If you’re a consultant, you likely already know you need to be posting content. Honestly, it’s a non-negotiable these days. However, the issue usually lies in actually creating that content. Knowing you should be posting content doesn’t mean that you are. We can take a guess here and assume that…
- There’s simply not enough time in the day
- You don’t even know where to start
- You don’t feel confident in your ability to create content that’s engaging
How can you solve this problem? You need our secret content creation hacks.
We get it, coming up with ideas, recording, editing, designing, writing, and posting can be overwhelming. However, there are things that you can implement into your process that will make your life easier. So even if you struggle to post content, don’t lose hope yet. We’re going to share some of our industry secrets to help your creation process become less stressful.
Posting content about your consulting business can deliver game-changing benefits, from boosting brand awareness to establishing yourself as a go-to authority in your field. Regardless of your space, skills, time, or resources, you’ll be able to find some tips that will help you create effective content that resonates with your audience.
5 Content Creation Secrets to Make Your Life Easier
1. Record Yourself While You Brainstorm Content Ideas
For many consultants, the toughest part of content creation is simply getting started. The idea of sitting down to write, outline, or create from scratch can feel overwhelming. Instead, a great way to get started is just to record yourself talking.
You can focus on important topics in your niche or specific area of expertise. You know the industries and spaces you serve best, so if you record yourself speaking in a stream of consciousness, you’re likely to have some golden nuggets of wisdom that surface. Plus, you can reflect on your past experiences, stories from your clients, and other trending topics. Brain-dumping a bunch of information allows you to relax and just speak about whatever’s on your mind, making the recording more natural.
That recording can be turned into so many different types of content. It could provide the foundation for everything from blog posts to ads to video scripts and more. You can take clips from it and turn them into short clips for social media or even take the transcript and use it to create a blog post. This method is going to ensure the topics on your feature are your own ideas made up of concepts that you’re already knowledgeable and passionate about. By focusing on things that you’ve already put thought into, you’ll be able to produce truly rich and valuable content.
How to Do It: Set aside a set time to talk through topics relevant to your industry. Imagine you’re explaining a complex issue to a client or highlighting industry trends you’re passionate about. You might cover client challenges, share success stories, or give advice on avoiding common mistakes. Don’t worry if it feels rough; the goal is to get a bunch of ideas and concepts that you can work with later.
Once recorded, you can listen back, identify key points, and start to organize them into different content types. For example:
- Blog Posts: Transcribe the recording to outline a blog post on each major topic or theme.
- Social Media Clips: Break it into smaller clips for short videos or graphics with quotes.
- Podcast Segments: If you run a podcast or are considering one, you can use these brainstorming sessions as informal episodes or as a starting point for the official one.
Recording yourself also keeps your ideas natural and conversational. Content that comes straight from your unfiltered thoughts will reflect your true voice, which can be hard to capture when typing or trying to fit a certain tone. This method keeps things relatable and approachable, making your content feel less like a lecture and more like a conversation.
2. Listen to (and Answer!) the Questions Your Audience Asks
Another great way to generate effective topics for your content is by simply letting your current and potential clients guide you. What better way to make content that speaks to your target audience than having it come directly from them? Take all the questions potential clients, current clients, and peers ask and turn them into useful pieces of content. Listening to the people you are creating content is always useful, but especially if you’re struggling to come up with ideas that will actually provide real value to them. Once you gain momentum, it’ll get easier to gather new client-inspired topics for your content.
It’s important to post about the things that interest you because you likely have a lot of expertise to share. However, if your audience doesn’t care about those topics, then your content isn’t going to be effective at growing your business. This is one of the many reasons why it’s essential that you pay attention to the common queries and issues that people have regarding the specific niche or industry that you serve.
Getting those concepts from real people’s comments, questions, and concerns clearly tells you what to hone in on. This will of course help them trust you even more as you are proving that you know how to help solve their problems.
Where to Start:
- FAQs: Write down frequently asked questions that come up during calls, emails, or client consultations. You can even post an open forum for people to ask questions.
- Online Research: Platforms like Quora, Reddit, or LinkedIn groups are great places to go to see what people are talking about in your industry. Another useful resource is Answer the Public, which is another place where you can research what people are asking.
Bonus Tip: Take a look at competitors’ content. Analyze popular topics they’re addressing and consider what might be missing. Ask yourself, Are there gaps in the information provided? Are there ways I could present it more clearly or add value?
Addressing client concerns can help you directly speak to them and hit the pain points they actually experience.
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3. Consistency Builds Trust and Keeps You Top-of-Mind
If you want to effectively use content marketing as a tool to grow your business, you’ll need to become a bit predictable (but not boring!). The key to achieving this? Consistency.
The best way to help your business with content marketing is to consistently show up. If you never post or just post when you randomly remember to, you’re never going to see the positive results you want. An effective content marketing strategy requires consistency or else it will simply never deliver what you’re expecting.
You need to regularly deliver content, so you can build a relationship with your audience and prove your reliability. It’s also important that you routinely develop content so that you stay fresh in customers’ minds. Posting regularly will keep your brand at the forefront of your followers’ minds, so they remember you when it’s time to do business. This is also a good habit to make because it gives you the opportunity to produce content that is in line with current trends and news, so your material stays relevant.
