Marketing your business is no small feat. High quality marketing takes time, talent, and attention. That’s why it’s important to make the most of the time you put into it by maximizing your marketing content.

In this post, I’ll share how to take your content marketing strategy and maximize what you create to help guide leads to become paying customers.

Here are the five steps to maximizing your marketing content to turn leads into paying customers:

1. Create the big picture and plan ahead

2. Find topics your audience is already searching for

3. Create content consistently with a repeatable system

4. Follow a marketing strategy that works for your ideal audience

5. Repurpose your content

It took quite the learning curve to figure out how to make the most of each piece of marketing content so I wasn’t wasting time. Now, I want to share with you what works so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

How do you maximize content marketing?

Not only is "content king" but platform algorithms like Pinterest, for instance, prioritize fresh content. It's no secret that Google loves fresh content to crawl too.

With a constant need to produce content (not to mention, also run your business!), how does an entrepreneur deliver high quality content that moves prospective customers to action?

With these tips, you’ll have everything you need to plan high quality content in advance and use it appropriately across marketing platforms.

I got my entrepreneurial start in marketing, so below you'll find four actionable tips from a marketing expert responsible for managing "all the things."

#1 Create the big picture and plan ahead

Let’s generally talk about how to plan content in advance with the goal of guiding leads to become paying customers.

Four content planning tips:

1. Plan content at least a month at a time. We know repeat touch points are critical for your audience to buy. That means you’ll need to repeat your message often. By looking ahead by at least one month, you’ll be able to begin talking about important upcoming dates well in advance.

2. Start with major dates and work around them. These become your cornerstones for planning. For example, every month, I create the Founding Females® Heartbeat newsletter with updates from the previous month.

3. Set goals and write them in the calendar. Know what results you’re trying to create before you dive in. Have an upcoming course you want to launch? Create related content well in advance so you can prime your audience to see you as the authority on the subject.

4. After you set goals, work backward planning marketing content. Write down actionable to-do’s and put them on the calendar leading up to your goal completion date. For example, "Brainstorm 10 blog topics," "Perform blog research," "Complete draft #1," or "Perform SEO research."

 #2 Find Topics Your Audience is Already Searching For

Find out what your audience is already looking for through thorough research with keyword research tools, like Keysearch, Keywords Everywhere, and Google Search Console.

When you understand what words your audience uses to describe their desired result, you’re much more likely to land in search results.

Plus, you can create content they're actually interested in consuming. Then, by educating or entertaining them on the topic, you’ll be positioned as the authority on the topic.

Keep a separate document for content brainstorming ideas since generating creative ideas and executing on content creation don’t always happen in the same sitting.

Bottom line: Don't bother writing about things your target audience doesn't care about or that don't relate to your company's over-arching goals.

PRO TIP: Create a detailed picture of what your ideal client's life is like two to three months before they need your product or service. Create another detailed picture of what your ideal client’s life is like two weeks to one month before they need your product or service.

Then, write content based on things they might be typing into the search engine to find out more information. The time to connect with your ideal client and establish the know, like, and trust factor with well-planned content is before he/she is ready to make a purchase. Then, you’re already primed when the need arises.

For example, one of my client avatars, DIY Dolly, does a ton of research before starting her business. By knowing what she’s typing into the search engine, I can create content that meets the search inquiries she’s already using to get answers.

#3 Create content consistently with a repeatable system

Here’s how to be consistent with content planning:

Use content marketing the way you plan any other project in your business. Visualize what the end result would ideally look like. Brainstorm what a thriving content marketing strategy would look like for you. Don’t forget to be realistic about how much you can take on.  

Take this week for instance. Is it realistic to produce a blog post this week? Or is it more realistic to take two weeks to create a good quality blog post? It’s better to produce high quality content than to crank out lots of content that doesn’t get noticed.

Work backward from your ideal cadence and figure out what steps it will take to get there. I call this “reverse engineering.”

Next, attach due dates to the steps you listed. Put the small to-dos on your calendar and work them into your schedule, no matter how small the to do item. At first, it might be better to allow 10% more time than you think you’ll need until you get into a rhythm where the process comes naturally to you.

For example, I have a goal of publishing 100 blog posts this year. That means I need to create two new blogs posts per month. I use a spreadsheet for publishing each post so I don’t miss a step. The checklist for publishing each blog post includes:

1. Add content into a new blog post

2. Research keywords

3. Add photos with alt text

4. Add 5-10 links

5. Include an email capture

And so on…

Each time I sit down to create content, I pull up the checklist which helps the process run much more smoothly. 

