead of time.

Keyword: Ahead of time.  Not for tomorrow’s newsletter, not for a blog post in 2 hours, and certainly not in between errands.

The quieter  the space,  the better.

A pressure-free 1-2 hours is a great place to start.

Why is this important? Because it’ll allow you to write clearly, in a focused manner and with your customer in mind.  When you’re rushing, your content might not unfold clearly and the way it’s written  / spoken may sound unclear to your audience.

That’s not to say that when an idea ‘lands’ you should dismiss it, you can simply write it in a separate note and use it on your next batching date.

Batching content is life / time saving when you are your own marketer AND you want to be consistent.

Here’s how I tackle batching content:

1 – – I have a separate note pad on my Mac or use Evernote on my phone to keep a list of ideas to write about – when they land, I document them (briefly) and I use this list on my batching day.

2 – – I create a template that contains all the elements of a particular piece of content (image, subject line, time I want to publish it, call to action, etc  I use a simple Google Doc).

3 – -I set a date + time in my calendar and make that date LAW – I don’t miss out on this important date.  I set a goal of how much content I want to write at time (I make realistic goals for myself.  These days, it takes me 1 hour to write 4 pieces of content.

4 – -On batching day – I turn off notifications, I close all tabs, make myself a cup of coffee, put on a timer and open up a fresh google doc and write out all the content.  If I don’t finish after the time I set, I make sure to put another date on the calendar to finish up, and I do this until I finish up my original plan.  In the beginning and if you’ve never done this before, please set ‘content goals’ that are achievable so that it’ll motivate you to keep going AND so that you’ll understand your pace and content producing style better.

5- -I schedule all the content (that can be scheduled) in social media and email 4-6  weeks ahead of time – sometimes more!

And voila – consistency.

The feeling of rushing to get that next content out will never happen again.

Please note: Batching content is a game changer.

Here’s what clients have reported after batching content:

“I actually like creating content – I know exactly what to say”

“I didn’t think social media would work for my business”

“I’ve never received responses to my emails before”

“ A few people called me and told me they understood exactly how I could help them, because my emails are so clear”

“ When I started batching content, I also started consistently marketing”

Using my batching process, my clients have started consistently publishing their content,  which has resulted in attracting qualified leads and getting hired for 2 new projects per quarter.  They’re batching so that they can automate their marketing MORE and worry less about last minute  content or about ‘getting the next client’.

Planning your marketing campaigns is one of the things I work through with my clients in my 6 Week 1:1 program that takes consultants who are already enrolling clients from referrals but want to create an organic marketing system to enroll clients from social media and Google.   

We also work on how to spend less time creating content, how to qualify clients and tracking results of marketing efforts. This method will help you get at least 2 pieces of high quality content published and shared consistently per month, to start, without overthinking or doubting what you have to say; and you’ll find yourself getting hired more consistently.

Contact me if you’re interested in this program and we will chat to see if you’re a good fit; if so, we can start within two weeks.

Also, if you know someone who can use these instructional posts, please share them using the links below.  I promise, they will thank you 🙂