How I Do Content: Behind the Scenes

How does content creation work in the real world?

Everyone and every business is different but, to give you one perspective, I’m going to share how I apply these tips in my capacity as a small business owner with a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at how I go about producing content.

Clear vision shapes everything

First of all, I have a clear vision for the business and how my content will fit into that.

I know:

Who my audience is and how I want to help them
Where I want Creative Words to go as a business; this is on my mind at all times with every piece of content I produce
How people are most likely to find me

And I focus on that to maximise my productivity.

Many types, lots of repurposing

My main content types are blogs, YouTube interviews, LinkedIn posts, printed collateral such as leaflets and bookmarks (which serve as business cards), and my website. This might sound like a lot of areas to focus on, but by reusing and reshuffling the content, it’s a lot easier than it sounds.

Firstly, after seven years of writing blogs, I’m now able to revisit early topics and refresh them. These are then hosted on the website and shared on LinkedIn. Also on LinkedIn, news from other clients, quotes from experts and snippets from the interviews that are launched on YouTube. Speaking of which, the YouTube interviews follow a set pattern. Five questions that draw out insights about written content from them.

I also include a healthy dose of pictures of my cat, Lola (remember when I said that entertainment is content too?). My blog content comes from information gained from my training courses and vice versa, and also from the insights shared by business owners when I interview them for YouTube.

Making good use of my time

Finally, I make good use of my time. Before I wrote this blog I set the theme and wrote a full outline. I also get help: Creative Words isn’t just me; we’re a team, so we work together and put content together. We all do what we’re best at, so everyone enjoys the process more, and the end result is much better for you. I make use of a diary to get things done; the regular content goes out to a timetable, so I make sure to put time in my diary to look after my own content, just as I would to work on a client’s content. In short, I value my own time.

I also go back to past content to see what’s still relevant and what I can reuse in a different format. Once I have the ideas, it’s easy enough to translate them into a whole new type of content to appeal to a different sub-section of my audience. By following this process, I’m able to produce diverse and appealing content on a regular basis, all while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

And if you’d like more help with your own content, check out our short course Demystifying Content.