How to Create Content Faster | Summer School Lesson 7

Click here to read the blog that inspired this video and access the free templates.

Video transcription:

Hey everybody! The last couple of weeks, we have been talking about how to get people to click into your content and how to captivate them, so they will be interested in what you have to say.

Subject lines and headlines for blogs are important things, but they are predicated on having content in the first place.

So, today, we are talking about ways to create content faster.

We’re going to talk about the foundation you need to get that content done and get it out into the world. Let’s go.

If you are like me, nothing is worse than opening up your Google Doc (because no one no one uses Microsoft Word anymore), and seeing that little blank page with the cursor just blinking and and mocking you.

Every little blink says, “you are a failure” and “you will never write anything good.” “What are you doing even opening this Doc?”

That’s not it’s not just me, right?

So the first idea on how to create content faster is how to move past that blank page syndrome and actually get to creating.

1. Skip the brainstorm.

Skip the brainstorm and start with this instead.

What we need to do is have frameworks when we create content so we can easily pick and choose and get right into building out an idea instead of deciding what it is that we’re going to do.

So, if we’re going to skip the brainstorm, we need to have a framework.

We’re going to start with three different frameworks for your content. This will cover like 90% of the types of content that you want to make.

Those are:

• Document

• Interview

• Preview

Document

One of my favorite marketers says this. He says, “document don’t create,” and essentially that’s what the attitude we want to take.

Essentially, this is just taking what you’re doing on daily basis—the conversations that you’re having, maybe the processes that you use—and you’re writing them out, you’re describing them, you are using your life to inform your content.

I like to tell people that conversations are your content.

So, look at your notes from your last meeting with a client and take the situation that you talked to with them.

Obviously take out the the specifics of what you talked about—unless it’s a case study that you’re going to use now—and talk about that situation that you talked about because it’s guaranteed someone else who you want to work with, who is like that client that you already love, is going to have those same types of questions and wants to solve those same types of problems.

So, document what you’re doing.

The next one is interview.

Interview

This is where you leverage other people’s ideas. If you host a podcast, you are already well aware of how this makes content creation easy.

You talked to someone else, and you leverage their brain, and you publish the output.

Preview

Preview just means looking at what’s happening in the world and commenting on it.

I’m sure there are some things that you find interesting. Maybe it’s the Bitcoin boom or the Bitcoin bust, or whether or not you want your clients to be focused on ESG investing. Those are just some hot button topics.

Whatever is going on right now that you think is important to add your a couple of cents to, pull it out, explain it, and then say, “here’s what I think about it.” There you go.

2. Start with a template.

The second way to create content faster seems obvious, but start with a template.

A blog basically has an intro, a body in the middle, and a conclusion.

If you start with a template that gives you either starter ideas or prompts for each of those sections, you can move more quickly into actually writing things out instead of, again, getting stuck with that blank page and trying to figure out what you’re doing.

So, give yourself the framework, start with the template, and get done faster.

3. Set time constraints for yourself.

If you sit down at 8:00 in the morning and you have a full day’s schedule and you need to record a video or write a blog, you know what usually happens? It’s 4:00, and you realize you didn’t finish that blog or you haven’t recorded that video yet because the day got in the way.

So, block that time. Tell yourself, “I’ve got 20 minutes. I’ve got 30 minutes on my schedule today. This has to get done during that.”

Research and studies have shown that when you set constraints on yourself, your brain actually can become more creative.

So, if you were someone who waited till the deadline when you were in school to write all your stuff or you did the night before to deliver a 10-page essay, this is right up your alley. Your brain should be used to this.

Setting time constraints can create creativity, so use that strategy.

4. Turn your content creation into a game.

There are different websites that reward you for hitting certain word count goals. One of my favorite weird ones is called Written? Kitten!

You set your markers for how many words you want to hit, and this website gives you a new picture of a cute kitten every time you hit that mark.

So, if you are into cats (as a person of the Internet, you probably are), this can be a fun way to gamify your content creation.

5. Listen to music.

This can get some reactions in support and some reactions against it.

I’m the type of person who, if I really need to lock in and get something done quick, I’ll blast some 90s hip hop and I get after it. I’ll throw on some Biggie, and the blog is written in no time.

The right type of music helps me to focus.

Some studies have shown that when people need more divergent thinking, listening to certain types of music can help with that. So, if you’re somebody who loves music, if you need to get into a groove, try that out for situations where you need to really focus your mind and get your content out there and done quickly.

Those are all of today’s ideas for creating content faster. I hope at least one of them helps you. You can pick and choose. You don’t have to use all of them or even three of them. Find one that works and go after it.

Like I said, grab some of the templates in the blog.

Next week we will be talking about how to distribute content that has already been published and make it work for you long after it’s been published.

See you next week.