Finally, execute. Remind yourself that consistent content is a priority for a thriving online business.

Life happens. Kids get sick. Projects take more time than we expect.

Work to get ahead and schedule out your content one to two months in advance. Doing this will help ensure you’re able to keep up the consistency even when unexpected events throw you off track.

Create a Predictable Rhythm for Content Creation

Create a predictable rhythm. A predictable time and interval will eliminate the decision fatigue. For example, perhaps the last Monday of the month is your set time to plan content for the next month. Maybe you execute weekly, every Thursday for the following week…whatever your system is, put it on the calendar, stick to it, make it a priority, and tweak if necessary, but no matter what, commit to it.

PRO TIP: Give yourself margin for something to come up. You won’t likely do your best work if you leave content creation to the last minute. Good content requires thinking and planning ahead. When I work with clients to create marketing strategies via my CMO for a Day service, I help create a calendar they can execute well in advance, then set it and forget it.

#4 Follow a Marketing Strategy that Works for Your Ideal Audience

There are three important components for effective marketing.

The first is that marketing is a long game. It takes time to build familiarity and repeat touch points so your audience trusts you as the authority.

The second is that consistency is paramount because through consistency, you teach your leads and customers what to expect. Inconsistency = confusion and humans shut down confusion as soon as possible.

The third is measuring and tweaking. If something’s not working, use data-driven tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and social media insights to identify what is and isn’t isn’t working the way you thought it would and make changes.

The fourth is creating a marketing strategy that works for your ideal client (remember, not everyone is an ideal customer for you). Read: How to Create a Marketing Strategy that Makes Your Business Stand Out

Measuring your audience’s behavior is critical. With metrics and analytics included with almost every online platform these days, managing by numbers is a must for business owners.

#5 Repurpose your content

Reusing content across platforms is 100% okay. In fact, repurposing content is vital to your sanity as a business owner because you wear so many hats.

Content creation is just one of your many, many tasks as a female entrepreneur. So, it’s time to get smart.

In general, you need to start with a piece of good, quality long-form content. Then repurpose it to other platforms where shorter, punchier pieces of content are appropriate. Of course, you’ll want to tweak the content slightly so that it works for each platform.

Suggestions for How to Repurpose Marketing Content

Take your blog post (i.e. 1000 - 200- written words) and turn the content into emails (I do that in here all the time!) Then turn it into a video. Then turn it into social media series. You put the time in up front to find out what your audience cares about, perform keyword research, integrate resources, and actually write or create the content. You may as well use it across platforms in as many ways as possible to maximize the time you invested. (click here if you’re looking for more SEO tips: https://foundingfemalesco.com/blog/9-seo-tips)

Record a live video. Turn the Google transcription tool (my fave! Open a Google Doc, then click Tools > Voice Typing to find the tool) on to automatically type out what's being said aloud. Voila! Turn that written content into a blog post, and then into social media captions, and email content. Record the audio and turn it into a podcast.

Take customer inquiries and turn them into an optimized FAQ page on your site. If customers are asking those questions to YOU, there are sure to be leads who don’t yet know about your business asking the same questions to Google looking for exactly what you provide. Those questions give you insight into what your audience calls things - keywords! - and it’s a rich source to drive even more traffic to your website.

Conclusion

Quality, well planned content can cut through the noisy online space and effectively reach the customers who are most likely to purchase from you.

The reality is, most businesses haven't figured out a good, repeatable system, which is why I wanted to lay forth this system for you. Without a solid, repeatable system, it’s daunting to think just how much content you’d have to create to maintain a thriving digital presence.

Related Articles for Female Entrepreneurs

• Staycation for Entrepreneurs: 3 Reasons I book a hotel alone every year

• 5 Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Content

• 10 Ways I’m Teaching Financial Literacy to My Daughter

• 3 Things Every Female Entrepreneur Wishes She Knew

About Founding Females®

Founding Females® Founder, Francie Hinrichsen

The mission of Founding Females® is to help build a better future for female entrepreneurs through education, encouragement, and shared wisdom. We create safe spaces for women to share business challenges and receive peer support. 

In addition, Founding Females® offers an online female business mastermind, a how-to guidebook for female entrepreneurs called Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business, and in-person events, like an annual women’s business conference and local Founding Females Meet Ups.