“The cobbler’s kids have no shoes.”
I’ve been hearing that phrase since I started working at marketing agencies at age 19. For companies that do marketing for clients, it’s hard to dedicate resources for marketing the agency itself, even though the talent and skills are abundant.
The same goes for marketing freelancers. We’re so busy doing client work that we neglect our own marketing and promotion.
I don’t believe I, as a marketing writer, need a 5-figure marketing budget for myself. But I do think it’s worth showing off my work by doing my own content marketing. Easier said than done—client work always comes first.
Over the last three years or so, I’ve figured out a way to create my own content systematically and with a fairly small time investment. I’ll lay out my approach in this post. But first, I’ll say that this is one person’s system, and it won’t work for everyone. And it’s a system for creating written content. I’m sure it could be adapted to video, graphic, or other content, but writing is what I know.
All the content you see on my site was created in this workflow.
A System I Can Turn On and Off
Almost everything in my life has a system—processes and rules that help me survive. What I eat, what I wear, how I work, caring for my dog—it all has a system.
I built each system around what I know about myself. I know I don’t want to spend time thinking about what to wear, so I buy multiple of the same piece if I like it. It may look like I wear the same khakis to Barnes & Noble every shift, but secretly, it’s three different pairs of the exact same khakis. Fun!
I knew I wanted to put out my own content on my website. I mostly write for other people and brands, but I think it’s important, as a writer, for people to be able to see my voice. Plus, I like sharing what I’ve learned. But I knew I wasn’t going to sit down and write blog posts for myself in the same workflow as I use for my clients. So I created a new workflow.
15 Minutes Per Day
It might feel like an exaggeration to say I create all this content in an hour per week…but I do. I do it in 15-minute chunks, and that works for me. This paragraph? I wrote it a different day than the previous section. Magic. Not everyone’s brain can work like this, and I recognize that.
When my content system is “on,” I make writing a daily habit. I spend 10-20 minutes each day working on a blog post. I could spend that time brainstorming topics, building an outline, writing, editing, creating images, formatting in WordPress, or whatever else might need done. I can do the habit daily for a month or two and create several months worth of blogs and LinkedIn posts.
And that’s it! Those chunks of time add up to a lot of content. Again, I understand this skill is unique. I don’t take it for granted.
Checklist of To-do’s
I make it sound easy, but let’s dig in to how I decide what to work on when and how I remember to get the content I write where it belongs.
First, I keep a running list of topic ideas in my notes app. I happen to use Notejoy. That document has a list of topics that can be anything from one line to a few paragraphs of inspiration.
Next, I pick a topic to work on—I only ever have one blog post in the writing process at any given time. (Posts do overlap in the editing, image, and upload process, though.) Each topic has a card in Asana. You can learn more about how I use Asana here. My blog cards have the following subtasks:
- Finalize topic
- Outline
- Draft 1
- Edit
- Images
- Upload to WordPress
- Write LinkedIn posts
- Publish
- Schedule LinkedIn posts
In addition to my topic list, Notejoy also holds my early drafts. I’m writing this in Notejoy right now. It’s easy to access on the go, and I can track article progress.
Once my first draft of an article is done, I move that content from Notejoy into a Google Doc tucked into a topic-specific folder. That’s where I do my editing and final touches. I also put images in the Google Doc and the Google Drive folder. When an article is moved into Google Drive, I delete it from Notejoy. That helps keep my notes list clean and focused on in-progress work.
Depending on my schedule (and how far out I am on content writing vs publishing), I’ll assign the last few tasks to myself in Asana for a few weeks down the road. When those tasks come up, I know exactly where to find everything I need and can quickly upload the blog to WordPress, format it, add any content upgrades, write the evergreen LinkedIn posts, and schedule the publish date.
This system allows me to keep track of where each blog post is in the process even though I’m only working on things for a bit each day.
Social Scheduling
I have a strong disdain for social media. I stopped using Facebook in 2019, except for finding local events and posting a few times per year about my dogs and sharing my mental health story. I lurk on Twitter, but less so now that it’s gone to shit. I only see TikTok videos if they’re in my carefully curated Instagram feed of dogs, weightlifting, and Broadway content.
But LinkedIn has done right by me. A lot of my clients have found me on LinkedIn, and I like to maintain a presence there. I check LinkedIn most days and try to post content 2-5 times per week. I work to make that content genuine and authentic—I don’t post for posting’s sake or try to put on a persona. I can’t make myself do the fake, content-heavy social posting, so I do the same LinkedIn approach for myself that I do for my clients.
My LinkedIn system is also one I can turn on and off—separate from or in combination with the blog content. I detailed my process of attracting new clients using an authentic LinkedIn approach. This strategy is how I built my B2B content marketing business to where it is now.
For every blog post I write, I write a few evergreen LinkedIn posts. I can share my blog posts over and over. I also use my 15 minutes of content time each day to write one-off LinkedIn posts if the mood strikes.
I manage my LinkedIn content the same way I manage clients’: I keep a spreadsheet of evergreen LinkedIn posts and the blogs they link to. I can go into this spreadsheet any time and have hundreds of posts to copy and paste.
I schedule social content each week—same as I do for clients. I used to use Hootsuite, but I moved over to a tool called Woofy because it has a “library” feature where I can save posts from my spreadsheet right into my account. I schedule posts for the upcoming week and then log in most days to engage with other people’s content and comments on my posts.
With this approach, I never have to feel bad if I don’t post daily or don’t log in to LinkedIn. I can be engaged without it being a time-suck. I don’t have LinkedIn on my phone, and I have all notifications turned off. I’ll see it when I see it!
Consistency is Key
I’ve built this content system based off of what has worked for me in the past as well as what works for my clients. I know I can do 15 minutes per day for a month or two at a time. And I know I can create great, helpful content in that time.
This system won’t work for everyone, but finding a system that works for you and you can be consistent with is the key.