Consistency goes beyond posting frequency. You should also be consistent with your brand voice, tone, and style. Make sure the writing is always in a similar style and utilizes the same language and tone. Your content should speak with the same voice so that customers are more likely to trust what you’re saying. Consistent and predictable branding is effective because it helps build authority and develop your reputation.
- Setting Up a Schedule: Start by deciding on a manageable posting frequency that you can realistically maintain. For example:
- Social Media Content Calendar: Decide how often you want to post. For example, maybe shoot for four times a week to start.
- Bi-weekly Blog Posts: Keep followers updated and informed with bi-weekly blogs.
- Monthly Podcast Video: If you have the time and resources, posting a monthly podcast or long-form YouTube video can be a great option to speak directly to your audience.
By establishing a steady flow of content, you’re not only staying visible but also building trust over time. Your audience will gradually learn to rely on your insights and even start to expect them.
4. Make Video a Core Part of Your Content Strategy
No surprise here, but video has proven to be THE most engaging form of media. Videos offer a “face-to-face” feeling that words alone can’t convey. Video content is absolutely critical for brand awareness and cultivating authority. While creating a video might require more steps–you have to write a script, record it, edit it, and make sure to add graphics and music–it also gives you more freedom to connect with your audience.
Besides videos being probably the most engaging and popular media type right now, they also provide a great opportunity for more content to be made. For example, if you film a long video, you can turn that into multiple different pieces of content. You can cut the video up into short clips, take out important quotes, turn concepts into carousel posts, or even turn it into a blog. The possibilities are truly endless when you have a valuable resource to pull ideas for other content from. This is especially important for busy consultants who need the most time-efficient ways to create valuable content. Video content will give you the best bang for your buck.
Tips for Creating Effective Videos:
- Keep it Simple: You don’t have to produce professional-level video content. People like to see videos of real people. You can literally prop your phone up on your windowsill, press record, and start talking about something relevant to your business and you’ll be good to go.
- Feature Client Success Stories: If they’re willing, you can get past and current clients to film testimonials of their experience working with you. These can range from simple reviews to emotional storytelling.
- Experiment with Formats: Whether it’s live Q&As, interviews with other experts, or behind-the-scenes looks, try out various types of video content to see what resonates.
Videos give you a chance to explain, demonstrate, and connect visually with your audience, which is especially valuable in a consulting business where building trust is critical. If you don’t make videos, then you’re missing out on a major opportunity to build recognition and a positive reputation for your brand.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Reuse and Recycle Content
You’ve probably picked up on a common theme throughout these secrets and that’s turning one piece of content into others. Reposting old articles probably isn’t the best move for your content strategy, but that doesn’t mean that each post you make is one-and-done (spoiler alert: even this blog is repurposed 😉).
Every video, podcast, or blog post can be a lot more than just one single entry. You can use the longer-form content you create to generate even more content. If you have a video that gives 10 helpful tips, you can dissect it and create a social media post around each insight. Alternatively, you can use the video as a jumping-off point, and expand on each piece of advice with a separate blog article. Or you can do a combination! Either way, that video just paved the way for numerous new pieces of content.
Not only is this a great strategy because it helps you get the most out of the work you have already done (and makes content creation easier in the process), but it’s also good because it can help you reach your base through different avenues. Videos are popular, but some people prefer podcasts. Alternatively, some don’t like to read blog articles, but they will pay attention to your posts on social media. By recycling content, you can make sure that all of your bases are covered and that useful information reaches your audience on whatever platform they prefer.
Ways to Repurpose Effectively:
- Blog to Social Media: Pull quotes or tips from a blog post to create engaging social media graphics.
- Video to Blog Post: Take the transcript from a video and refine it into a blog post or LinkedIn article.
- Create a Series: A long-form article with “10 Tips” could be transformed into a social media carousel or a multi-part blog series, allowing you to dive into each point individually.
- Podcast to Soundbites: Mine a podcast episode for good explanations, quotes, and stories and post them on your socials.
Creating a great piece of content takes time, so don’t let it stop after one use. Repurposing content is a strategic way to amplify your message and make sure it reaches as many people as possible, in formats they prefer. Plus, it’s going to save you a whole lot of time and energy.
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Start Creating Effective Content
Handling a content marketing strategy as a consultant can be difficult and is definitely no small feat. It’s a lot for an expert marketer to handle. But, with these five strategies, you’ll be well on your way to creating impactful, authentic content that resonates with your audience and positions you as a trusted expert. Remember, content creation doesn’t have to be daunting. Focus on small, consistent steps, test out various formats, and always keep your client’s needs top-of-mind.
As always, if you want to implement a content marketing strategy but don’t know where to start or need help creating content, we’d be happy to help. Breezy can help you develop a strategy, handle your content for you, edit professional videos, or even design your website. If you’re interested in how Breezy can help grow your consulting business, click here.
Ready to Launch a Content Marketing Plan for Your Small Business?
We know that carving out the time, resources, and energy to create ongoing content for your brand or business is a full-time job. That’s why we created Breezy – your instant content marketing team.
You don’t need to hire multiple full-time employees to handle all of the strategy, planning, writing, designing, and publishing of content. You also don’t have time to wrangle tons of different freelancers to get this all completed. You need one expert team that can help get all of the amazing thought-leadership and subject matter expertise out of your head and into formalized, engaging content that keeps you top of mind with your audience.
We’re that team!
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