Well Said Wednesday happened to land on Valentine's Day this year. But this is not going to be a hearts and flowers kind of post. Because if it's Wednesday, Feb. 14 where you currently are, it's most likely already Thursday, Feb. 15 where I am, on the island of Tasmania in Australia. This post has been in the queue waiting to launch for a while.
That's the beauty of content planning (and execution, of course):
- It helps the solo business owner who is creating content for her business actually take a vacation now and then. (BTW, highly recommended.)
- A content plan helps you maintain consistency in your outreach even when your calendar, client commitments and To Do list are pulling you in different directions.
- It lets you thoughtfully reiterate the essential core messages of your business, and link them to what's happening in the world or your business.
- A content plan makes it easier to "batch create" content, or taking a chunk of time to write multiple pieces that will publish over time.
"Half of blogging* is consistency, or just showing up on a regular basis."
Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes
My main content plan is simple: blog posts every other week, one newsletter a month, weekly Friday Inspiration quotes and some LinkedIn posting that I'm currently testing.
Each quarter, I decide which themes and topics will fill that framework, support what I am focusing on at that time, and work together. It frees me to create content in a focused, planful way. (You can learn more in my next round of Content Calendar Build Workshops set for March. Details are here.)
When I built my quarterly content calendar in December, I knew I'd be gone a good part of February, so I had plenty of time to pre-write material for the blog. Because no one wants to think about blogs when they're in Tasmania.
*Ann calls out blogging specifically in this quote, but I believe (and think she does as well) it applies to any form of content you create for your business.