Effective marketing strategies involve content creation and typically contain blogs as an essential component. Often, the responsibility of blogging falls to an employee who likes to write or even someone at the executive level.
It can take a while for the designated blogger to get past the, “How do I do this?” stage. Luckily, many guides exist to help new writers begin their journey. But after a while, the question becomes, “How do I create content faster?”
This blog will provide suggestions on how to get more out of your writing time. In business, your focus is often drawn to the things that will affect your bottom line today. Blogging, however, is part of a longer SEO play. With ROI a little farther down the road, it’s important to get the most out of the time you invest doing it.
6 Tips That Will Help You Create Content Faster
Before we get to the actual tips, it's important to understand that “faster writing” doesn’t just mean “less time spent.” Just like in operations, running machines at a quicker pace might increase output volume, but that's negated if the quality falls at the same time.
The following six tips will help you create content faster, and also help to ensure the content’s effectiveness.
1. Write to Your Buyer Personas
If you’ve done your marketing homework, then you should have a good idea of who your ideal customers are. Your blogging and any other content you create need to target the people who are interested in what you provide.
A great blog that only interests people who will not purchase your products is not effective and provides very little ROI. Don’t waste your time with the wrong audience. Make sure that the time you spend on content creation is tailored to the customers and prospects you wish to serve.
2. Repurpose Old Content
If you look through your blog posts, you will likely find older content that is still relevant. This older material might be a great candidate to update and re-publish with a new date. It's also an opportunity to target different keywords that may be more relevant now.
By thoughtfully selecting older content, you are maximizing the time invested in creating the original piece, while minimizing the time spent to hit your publishing frequency targets. If your target is one blog post per month, writing ten new blogs and refurbishing two older ones makes that goal more attainable.
3. Write More When Inspiration Hits
This suggestion is all about the flow of creativity. Everyone suffers from writer's block to some degree. On the days you plan to write, try to leave yourself some extra time in case you find the inspiration to get started on a couple more blogs that will come later in the schedule.
Even jotting down potential opening paragraphs, putting together an outline, or gathering your resources is helpful. Put them somewhere you can easily find them for your next writing time. The next time you begin to write, your process will have a jumpstart. If you’re in the zone, keep the words coming as long as you can.
4. Organize Your Thoughts First, Then Find the Words
If you are not used to writing, getting a new blog post started can be daunting. So, don’t worry about the words! You probably have a keyword to guide and an idea of what the content should contain. Start by writing bullet points and copying the URLs to both internal and external links you plan to use.
It doesn’t have to be a formal outline, but if that works for you, go for it. Prioritizing the major points you want to make will get you to start thinking about how you might explain that to someone else. That's when you’ll find the words come much easier.
5. Use a Transcription Service
If you or someone on your team participates in a webinar, podcast, or live presentation, you can quickly and easily turn it into a blog! Once you have a recording, use a transcription service to get the words down into a document. From there, it's all about editing, reorganizing, and filling in any blanks for your reader.
At 1 Bold Step, we use Temi, but there are other services as well. With Temi, you can submit either an audio or video file. As long as the verbal content is clear, you get great results. If you’ve got recordings of podcasts or presentations you have given, each of them can become a blog.
6. Use AI Software
As someone who gets paid to write blogs, this one hurts a bit. With modern AI technology, you can get some surprisingly good results using AI to write a rough draft. The machines do a pretty good job of mimicking human speech. However, there are limitations.
You still have to proofread and pay attention to the information the AI incorporates from the internet to make sure it's accurate. Also, the writing will not have your voice and style, so you will have to make sure it's on brand and sounds like you.
AI is a tool you can use to get that first version out, but it still takes a human to get the content polished enough to publish.
Wrapping it Up
You need content for your inbound marketing, and blogging is an essential component. Finding tools and ideas that allow you to create content faster without sacrificing quality will allow you to either create more or have more time for other tasks.
Of course, the quickest way to create content is to have someone do it for you. 1 Bold Step offers marketing solutions that include blog writing. With many accomplished writers as part of the staff, you will be able to find someone who understands your goals and has the voice of your brand. Reach out if this sounds like the solution you are looking for!
Whether you do it yourself, hand it off to your staff, or hire it out, there are many ways you can create content faster for your marketing needs.
