Top 3 Time Saving Tips for your Content Marketing

Do you find that your biggest challenge in your business is time?

I had done a short survey earlier this year asking your biggest roadblock with your marketing. Time was absolutely #1 for most people. Because of this I try to share more tips to help you in this direction and so, today, I wanted to share my top 3 time saving tips for your content marketing.

Most people get bogged down with producing and publishing their online marketing content. I am hoping these tips will help you save some time in this area.  Now… my time saving tips will be a little different from many other marketing strategists out there.

I am all for the practicality of saving time and not pussyfooting around what you really need to do, in order to save time.

If you Google, “Time Saving Tips for your Marketing”, you will get a ton of results. And almost all of them – trust me, I checked – start with the same old, same old. What I call the 3 Given Time Saving Tips for Marketing. To me they are not tips to save they are MUST DO steps for your marketing period. Three never – miss items you need to be effective with your marketing. These are not tips nor tricks to save time. That is what people like you are clamouring for, ideas that actually save you time – meaning it takes less time. BUT you need these 3 items to make all the other work. So …

Here are your 3 Never Miss Marketing Elements to be Effective.

Goals.

Everyone is talking goals and it is the #1 Time saving tip for all the google results I got. All of them. Well, yes of course having a goal will be important, and yes longer term knowing this helps keep you focused, but doing it – creating the goals, does not actually save you time… it helps with time of everything else. So, you do need your goals, but that is not one of my tips.

Plan.

You MUST have a plan. DOH! Of course, you need a plan – you will indeed spin your wheels like a hamster going nowhere if you do not have a marketing plan. And your content marketing plan is what will guide you for all of your marketing content. This helps you know what content you need, where you will post it and how often… so for sure, this is a key element to saving time. But is it the actual saver of time every day as you look at having content on your social media channels? No. It is done in the back end… and again will be a guide for you, just like your goals.

Your Plan must include a Content Storage System in it somehow. Knowing what kind of content you need and where and when to publish it.

Know your Ideal Client.

OMG. Of course we all need to know our ideal client. This is Marketing 101. Know who your ideal or target client is so you can speak to that person with your marketing content. I know even the most confused people when it comes to marketing have an idea of this one. I am not saying we all have it written down and have a nice ‘avatar’ set in place that represents our ideal clients. But we know we need it. This will indeed help you write your content as if you are speaking to that ideal person face to face. You get in their shoes and make sure that what you put online speaks to them and resonates with them. But this is not one of my tips either.

The Time Saving Marketing Tips I want to share come down to the actions and tasks you do to make the content get out there on your marketing channels. This is where most people get lost and lose time.

Making the Marketing Happen: 3 Time Saving Tips that Really do Save Time.

These three tips are all based upon having a Content Storage System. I like to call it your closet organizer for your marketing content.

I cannot stress enough how much time this will save you in a variety of ways and I am going to share my top 3 below.

Whether your system is a file folder with organized documents inside that store your content by category and keep a record of when you used it or a spreadsheet like I use with my Ultimate Marketing Planner… having a system for saving and storing the content is so important. (I am certain all of you have my free Ultimate Marketing Planner, if not you can grab your copy here .)

This is where you will go to save the new content you create, storing it in the proper place for each category of content (This should be part of your Plan too – Categorizing the content. ie. Sales posts for lead magnets, tips on specific topics, posts that share your blogs, posts to promote Joint Venture for affiliate programs etc etc.).

TIP #1 – BLOCK TIME FOR EACH TYPE OF CONTENT SCHEDULING.

This will be one of your best ways to save time. Blocking time works for all sorts of tasks that are done over and over. I like to work like things are on an assembly line. This helps moves things along much faster and is how you will save time in almost anything you do. Why do you think so many products are manufactured on assembly lines? It is efficient and efficiency saves time and helps boost productivity.

Blocking time weekly or bi-weekly to not only create new content when needed, but to also block time to schedule content online will save you the most amount of time ever.

This time block ensures that:

A. you focus on one task only and

B. you get it done.

No more will you need to worry if you have your marketing content published, it will be done and ready to go. You simply login online at the blocked time and using the Content Storage System, you systematically (of have your VA do this too) use the content and schedule it to go out on your social media channels. This leads us right into… Tip #2

(PS. If you do have a Virtual Assistant who DOES not block time like this on your behalf – ask because it will potentially be taking them more time and this is key to know if you are paying by the hour. Most have packages that say we can do XXX for a certain rate. But still inquire about where your retainer $$ goes and how this is done for you. If they can save even 30 minutes a month what else can they help you with in that time?)

TIP #2 – COPY – PASTE – POST METHOD OF CONTENT SCHEDULING

Having the content in a storage system makes it easier to copy and paste the content into whatever place it will go to in order to get published on your social media channel. This will save a lot of time searching for content.

So when you are sitting down to publish or schedule content in your blocked time for doing this task, having the content ready and stored in your system means it is at your fingertips to use with ease and speed. Remember the assembly line method of working.

Now you will follow the Copy (the content from the planner), Paste it into your Online Scheduler (this could be Hootsuite, Meet Edgar or even direct in Facebook), to Post on the proper social media channel you want it to go.

Copy, Paste, Post over and over… Working like this is tedious but it is a time saving method too.

You can watch this video below to understand what I mean by using this type of system to save time publishing the content.

TIP #3 – CREATE NEW LEAD MAGNETS FAST AND EASY

Your Content Storage System also helps you repurpose the content in less time as well. Let’s say you need a new lead magnet, I like to have a new one out there every 4-6 months.

One of the easiest ways to create a new Lead Magnet is to take your tips for social media and turn them into an ebook. Think how fast you can create a new lead magnet like “30 Days of Healthy Eating Tips” or “21 Tips to Inspire you to More Success” when you have the tips and information right there in your Content Storage System.

It is now a matter of copy, paste and format into an ebook / report format. Brand it with your info. Maybe add a cover image to use when promoting it online and voilà you have a new Lead Magnet in no time.

Well, those are my Top 3 Time Saving Tips when it comes to Marketing – especially online and social media marketing. It is all based on the fact that you have your goals and plan done, know who your ideal client is AND more importantly you have your content in a storage system of some sort. Then you are ready to Block Time, Copy Paste Post to schedule and Create new Lead Magnets fast and easy.