I’m one of those people who’s always looking for sustainable ways of planning and creating content faster, and more strategically without compromising on quality.

Not because I like to, but truly out of necessity.

Between our YouTube channel, our three podcasts, a newsletter, and all the social media accounts we use, the demand for our creation time can be huge.

Not to mention, we’re creating live monthly workshops every month inside The Business Lounge, releasing new courses, and creating new products.

Nearly all of what we do as a marketing education company involves content creation, so I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way that help me stay on top of content without a ton of effort.

I’ll share one of them on this post, but don’t forget to check out this content series for more useful tips, templates, and resources.

• How To Create A Content Calendar That Kicks Butt
• How To Create A Content Bank for Social Media

PLANNING & ORGANIZING MY CONTENT

There are many ways of approaching this strategy, but I love me a great note-taking app.

If you checked out our previous episode on creating a content bank, you know I walked you through our full-blown Trello Board Content Bank (snag access to it inside The Content Calendar System Course).

But when I started, I just used a note-taking app like Evernote.

You can use whichever app you prefer, like Notion, Apple Notes or Good Notes.

The main thing is that you have an easy way to organize your notes and notebooks in categories. From here, the process is simple.

Categorize your content into buckets (check out our content calendar post + template for more details on how to do this), and then start pre-writing as much content as you can.

Having pre-written posts in a mini-content bank is so freaking handy, y’all!

Spent all day in meetings and forgot to post on stories? Open your IG Stories notebook and pull up a bunch of ideas (or better, pre-created posts) that you can copy/paste and post.

Running behind on a client project and totally forgot to post on Facebook? No problem. Your pre-written content bank has a bunch of posts you can copy & post.

Got a sick kiddo at home and didn’t have time to schedule any content? Here comes your pre-written content bank to the rescue!

I love having these posts handy when life gets in the way, or when I just want to publish more content ahead of a launch, or simply to grow my list, or promote a product.

It’s not a novel concept, or a ninja strategy (although for me, it feels like one when I need it), but it’s way more powerful than you think and can really lower your stress and overwhelm around content.

A FEW PRO TIPS

• Don’t overthink this. Just open up your note-taking app and start writing.

• Writer’s block or not sure what to post about? Here’s 10 engaging post ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

• Sometimes it helps to get inspired, so pick 5 brand models you can use as inspiration for your content (never copy their work, though, that never works well anyway).

• Start small, and keep growing. You might not have a ton of ideas at first, so set a goal to create 10 post and keep adding more from there. The more you practice, the easier this will be for you.

• Don’t be afraid to re-use and recycle those posts! In fact, I highly encourage it. Every 30, 90, or 120 days, bring those posts back into rotation. I promise no one will notice since reach is abysmal on most social media platforms, anyway.

OVER TO YOU

So, now that you have one of my favorite little content hacks, it’s time to get to work.

Remember that information isn’t powerful until you implement it, so get it to and then come back to this post and report back.

Do you have any questions? Let me know, I’d love to answer them in the comments below.

Talk in the next one!

xx,

Kim

Want to finally stop ghosting your audience for good?

Get over 200+ caption starters & done-for-you social media post prompts by Snagging my brand new Content Calendar Playbook & get over 50 pages of templates of exactly what to say to keep your audience engaged consistently!

As I hit publish on this article, I’m waiting for a barrage of hate mail from Marketing Agencies around the world.

So let me go ahead and get this out of the way…

There are both reasons and seasons when outsourcing marketing makes all the sense in the world for your small business.

MANY Marketing Agencies are busting their butts to provide a tremendous service to their clients, and by no means am I trying to diminish their work.

But, by and large, you should ALWAYS be working towards Outsource Marketing doing your own marketing, in-house.

Outsource marketing is a fantastic stop-gap for many busy business owners…

And I’ll address when and where I feel those are best used.

But today, I’m going to break down 3 reasons you should at least be wary, if not avoid outsourcing completely. 

1. Your marketing needs to have a soul

Okay, I know that sounds hokey pokey, and pretty woo woo…

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Because the fact is this, every single time we’ve handled outsourced marketing for a client, we have to FULLY immerse ourselves in their culture, brand, values, and customers in order to put out a message that resonates with their ICA (ideal client avatar).

