“I know it’s important to create compelling blogs, emails, and any other content that gets my customers engaged. I also know that content is important for my SEO, and the best way to grow that tight connection I’m looking for with my audience and customers.
But, to be honest, … I just HATE writing.”
Is this you?
If so, you’re not alone. The reality is most owners of small-to-medium-sized businesses, (SMB’s) and many marketers, dislike writing.
To help you overcome this mountain of writing hatred, here are a few ideas to help you get the benefits of content creation even if you’re not a “natural writer.” (Side note: These ideas will also work if you describe yourself as a decent writer, but you’d rather not spend your time on it.)
1. Start Your Content Creation with Audio or Video First
Some people are intimidated at the thought of producing audio or video content.
Don’t be.
The benefit of creating audio and video content is it’s produced pretty much in “real time.” This means creating content is much faster and smoother than trying to craft a perfectly written masterpiece. To put it another way, producing audio and video content is like traveling the content creation journey in a Bugatti, while writing feels more like you’re traveling in a content minivan.
To get started with audio and video creation, here’s what you do:
- Start by creating a collection of frequently asked customer questions or problems.
You want to pick the questions you get asked over and over again and have relatively straightforward answers. Things like, “What’s the best way to get started with [your topic]?” or “Is [your topic] going to hurt my back / cost a lot of money / annoy my family / (insert your favorite beginner objection here)?” - Once you’ve compiled your topics, fire up the recording program on your computer, and record your answers to their questions one at a time.
You can record your answers in a simple audio editing program. You don’t have to go insane putting a home recording studio together. All you need is a reasonably priced headset microphone and a free recording program like GarageBand (for Mac) or Audacity (for multiple platforms, including Windows and Linux). - Lastly, get it transcribed.
Take your recording and use an online transcription service like Rev. For as little as $1.00 per minute you can get your audio or video content converted into text. Then, all that’s left is to take a few minutes and run through your newly created transcript and edit it.
Congratulations! Now you have two pieces of content — text and audio.
Lots of content marketers produce their “written” content as audio first. It’s a fast way to knock out your first draft, and it will reduce the tendency to sound “stuffy” in your writing. Even if you never end up using the audio as published content, it’s worth your time to begin experimenting with this technique.
2. Use a Speech Recognition Program
Another idea to try that will allow you to think out loud and transcribe your voice as you speak is to use a speech recognition program.
These programs aren’t perfect, but with some tweaking, programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking work surprisingly well. If you decide to go this route, be sure and take a look at Jon Morrow’s post on ProBlogger titled, “Speech Recognition for Bloggers – The Ultimate Guide.” The tips Morrow offers will be immensely beneficial as you embark on this new content path.
Once you’ve done a little research and purchased your speech recognition program, the steps are similar to those mentioned already, but these are also worth mentioning:
- You’ll need to edit your transcription by deleting the tangents, the random ramblings, and all those “Ums.”
- Be on the lookout for things the software program misunderstood. (This step is also necessary for a human transcriber, by the way.)
Yes, using a speech recognition software is still work, but it’s a lot more efficient than staring at a blank screen and trying to force the words to flow.
Remember, “speaker’s block” is about a million times less of an issue
than “writer’s block”.
3. Partner Up With Those Who Love Writing Content
For some people, the audio-first method is all they need to break free from writer’s block and get words on the screen more easily.
However, if the thought of the audio-first method still has you breaking out in a sweat just thinking about it, you’ll probably want to find a contract writer or, potentially, a content partner.
“Just one great partnership with the right person
can have an incredible impact on your business success.”
– Janine Ogg and Jo Foster
Partnering up works great for other aspects of business as well. Think of those business owners who hate to work on the technical issues of their website or hate to do accounting or struggle at [blank]. They all have to come to recognize they have three options:
- They can try to be superhuman, trying to do everything themselves and eventually burn out from exhaustion.
- They can ignore or avoid the issue altogether and suffer through declining revenue and a lack of business growth.
- They can surround themselves with people, companies, and partnerships that are strong in the areas they’re weak and help their businesses grow into what they’ve always imagined.
The choice is obvious.
If you struggle with some critical aspects of your business, stop killing yourself trying to trudge through it. Save yourself the hassle and get out and find someone who’s strong where you’re weak and loves what they do.
At Scott Digital Marketing, we save your business from wasting money on bad marketing because we’re experts in helping B2B companies and technology firms create and execute marketing/content creation strategies.
If this is an area of struggle for you, fill out the form below to learn ways we can partner up together.