You know that marketing your business is fundamental. And you’ve nailed down the ways in which you’re going to do so – social media, email, podcasts. Whatever your medium, it’s time to focus on the content you’re going to put on these platforms to communicate to your audience. Let’s break this down. 

What is content?

The word “content” is thrown around a lot in the marketing world nowadays, but it’s really quite simple. Content is the material that you put out into the world on behalf of your business. It’s the message your brand directs toward their audience. So, the blogs you post on your website, the Instagram posts and stories, the tweets, the LinkedIn article, the Tik Tok you hope will go viral, the podcast episodes, the email blasts, the snail mail…it’s all content.

Good content vs. bad content

Let’s get something straight: Not all content is good content. But “good content” isn’t black and white – it depends on your audience and the reputation you desire your brand to develop. 

However, there are some universal guidelines. Good content is consistent with your brand, visually appealing, and succinct yet informative. 

Why you need to put out consistent content

Here’s five reasons: 

1. To stay seen in the eyes of your audience. You want to be top of mind and always relevant. 

2. To build recognition. Every time you put out content, it’s a chance to show off your brand’s personality. This is why all content should be on-brand. Every individual piece of content’s colors + fonts + style + tone = your brand, your business. 

3. To build credibility. You establish that you know what you’re talking about and carve out a space for your message to be seen and heard. With quality content and enough consistency, you become a subject matter expert in your field. 

4. To build your brand reputation. When your audience is constantly exposed to your beautifully branded content, it starts to feel familiar. Whether they are aware of it or not, they start to associate your brand with the industry in which you operate. 

5. To provide value to potential customers. Before they’re even on board, you’re demonstrating your expertise. They’re thinking “wow, this business’ blog was super helpful and I’m not even paying for their services. I wonder the kind of value they could provide if I were an actual client!”

And for the number nerds out there: the Content Marketing Institute found that those with a plan for their content marketing were 60% more effective than those without. Let that sink in. 

Quick tip: Consistency is necessary, but quality is queen. In our opinion, it’s better to put out less content than forcing out sub-par content. You want your viewers to value the material you put out into the world and, when they can tell that it’s not genuine or that you rushed through it…well…you get the point. When it comes down to your business and a competitor’s business, the customer will choose you because you were authentic and you established a connection with them. But you can’t do that with half-assed content.

How to organize constant content

The key to staying consistent with your content is staying organized. This is why content calendars are crucial (and that’s not an exaggeration). 

There’s no one way to organize your content. Remember how we said that the content you produce depends on your brand? Well, the way you organize that content depends on you and how you prefer to work. Here are some things to consider as the business owner: 

Will you be managing the content & content calendar yourself? Or do you need to think about the best way to develop this plan with an employee?

Are you willing to learn a new content calendar platform (Later, UNUM), or do you need to stick with something you’re familiar with (Excel, google doc).

Ask yourself these questions when you start organising your content:

• Are you a visual person?

• Do you work best with deadlines?

• How far in advance can you afford to plan ahead – a year in advance? A week? 

• What platforms do you plan to use for content? 

I know how overwhelming it can be at first. So we’ve made you a template that you can start with. In fact, this is the exact template the Laurence Uvin-team uses! Nothing too fancy, but very effective. 

Next Up: Scheduling

Once you’ve got the plan for your content in place, you can actually start scheduling it in advance. This clears time for you to focus on the other aspects of the business while ensuring your audience is entertained. Blog post on scheduling coming soon.