And the harsh reality is this…

Not every Marketing Agency does that…or even cares to try and do that.

Just like there are crappy Attorneys, Doctors, Mechanics, etc.

There are 100% crappy marketers that have gotten by with a few cheap hacks and gimmicks.

In many cases, they may even re-purpose and re-use the same ad copy they’ve used for MANY other clients, even in the same niche!

Funny story, but I was helping a friend with his marketing, and I looked at their Ads Manager on Meta.

This is a brand that has strong Christian values, and has done a fantastic job of tying that into the culture and messaging of what they do.

Their members rally around that culture, and his churn is next to nothing, despite being a fairly expensive option in the market.

Anyways, the very first ad I reviewed (which performed terribly, btw), had the following hook:

“Does a Bear Sh*t in the woods?”

Kid you not…

And as I read further, the message was relevant as he tied together the rest of the copy…

But do you think it was going to land my friend more ideal clients that identified with his culture?

Probably NOT.

In fact, it may have done the exact opposite.

In many cases, it becomes a status symbol.

It’s why Apple chose to put the logo upside down for you, the user of the actual Macbook, and right side up to onlookers.

True story, they chose to have it right side up for everyone else to see the logo because they discovered people found value in being perceived as an “Apple Person”.

Remember those Apple vs PC commercials?

It was all about defining characteristics of the individual, and their alignment with the brands.

Strip away all the hacks and ninja strategies, and marketing is about appealing to the individual in ways that are meaningful to them, while delivering a desired outcome/transformation.

Some Marketing Agencies understand this…

But finding one that does, and is committed to understanding the soul of your company, is going to be costly (and rightfully so!).

For most business owners, what a good Agency charges is simply going to be out of reach.

And you never want to find yourself nickel and diming a GOOD outsourced marketing agency not because they aren’t great, but because you simply can’t afford what they’re worth.

2. You haven’t built the proper marketing systems yet

Look, people succeed as much as you set them up to do so.

And the reality is most businesses outsource marketing out of shear marketing laziness and/or overwhelm.

They try to throw money at their marketing problem…

And when has throwing money at a problem EVER worked?

Mostly never, right?

So look, if you have a proven funnel, a proven offer, a proven lead magnet, proven sales page, etc. and you’re simply looking for someone to do the mechanics of scaling that out…

Outsourcing can be a fantastic way to go!

Learning how to do advanced marketing strategies can be extremely time-consuming, and it does take you away from what you do best.

When we were much younger in our business journey, we had a low ticket offer that ALWAYS sold at high conversion rates.

We had a sales page that was dialed in, and we knew our audience extremely well.

Knowing this, and knowing we had scale potential with this offer…

We paid a HUGE sum of money to hire THE Facebook Ad Experts in the world for a 2-day workshop.

Legit, like the people who wrote the book on Facebook Ads. (see my previous point about hiring the best and paying their worth)

In any case, over the next 48 hours, they helped take our PROVEN message and offer, and wrap that up into an ad campaign that went on to make nearly 30,000 sales, and generated millions of dollars.

It helped us avoid months, if not years, of having the learn EVERYTHING they knew about Facebook Ads…

And got us a massive ROI.

But MOST, like 99% of business owners, are not at that place (yet!).

In fact, several other business owners at that same Workshop didn’t get NEAR the results we got…if they got results at all!

And it was because they were looking to hire them to wave a magic wand.

Sorry to say, it simply doesn’t exist.

Some Marketing Agencies are wise enough to recognize when you’re not an ideal customer, and they’ll flat-out tell you you’re not ready for them to work with…

Should you be so lucky.

But the key here is to lay a strong foundation.

If you decide to outsource at that point, at least you’re giving them a fair shot at success and not just dumping your marketing probs on someone else.

3. Getting you “results” at any and all costs is not a good strategy

Have you ever followed the White House on social media?

No matter what’s going on, they’ve got a spin team with fancy graphs and cherry picked data showing what a wonderful job is being done.

Much the same, Outsourced Marketing partners are going to do whatever they can to show you “results”.

“We’re getting 22 cent clicks on this ad!”

“We’ve driven 500 new leads for your business this month!”

“This creative is getting high engagement!”

Whatever the narrative, the marketing agency is going to tout any and all wins to keep you, the customer, happy.

