or “If Content is King, then Consistency is Queen”
I posted that quote – from an anonymous source – not long ago on my business Facebook Page. Because it’s true. Consistent content publication is one of the primary reasons ongoing marketing communications clients seal the deal with me for content writing. Consistent content, getting their message to their audience regularly, is top of their marketing list.
Crown consistency. Put a big ol’ sparkly tiara on it. The easiest way to get that going is to schedule time on your calendar with your content writer. A weekly 15–minute conversation is what works for most of mine.
What can be done in a quarter hour? 15 minutes of content focus.
- Discuss and decide upon a timely topic. Your response to an industry survey, a new product or service roll-out.
- Establish the message, aka the benefit to the audience. “The survey reports ____. Our product helps you beat the odds by doing ____.”
- Choose keywords and phrases. Your search analytics can help here. Based on the topic, what search terms or phrases might be used?
A strong content writer will be able to tighten the focus and help the topic come to life. You’ll want to provide your content writer with a couple of relevant URLs or the appropriate survey / report to use as resources. I’ve a couple of clients who use this method. We chat for a moment about what’s the hot topic for the week, or what they’ve had come up with their own clients. Then we move on to how it can tie into their product or service(s) and the client “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) message. Finally, and this works best when they’re referring to search analytics, we decide what key terms and phrases to work into the article.
“How often should we publish?” Ask instead how consistently you should publish.
Turn calendar reminders into a friendly nag. Choose your timing and do your darnedest to stick with it. If we have a call weekly, I’ll get you a weekly article. If every two weeks, then you’ll get an article every two weeks. When the article gets published – that’s up to you. Just remember: consistency is queen!
