The Spring Racing Carnival is well underway, and the Melbourne Cup has been raced for 2018. This major event is highlighted on my desk calendar along with; January, time to hit the beach and February, love is in the air. And so it goes for the year, reminding businesses to get any themed printing done on time.
Having major dates and events highlighted on your calendar is a great idea and one that could be adapted when planning your content schedule for your business.
Do you have a product or service that is ideal for mothers and would a story line on that be good for Mother’s Day? How about June and the beginning of winter? When sending newsletters, blogging, planning advertising or issuing media releases, having well thought out communication and a planned content schedule makes sense.
My theme this month for my content strategy is all about PR and digital communication. See last week’s blog on Six Steps to Showcase your Brand with a Special Event.
This week I am planning my content strategy for 2019 so thought I’d share ten tips to help you plan yours.
- Have a strategy for the content you are posting and define it. For example, I have four themes in my business. Personal Brand; Professional Image; Polished Presence; PR Public Profile. Each theme has about four sub-themes. Sixteen in total that I write out as bullet points. From there I can come up with three topics each – making 48 pieces of content.
- Follow your strategy with and editorial calendar. Write out your themes and topics on a spreadsheet and add in any particular calendar days such as product launch, an event or Mother’s Day. Write the blogs, post on your regular day of the week or month and repurpose your content on other media.
- Know your audience and who consumes your content. Devise a persona or avatar that you are talking to. Know everything about them such a where they are and how they are going to find you.
- Focus on the right PR and social tactics. Know what works for your audience. Is it eNews, blogs, webinars, video, media articles or podcasts? What has the most effect and engagement?
- Remember it is not about you – it is about your audience. Write to YOU not I.
- Content that is read is the most successful of course. And that happens first and foremost with good writing and having something relevant or interesting to say. Take time with your writing and develop your style and voice. You can always have a professional editor look at your content to give advice for improvement.
- Content is also seen. There’s an explosion of memes in our feeds. Some meaningless! Media is very much a visual medium so complement your content with great visuals, and design.
- It takes time to build momentum and awareness. Keep at it and know that you are building a tangible asset and a library of content that you can recycle and reuse.
- Manage your time and what you or your team are capable of. A weekly blog may be simply too much. Perhaps you may be better off with once a fortnight and an eNews monthly. Consider your budget also and the cost of well-designed visuals. Nothing worse than “noise” just for the sake of it.
- Measure what works and what doesn’t. What could be refined and improved on and adjust accordingly.
Your “hook” and messages are an important component to personal branding. Want to find out more? Sign up for my free video training series, NOOK, LOOK, HOOK, 3 Steps to Build a Stand out Personal Brand.
Sue Currie is a speaker and the author of IMPRESSario, Present and Promote the Star Within You. She is recognised as a leading authority on personal branding to boost image, profile, brand and business. Through her image management and profile building programs, workshops, consulting and keynote presentations, Sue helps businesses and entrepreneurs position and present an influential professional brand.
