A few months ago I launched my own newsletter, The Authority, which provides the subscribers with exclusive content, addressing the consultants’ pain points, breaking down important statistics, and showing the behind-the-scenes of my own consultancy.
There is a question that I received from one of the subscribers, which I have been asked on many occasions before:
“Could you give us a few ‘secrets’ how you are able to produce such a large volume of content?”
This is a big topic and answering it in a rounded way within the newsletter seemed too restraining. It is also a subject that I want to bring to the consultants’ attention outside of my subscriber base (if you haven’t signed up for the newsletter, make sure to do so here).
Today, I will be revealing my secrets to content production – my ‘content machine,’ if you will.
My 1-day-per-week content machine
Consistency is one of the key elements of getting measurable results from your content. Your content machine should be well-oiled and diligently maintained.
I see fellow consultants post a LinkedIn article every few months and then fail to get any meaningful traction and leads. That’s because one-off pieces that are published outside of a larger strategy will never deliver the type of returns that a robust content machine can.
For more than 10 years, I was consistent and persistent in building my digital presence. I wrote close to 150 case studies, articles and columns. My ultimate writing focus: ‘What knowledge did I acquire that would be valuable to share?’ Experts write.
That’s where a content machine comes in, so let’s dive into it.
The reason I receive such positive feedback on my content from my target audience – the consultants – is because I make it relevant. I address their pain points. There are three main sources of inspiration that allow me to develop content around my audience’s pain points:
Keep your audience at the forefront of your mind and your goals, and use your unique story to show them how they can implement what you’ve learned to achieve similar results. That's what I did all those years.
There are many ways to create a system that will allow you to publish your content, send out newsletters, schedule social media posts, and track all of the efforts. Hubspot is the system of my choice.
This platform does multiple things for me:
Irrespective of which system you choose to go with – and, believe me, there is plenty to choose from – you must always be mindful of the four foundations that make for a robust content hub:
Almost 100% of my content – blog articles, social media posts, newsletter – is published and promoted according to a schedule. While I, of course, engage with my network on social media often spontaneously, my own content goes through my content machine.
I have a content calendar for months in advance. To make sure I keep it relevant and timely, I allocate spots on the calendar to the topics that come up at that point.
A snapshot of my content calendar
All my social media posts are thought-through and scheduled at least 1 month in advance in order to capture all my content efforts in that time period.
A snapshot of my social media scheduling
The newsletter goes out every other Wednesday. My articles are summarized in quarterly summaries. The inspirational quotes I come across or include in my articles have a home too.
I revisit and update my blog articles to make sure they remain relevant. I repurpose my content and present it in multiple forms – infographics and visuals, blog articles, shorter social media posts, etc. On average, I repurpose a single article 10 times.
It’s a system that took a bit of time and effort to set up but is practically effortless to maintain now that it’s fully operational.
I spend 1 day per week producing new content and loading it up in my content machine. The rest of the week I simply monitor its performance.
Do not be hesitant with promoting your content over and over again. I often get asked whether my clients get fed up seeing my content on their stream and in their mailboxes. The answer is ‘No.’ We all live very busy lives and it’s highly improbable that every single post and promo that I put out is seen by every single prospective/existing/past client.
That’s why I promote and repurpose my content over and over again. I maximize its chances of being consumed by as many of my prospects as possible.
1. Gather insights about your audience. As a consultant, you are interacting with your clients on a daily basis. Use these interactions to better understand your audience and produce content that’s relevant, authentic, insightful, and timely. Never stop trying to uncover new insights about your audience.
2. Centralize your content. Create a hub where you can store all of your posts, visuals, presentations, etc. Ideally, set up a connected system that allows you to promote your content in a streamlined way.
3. Collect and assess your data. Constantly monitor the performance of your content – the number of clicks, social engagements, exit rates, reading time (very important to me!), etc. – and use the data to make strategy decisions.
4. Schedule and automate your content production and distribution. Dedicate 1 day to loading up your social media scheduling solution with a stream of content, prepare the necessary visuals, distribute your content to promotional partners, and so on.
Make your system efficient by setting up schedules and dedicating time to feed your machine with content.
Last, but not least, repurpose your content.
Start loving the boredom of consistency and repeatability. It’s the backbone of your authority — and your business. Through the (boring) repetition, you will learn the deeper patterns, challenges, risks, and solutions that 99% of your competition will never know, because they weren’t willing to put in the work.
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