Let's be real, I create a ridiculous amount of content. Ridiculous enough that it's surprising any of it is any good, let alone the sparkling unicorn content that I oh so humbly create. And that's because I have spent the past seven years really honing my own content creation process, and today I am breaking that workflow down with you. Brittany Berger here, and welcome back to my channel. I help B2B online businesses create smarter content.
Before we get started today make sure you subscribe below for weekly marketing tips, and on point pop culture references, and comment with what your content creation process looks like right now.
So inbound in content marketing and creating content online have been my life for as long as I can remember, since my first in-house content marketing job back in 2010. And for the past few years I juggled a full-time content job along with a freelance content marketing job. And on top of that had a few personal blogs as well because, obviously, I just needed to be creating content all the livelong day. And even today, now that I've left my full-time job, and slowed down my personal blogging a little bit, between client work and my own business I'm still creating 5 to 10 new pieces of content per week.
It's like batching's not really a thing in my business because the batch just never ends. It's a lot, but it's not too much. And the only reason I don't constantly burnout, and vow never to write another word ever again is because I have tweaked this content creation process until it is perfect for me, and just so easy to go through over and over. It helps me focus, it helps me streamline, it plays to my strengths, it is as Phoebe Buffay would say my lobster.
So I'm finally sharing this because I know there's a lot that's universal.
I have taught this to other content writers at my day job, coaching clients, mastermind partners, and they all love how much more quickly and easily they can create really any kind of content with this process, whether you're writing blog posts, email sequences, video scripts, hey, hey. And you just get so much more clarity for the entire content writing process, I promise it works. But for you this might just be a starting point, you know, we're all finicky creatives, and you might need to take this and make it your own a little bit.
So let's talk about how unicorn content gets made. First, you need some ideas obviously, so I like to sit down for just 15 or 30 minutes, and come up with a chunk of content for a specific set of time.
That might be like a month, or a quarter, or a specific launch, or a campaign. And I will come up with these kind of more general topics or working headlines that line up with my overall content strategy. That is a whole other thing getting into finding content ideas. So instead of getting too far into it today, I will just drop a link to one of my favorite blog posts I've written about it in the description. So I collect all of that, and nail down a working headline.
It's pretty specific, for this video it was just my content creation process. But like in all caps, and in purple. Then it is time to grab one of my beloved notebooks and start outlining. And, yeah, I still do most of my outlines on paper. Here is where my blog writing process starts to get a little weird.
I create two outlines for every blog post or piece of content. That's how much I love making lists. The first outline is what I like to call the content skeleton, and that is step two of the content creation process. Here is where I get really clear on the goals and structure of the blog post, and it just takes a quick five minutes to jot down. And the content skeleton starts with the mission statement.
What is this piece of content going to do for your reader or viewer? This could just be a one sentence statement like this blog post will teach readers how to repurpose blog posts for email newsletters. Then I define the call to action, or what the viewer needs to do next, whether that is commenting, watching, or reading something else, or downloading a freebie. And finally, the content skeleton ends with a really basic blueprint of the blog post. Just like what the intro will be, some ideas for some of the subsections.
Basically, the most basic outline possible. And to help you create this content skeleton type of outline, I do have a free content planning worksheet that you can download in the description to get started. Step three in my content creation process is a way more detailed outline. Here is where I really lay out everything that I want to talk about. It's a huge brain dump, not just of the big main talking points, but also the details that I want to include about them.
So maybe the examples that I want to include, or specific points I want to make. Any links or other things that I might want to link to, graphics that I want to create, the whole shebang. I mean, I even plan out the puns and pop culture references that I'm going to make in my content, people, that is how far I go. But, you know, I do care a lot more than most people about making a good sitcom reference.
It is really all the meat and details, so that when it's time to finally write it's basically just turning things into complete sentences, and rearranging things a little bit.
In step four of the content creation process, it's finally time to write. And since your content is so freaking planned out already, it's really easy, and really fast. That's why I love the whole two outline thing. You already know exactly what you're gonna say, and when you're gonna say it, so you can really just focus on the best way to do that.
You can really focus on flushing out your ideas, adding personality, and your brand voice, and all that good old word nerdery that can go into really awesome content creation.
And when you already have this really well planned and well thought out outline, the writing process goes by pretty quickly because you don't have to do all of this stopping to think, or to research, or to take screenshots, and find graphics. All that stuff's already done. And finally, step five of the blog writing process is taking the digital red pen to your content. Editing time, it's honestly my least favorite part, but so important.
And it's important to realize that with content marketing, editing isn't really about making the grammar perfect.
It's about making sure your content is as engaging, and well thought out, and clear, and goal-oriented as possible. Perfect grammar just a small part of that, make sure people can understand you. I keep my editing simple, and I use a lot of Ann Handley's tips from her book Everybody Writes, amazing book for anyone creating content for business. So that process is, make sure you state your key idea near the start. Slash anything that feels extraneous.
Make every paragraph earn its keep. Make every sentence earn its keep, and try rearranging things. And if you're really insecure about grammar, and it's really not your jam, you can try something like Grammarly to help you out. It's like super smart spell check. And after all of that, it's time for a dance break because my content's done, and I love me a good dance break.
♪ Who run the world, girls ♪ So, yeah, (giggles) that process is pretty much my life, and I'm loving it. And with online businesses having to create so, so much content nowadays, having this clear, defined process for yourself is the only way that you can create any kind of content consistently, high quality without burning out. Now you have a process you can use, yay! I am so excited for you to try out this process, and let me know what you think. So, make sure to click the link in the description below if you want to download my free content planning worksheet for creating those content skeletons.
And comment below letting me know what your content creation process looks like right now. Now go forth, and as Lin-Manuel Miranda would say, "Write day and night like you're running out of time." But with this process, you won't have to. https://autofans-io.myshopify.com?sca_ref=5595505.SqEn8llees
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