Automate your content marketing - plan your content ahead of time so you are always prepared—even if you get crazy busy—to release your newsletter, post a blog or update your social media.

When you, as a communicator, are responsible for not only the quality of the message but maintaining a captive audience you can feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that should go out. Wouldn’t you love to start your day knowing the information you need to share is already waiting for you to upload, tweet, post or even fire off to your media list?

When you’re working from the big data storage that is your mind, you can get caught in the cycle of “so much to do, so little time”. So get it out of your head, put it on paper and use it to plan for your entire year. This lets you work on communication pieces during off peak times, especially if you’re juggling responsibilities or have some help, but need time to edit.

The process is pretty basic. You know what content needs to get out and when, so put it into a content plan and do the work before it’s needed.

Automate Your Content Marketing: 3 Simple Steps To Create An Editorial Calendar

1. Open a spreadsheet (or a brand new napkin to scribble on) and jot down the topics relevant for your business and your audience.
2. Break down your content needs based on realistic time frames for example a monthly e-newsletter, weekly Facebook posts and daily Twitter updates.
3. Take your list and start gathering and writing content based on relevancy and priority to meet your editorial calendar timeline.

It really is that easy to get started, and you can always refine your calendar. You will benefit from having something in writing to start the process.

PS. If you use WordPress then use the WordPress Editorial Calendar Plug-in to make it even easier!

Know How Your Customers Use Your Blog To Make Buying Decisions

Your business blog can lead customers to your store the same day they search for your service. "Local searches lead 50% of mobile visitors to visit stores in one day (Google 2014)."

Investing time and effort in your business blog keeps your company top of mind with your customers and search engines. Get the information you need to use your business blog, right now. You'll find out how you can:

• Increase online traffic (to reach more consumers),
• Generate qualified leads (to save your sales team time)
• Make more sales online (to make more profit).

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