How to improve your content production workflow
You have a great idea for content–maybe you write it down or even add it to your project management tool–but you just keep pushing it back. With everything going on in your business, it’s hard to find the time to sit down and write a blog post, a case study, or finally create the online course you’ve been wanting to build.
Even if you outsource your writing, it’s so easy for things to slip through the cracks when it comes to developing a strategy, planning your content calendar, and editing. You need a well-oiled content production workflow to make sure you’re getting your ideas off the ground, staying consistent, and actually making progress from your marketing efforts.
What do I need to put together an efficient content workflow?
When I talk about your content workflow, I mean the entire process you take from strategizing to promoting your content. But there’s a little more to it before you can get to building your process. Here’s what you should consider first:
People
For a lot of small business owners, you’re the only person managing your content marketing. It’s entirely possible on your own, but as you scale up you might want to consider hiring additional help for your strategy, writing, and overall content management.
Calendar and cadence
Always consider your time and resources first to develop your content marketing cadence and calendar. You don’t want to overload yourself or your team to the point where you have to keep pushing things back. Instead, determine how often you want to post certain types of content, then plan your calendar from there, layering on important dates, events, and seasonality.
Tools
For a smooth workflow, you need to determine your toolkit. Where will you document your content marketing strategy? What project management tool will you use to assign tasks? And where will you store your content and design assets? This is where tools like Clickup, Asana, Google Sheets, and Canva come in handy.
What steps should I include in my content marketing workflow?
To put together the people, tools, and timeline that go into your content production, you need a repeatable set of steps. Here’s what I recommend to make your content workflow as straightforward as possible:
Strategy - Think about the high-level plan for what you want your content to accomplish and how you’ll get there. This is where you should start thinking about cadence and calendar, as well as your content marketing goals.
Ideation - Time to get creative! What topics do you want to talk about, and how do you want to present your ideas online?
Copywriting - Whether you’re creating blog posts, course slides, or social media posts, it’s time to write the first draft of your content.
Design - The relationship between design and copywriting can be pretty fluid, so they might not come one after another. For me personally, I might come up with a content idea, choose the general design or format, then write the full copy.
Editing - Even if it’s just you, editing is a crucial step. Ideally, you can hand off your content for someone to review and catch any mistakes. But if you don’t have that resource, there are still many tools you can leverage: ChatGPT, Grammarly, and the Hemingway app, for example.
Scheduling and publishing - Now to get your content out there! Scheduling content and publishing might seem like an afterthought - “I can just post it once it’s ready, right?” However, following your original content calendar is crucial to stay consistent and organized.
Promotion - Once your content is published, the work doesn’t end. It’s time to promote! That might mean repurposing your blogs for social, promoting your service landing pages through your Google Business profile, and more.
Review - Though I’m listing these as steps, your content marketing workflow is more of a cycle. Once your content has been out in the world for a few weeks or months, you need to review your content marketing KPIs and tweak your content marketing strategy from there. At that point, the cycle continues.
Improving a content production workflow for one person
If that list above stressed you out a little bit because it’s all on you–don’t worry. Here are my tips for improving the process and making it easier:
Establish realistic goals - Always start with your goals so your work is more meaningful. Without them, you might be spending time creating content that doesn’t matter.
Be honest about how much time you have - You don’t need to overwhelm yourself just to have a great website. In fact, you’ll compete better if you’re realistic about how much time you can spend on your content marketing and build a consistent cadence that doesn’t burn you out.
Find ways to hold yourself accountable - Without people to delegate to, you might have to get a little creative to make sure you’re moving your workflow forward. At a base level, I recommend setting up task reminders in your project management system or calendar. You can also block time off on your calendar when it’s time for each step of your process.
Automate as much as possible - There are so many tools out there to make your life easier, so take advantage of them! AI is everywhere these days, and it can be a lifesaver for repurposing content to fill your calendar or even helping you get your copy to where you want it.
Outsource when you can - I don’t just recommend this selfishly because I offer content workflow services–I see a lot of business owners hoard their marketing tasks because they don’t realize they can actually outsource a lot of it. Take a look at your budget, spend some time prioritizing, and get the help you need!
Improving your content production workflow with a team
Now, what about when you already have a solid team–whether it’s in-house or you’re working with contractors? Outsourcing helps take the work off of yourself as a business owner, but more cooks in the kitchen can lead to a lot of dropped balls or disorganization if you’re not careful. Here’s how you can improve:
Establish realistic goals - Yep, I mentioned it for if you’re working alone, but the same goes for when you’re managing a team. You all need to be working toward the same shared goals, whether it’s growing your website traffic, increasing conversions, or growing your engagement.
Set expectations upfront - For every person involved in your workflow, there should be clear expectations. Not just for the individual tasks that they have to take care of, but the cadence and the dependencies related to their work.
Check-in consistently - A solid workflow should work like a well-oiled machine, but you still want to check in and see how your team is doing. Is anyone overloaded? Are there bottlenecks in the process? Is there any confusion?
Improve your project management as you go - As you work through kinks and get more feedback, make sure you’re improving your project management process. That might mean building helpful automations in your PM system or making your tasks more specific.
Create a content marketing SOP - One of the biggest pitfalls with using a team to manage your content is that things slip through the cracks. It’s normal, and sometimes inevitable, but to avoid that, make sure you have an SOP that documents your workflow, steps, and dependencies.
Take your content production workflow off your plate
Content production is a ton of work, especially if it’s all on you. Even if you feel like you’re a content marketing expert, that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to spend your time, especially when there’s so much else to take care of in your business. Make it a little easier on yourself by outsourcing!
I offer monthly content workflow packages that are custom to your needs, whether you’re looking for a little more organization or someone to fully take the reins. Contact me today to learn more!