But what if those cheap link clicks or new followers to your account aren’t becoming NEW customers?

Or what if they’re not even in your serviceable area!?

True story…

I had a mentee of mine back in that day that got “marketing” advice to run ads to some random country no one had ever heard of.

His point was they had a uniquely high rate of following your account and boosting your follower count…

Making it seem like your business was all the rave!

But here’s the problem.

The engagement rate was trash on the actual posts from the account.

Why?

Because a service business in Atlanta, GA wasn’t RELEVANT to people in some random, African Country.

And, as a result, they ended up having to start a new page because they pretty much torpedoed the one they had doing this strategy.

Meta has smart algos…

And they can detect shady tactics.

Same goes for Ad Accounts.

If you do shoddy practices, you may get some “cheap results”, but it’s likely to eventually catch up with you.

And unfortunately, MOST of the time when it does catch up to you, the marketing agency is already long-gone, and with your MONEY!

Now look, again, not ALL marketers out there are sleezeballs.

Like I said, MANY are fantastic and provide a wonderful service.

But if you have NO clue about what GOOD marketing practices look like, and you just hire someone to get you “results”, the scenarios I’ve outlined here are hardly the worst I’ve seen.

In fact, I myself have even fallen into the trap of getting lazy with my marketing.

Like many business owners before I learned marketing, I outsourced my Google Ads to the guys that were doing my website and had recently expanded their services.

$20,000 later I realized they were accidentally sending traffic to the wrong link…

And people were seeing nothing but a big, fat, 404 Error page.

$20,000 down the drain.

And do you think the agency gave me a $20,000 credit to accommodate for the error?

Don’t let that be you.

And if you don’t know at least the basics of good marketing while having a system already in place and an idea of what you want an outsourced partner to work with you on…

It’s probably not the right reason or season to outsource.

Related: I Don’t Have Time Or A Team To Create Content, What Do I Do?

OVER TO YOU

But hey!

I don’t want to leave you with doom and gloom, and a bunch of questions about what the heck you ARE supposed to be doing.

So my business partner and I put together this free resource for you!

It’s going to teach you how even busy business owners can build a solid Sales and Marketing System in an hour (or less) without having to get a PhD in marketing.

And you can sign up to check this 15 minute video out using the form below!

See you on the other side!

And hey, let me know, what was your BIGGEST Aha moment in this episode?!

Comment below, or tag us on social, we’d love to hear from you!

IG: @kimannjimenez and @heycmh!

Until next time!

Did you know 1 in 5 entrepreneurs are spending up to 7 HOURS per day either on social media or creating social media content for their business?

And the average amount of time spent per day is still a WHOPPING 4 hours.

In fact, any time we try to talk to business owners about literally ANYTHING other than creating content, it’s met with resistance.

Not because they aren’t aware running a business involves more than just creating content…

But rather because they are running around like crazy just trying to KEEP UP!

Social media marketing has become such a competitive landscape today.

When we started way back in 2011, it was completely wide open.

Funny story, but people truly didn’t even understand what we did.

Often times, they would say things like “so you play on Facebook all day?”

Fast forward 12 years and now you HAVE to create content to get ahead.

It’s not longer optional…

It’s how the market will perceive your entire brand.

One look at your tiny social media following and people are already making assumptions about your success as a company!

Crazy, right?

Here’s another quick piece of info for you…

Over 90% of business owners are now engaging in content marketing…

But only 11% feel they are doing it WELL.

You see, we’ve reached critical mass now, as mentioned.

But what happens next is the rise of sophistication.

This is how EVERY market progresses.

First you have a few early adopters setting the new trend…

Then you have a wave of mass adoption…

Then you have to level up your game to cut through the competitive landscape.

Now, this last part is critical.

Because it’s usually where the subpar folks give up and drop out.

They don’t see results so they swim to another part of the pool…

Or find a new pool altogether.

We’ve already seen this happen where people have moved their attention to other platforms…

Or they’ve become “Creators”…

Or worse, they just settled back into their 9-5.

If you’re like us, those two outcomes are not a possibility…

So it’s time to level up your Content Creation game!

And the first step in leveling up in ANY area of your life and business is to identify problem areas that need to be addressed.

In this case, the time it takes entrepreneurs, as mentioned, is the clear problem here.

