Get the Most Out of Your Content

Y’all, right now my content calendar looks like a box of highlighters exploded on it. It would frighten just about anyone (although somehow it hasn’t scared off my team yet). I’m often asked how I keep it all straight and still come up with new ideas for content.

Even though my calendar looks overwhelming, what it really boils down to is taking one idea and using different pieces of that idea across all of my different media channels. Think of it like a classic blouse in your wardrobe. There’s not just one way to wear that shirt. You can pair it with jeans to dress it down or with a pencil skirt and heels to dress it up. You can throw a blazer over it and make it more professional or a leather jacket over it and wear it to a concert. The options for how you use that piece of clothing are endless! And you know what? Content is just like that.

For example, as you probably know, I am a huge fan of research. Because I know how important it is to succeeding in business, I teach women to do research in their businesses often. I want them to research the market opportunity for their idea, their competition to learn from them, and most importantly, their target market to be able to serve them. Research is just one idea, but I can take it in many different directions.

Here’s what I mean:

1. Blog post: “What Makes the Best Marketing.”

Excerpt:

If you want to have the best marketing for your business, don’t worry about the prettiest ads. Spend some time getting to really know your customers. Ask them what they like about your company and what they don’t. Ask them about their problems and what they need. Ask them about what motivates them and what they want more of. When you get them, then you can actually reach them.

Because it’s not the prettiest ads that makes the best marketing—the best research does.

2. YouTube video: “How to Identify Your Target Market.”

3. Business Boutique Academy video: “Identifying Your Target Market.”

This is a 16-minute deep dive into identifying and researching your target market. It’s truly step-by-step guidance from me—I literally walk you through the concept from start to finish and give you the three types of information you should gather in your research. Sign up for the Academy to see this video!

4. Business Boutique event workbook: Ideal Customer Profile.

5. Tweet/Facebook/social post: The best message in the world won’t work if the wrong person hears it. #knowyourtargetmarket

6. On top of all that, I’m releasing a podcast in just a couple weeks on “Researching Your Competition,” which is related to the same idea of doing research.

So there you go! I began with one topic—research—and created content to go in six different places. My audience doesn’t consume everything on every channel, so even if part of a blog is repeated in a YouTube video, that’s okay. And at the end of the day, each angle I take reinforces the teaching as a whole.

I do this with almost everything I teach, and you can too! Start thinking about some different angles and approaches you can take with content you already have. Like putting together new outfits with clothes you already own, you’ll start getting more mileage out of it with less time, money and energy!

Related: How to Create Content