51 - Planning Your Content

  Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re going to talk about why it’s important to plan, layout, and execute your content in an intentional way. We’ll break down strategies that can help you get ahead in case of unexpected challenges, build an audience, and calm the chaos.    So, why is it crucial that you plan your content ahead of time? It’s simple. The more content you have ready to go, the more flexibility, the more control, and the more lead time you get when it comes to putting out content. Not only do you give yourself space to change your strategy, but you also can keep track of all the moving parts that come into play when producing content for your business.    The truth is, getting a system in place will come with some challenges. You’ll run into hiccups as you iron out what works best for your team, and that’s where most people fall off. But if you stick with it and let the process fall into place, you’ll see the results in return.    For our example, we’ll talk about the Scale Your Small Business podcast.    This system is simple but incredibly effective. It starts with a big calendar where all the content is laid out with episode numbers, air dates, social media posts, etc. That way, there are weeks and weeks of buffer time to make changes.    Then, we move to a shared spreadsheet that gives the team a robust look at the workflow. The first columns have dates when the raw file for an episode can be expected. Once that box is checked, the audio editors know to work their magic, all by the date on the spreadsheet. From there, once the box is checked, it can move to show note writing, social media content, and publication.    Not only does this spreadsheet keep everyone informed, but it increases efficiency when people know when their expertise and role is needed in the workflow. Think of it as a ripple in the water. As that ripple goes out, it gets farther and farther and farther. We want to make sure that all this content that we're creating, all the hard work that goes into it behind the scenes, that it launches when it's supposed to in a timely manner and we're not running to catch up.   Key Takeaways   The more content you have ready to go, the more flexibility, the more control, and the more lead time you get when it comes to putting out content. Not only do you give yourself space to change your strategy, but you also can keep track of all the moving parts that come into play when producing content for your business.  Getting a system in place will come with some challenges. You’ll run into hiccups as you iron out what works best for your team, and that’s where most people fall off. But if you stick with it and let the process fall into place, you’ll see the results in return.