There are enough tools out there (like Canva) that have solved the creative problem…

And social media has made it easier than ever to post seamlessly.

So what can we do to create content FASTER in order to spend more time serving our clients, making more money, building our team, and (hopefully) having more free time back in our lives?

Let’s dive into it!

#1 Focus on Pillar, Long-Form Content FIRST

See what you’re reading here?

This is long-form content.

Now the kicker is this…

Can you imagine how much micro-content (smaller pieces of content) we can create from every line I’m writing here right now?

Sometimes dozens, if not more, and in MULTIPLE formats.

Maybe you create some awesome quote posts or carousel posts for Instagram…

Or maybe you can create a pin for Pinterest that links back to this same article.

Maybe when I’m done writing this, I can grab my phone and quickly record myself covering some of the content I’m writing in quick, 15-second clips to upload to Kapwing for captions, and then post as Reels on Instagram or Shorts on YouTube.

Now, here’s where the magic happens…

Because this article you’re reading doesn’t just live on Social Media for 24 hours (or less!).

We have blog articles like this one you’re reading that drive traffic and convert leads for us for YEARS, and sometimes continue to perform better over time!

So what you’re doing is creating an awesome piece of content that ranks, finds and nurtures leads, AND gives you an awesome content bank to be able to quickly pull content from to post on Social Media instead of constantly having to come up with new stuff on the fly!

#2 Consider Batching Content Ahead of Time

Speaking of not coming up with stuff on the fly…

Remember back in school when you put off your projects or assignments until the last minute?

Stressful stuff, right? #Guilty

But if you had just planned in advance, you would have slept much easier the night before it was due.

Some theory applies here.

There are ample tools out there (like CoSchedule, Buffer, or Later) that allow you to upload content and schedule it automatically on the desired publishing date!

For example, if on Monday and Friday of every week, you intend to post a Reel…

You can create two quick videos from your article (like this one), add them to Kapwing to automatically add Captions to it, and then schedule it for next week!

DONE!

There are two pieces of highly relevant content off the book, and it likely took you less than 20 minutes to do the entire process.

Now grab a couple of lines you think will resonate, and create some static posts like a Carousel, fill those in to schedule on Tuesday and Thursday, and your content week next week is nearly finished!

The pros will schedule a month (or more!) out in advance, but if we can get you up to one week ahead of time, that’s a great start!

#3 Consider a Part-Time VA (Virtual Assistant)

It simply amazes me how FEW business owners take advantage of the wonderful benefits of having a VA.

We’ve hired countless Helpers (what we call our VAs) from The Philippines over the years, and have had an amazing experience.

In fact, this very article you’re reading has been styled by one of our very own VAs!

Point is, it’s FAR more accessible than most think…

And outside of hiring your tools (meaning building your tool stack), it’s probably the next most important hire for your small business.

For as little as $3-$5/hour, and even as little as an hour or 2 of work per day, a VA can take mountains of work off your plate.

Many of these people are ONLY looking for Part-Time work, as they already have a full-time job or work part-time for other business owners like you.

There are thousands upon thousands of these people out there, and not just limited to The Philippines (although that’s our favorite).

Now, that entire process I told you about…

Creating long-form content and then splintering off micro-content for Social Media.

You can (and should) ONLY do the long-form part, and then hand it off to a VA to create the micro-content for you, as well as schedule it on your social channels.

I would say nearly 90% of what you see us post on social media is VA-generated content but from our original, long-form content.

This maintains the integrity of your post because it originated from your own brain, but takes the nuance out of having to create EVERYTHING yourself.

In our own process, our VAs create a slew of micro-content, we read and approve it, and then it’s scheduled.

Simple. Easy. Effective.

As all the systems in your business should be.

Related: 10 Highly Engaging Social Media Post Ideas To Crush Your Content Calendar

OVER TO YOU

And hey, if you’re ready to take the next steps and start building our your own content creation system in your business…

Check out our Content Calendar Template.

It’s a 100% free download you can use to start planning our your content, and posting schedule.

Whether you’re planning to do all of your content yourself or move towards bringing on a VA, this template will get you started on the right track!

Can’t wait to hear how it works for you!

And tag us on social with one of your brand new amazing posts so we can see how awesome you are!

IG: @kimannjimenez and @heycmh!

Until next time!