Combat the leading killers of consistent content
As the glow of the new year fades, we’ve reached the time of reckoning for resolutions and best intentions.
And your plans for delivering consistent content might already be heading off the rails.
Here are three tips to get the content train moving forward again.
ABC – Always Be Collecting: The seeds of great content are being planted all the time. You need to be prepared to harvest them.
When you’re conversing with leaders and others in your organization, forego the small talk for meaningful conversations about pressing issues and recent wins. By asking just a few pointed questions, you can gather enough source material to feed your content calendar.
If you have an ah-ha moment, write it down immediately– ideally in the form of a headline for your next blog post.
A compelling headline can be the catalyst for knocking out a great piece fast.
Resist perfection: The old cliché is true -- perfect is the enemy of good. Thought leadership content should be smart and thought provoking. But it doesn’t have to be perfect.
I don’t expect this newsletter entry to be the best piece of writing I’ve ever crafted. But you are reading it, aren’t you?
There’s no reason that you and those in your organization can’t be sharing key insights the very same way. Good is much better than nothing at all.
Streamline your process: Abraham Lincoln famously said, Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
In this case, your axe-sharpening task should be honing your content approval and publication process. If it’s clunky and cumbersome, it’s sure to kill your momentum.
Create clarity and discipline around the process in ways that make it as easy as possible for contributors to create and review content. Then build in accountability. That means if there is a 24-hour turnaround for content review, you and your colleagues should commit to sticking to it.
It’s not too late to regain the start-of-a-new-year momentum, but it requires action, not excuses. Get chopping.