Summer is upon us, which means it is slow season for a lot of people. So, for this month’s round up I decided to focus on articles that talk about ways to make the content creation process a little easier. More time to spend at the beach is always a good thing, right?
As always, these articles are in no particular order and were hand selected by me based on my own internal awesome meter.
Let’s get to it.
Can’t Get Through to Your Audience? 3 Strategies to Get a Reaction by Rohan Ayyar
As if coming up with ideas and actually doing the work of writing or producing a piece of content wasn’t hard enough, we also have to worry about actually reaching our audience? (Sarcasm) Honestly, it can be tough to produce content that people connect with. These three strategies from Content Marketing Institute show you how to reach your audience and actually get them to take action. Which is sort of the point of creating content, no?
Read This If: You want a quick (but in-depth) guide to getting more interaction from your audience.
One Skill that Will Take Your Writing from Good to Great by Kelly Exeter
Putting words down on paper (or the computer screen) is easy. Consistently writing really good content is hard. This article on how to take your writing from good to great gives you one strategy to improve your content. Despite what too many click-bait titles might make you think, this is not an easy fix, but it will work!
Read This If: You are struggling to write really good content on a regular basis and want a simple, but not easy, way to improve your writing.
How to Get Your Blog in Shape for Summer by Heidi Cohen
Heidi doesn’t post very often, but when she does it is almost always worth reading. Since this month’s roundup theme was getting ready for the summer, Heidi’s article fit right in. In this article on her blog, she gives you five actionable tips to getting your blog ready for the new season. Both in-depth and to the point, this article is the perfect read before you take off for that summer vacation.
Ready This If: You are ready for a relaxed summer season but don’t want your business to suffer.
4 Mistakes to Avoid When Scaling Your Content Marketing [Infographic] by Lindsay Kolowich
Part of the reason I chose this post was because it featured an easy to digest infographic. Nothing says “It’s almost summer” like getting all the info you need in a super-easy to digest format! This post and the accompanying infographic address an area where many marketers stumble – scaling the content creation process. Writing one or two high-quality articles is easy enough, but what happens when you need to produce several posts a week or even per day? This infographic on HubSpot outlines four mistakes to avoid.
Read This If: You want to start creating more content but don’t want to sacrifice quality.
How to Pinpoint Exactly Who Your Target Customer is by Benedict Brychta
This article on Jeff Bullas’ blog gives you actionable advice about how to define who your target customers are (or, for content your target audience) so you can create content specifically for their needs. Although some of the advice is more geared toward selling, a lot of the information is applicable to content marketing. And, if you are trying to do more with less (hello, summer time!), defining exactly who you are talking to is a great place to start.
Read This If: You produce content but have never thought too hard about who is reading your content.
Bonus Pick: 10 Free Content Marketing Tools
The best way to do more with less is to use tools. But with so many to choose from (and often a small content marketing budget), it can be hard to know where to start. This article I wrote for SEJ lists 10 free or fremium tools you can use to write better content, track your results, and create awesome images.
I hope these articles help you get ready for the summer months and allow you to spend more time at the beach and less time stressing about your content marketing.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In Post Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
