Do you ever sit down to write a newsletter article or blog post but can’t seem to come up with a compelling topic?

How much time do you imagine you’ve wasted thinking about what to write in the last year?

If you’re anything like I used to be, I imagine you’ve wasted quite a lot of time. But it really, truly doesn’t have to be this way, I promise.

One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is being able to share with you my BEST, time-saving (and sanity-saving) strategies to help you make a bigger impact through your biz.

As we embark into 2016, the strategy I want to share with you is one that has transformed my content creation (and many of my client’s too) from an unprepared, time-sucking, hair-pulling endeavor, to an organized, planned out and most importantly, easy process.

BELOW, I’LL WALK YOU THROUGH HOW TO PLAN YOUR 2016 NEWSLETTER AND BLOG CONTENT IN ONE SITTING:

1. Know your topic

First, to create any content, you must be clear about your topic. This is “what you do.” For example, I’m a business and branding coach, so this makes my topic business and branding. You might be a yoga teacher, which makes your topic yoga. You get the point.

2. Know your subtopics

Under your topic, you’re going to have subtopics. These are 3-5 categories of different topics that you teach under the ubrella of your topic. For example, my subtopics are Marketing, Business Systems and Strategies, Personal Branding, and Personal Presence.

3. Know your microtopics

Next, you’ll need to know your microtopics, which are the specific topics you teach under each subtopic. For example, under my subtopic Marketing, I teach the following microtopics: public speaking, newsletter, copywriting, networking, Meetup, signature story, Instagram, enrollment conversations, content creation.

4. Know your audience

Simple, yet a place where I see many business owners get stuck. You must be clear about your audience because all the content you create needs to connect what you do (from steps 1-3 above) with how it can help them solve their unique challenges or achieve their specific goals.

5. Plan Out Your Content

Once you’re clear about steps 1-4, it’s time to plan your 2016 content! I created an example that illustrates exactly how I lay out my content in my own business. You can use my example as a template as you begin to plan your own 2016 content.

ACCESS MY CONTENT CREATION EXAMPLE HERE

One way to make your content creation even easier is to start your article title using one of the formats below:

Newsflash: Your ___________________ Could Actually Be ________________________
5 Signs That You ___________________________________________________________
3 Creative Ways to _________________________________________________________
Warning: _________________________________________________________________
Quiz: Do you ______________________________________________________________
17 Habits of _______________________________________________________________
Are You Sabotaging Your Own________________________________________________
5 Most Common Barriers to _________________________________________________
3 Mistakes to Avoid if You Want ______________________________________________
Myths of __________________________________________________________________
Top 5 Ways to ______________________________________________________________
10 Reasons You Don’t Have __________________________________________________
7 ______________ (<- enter type of rule, related to your topic) Rules to Break in 2016
How to ___________________________________________________________________
3 Mindset Shifts for a _______________________________________________________
5 Things You Must Stop Doing if You Want ____________________________________
The #1 Way to _____________________________________________________________
How I Went from ___________________ to _____________________________________
My Top 3 Tools to Help You __________________________________________________
Where to Find _____________________________________________________________

6. Repurpose Your Content

Get the most out of your content by repurposing it across your business. In my business, all of my newsletter articles become blog posts. I send the newsletter and then post the same content to my blog about one week later.

I send my newsletter first because that’s where I reach the most people: in their inbox rather than expecting them to visit my blog on their own time (which most people won’t). Then I post to my blog, which ads to my expertise and credibility when someone visits my site.

I also use my newsletter articles to create my Instagram content. This is a whole other topic that I will elaborate on in a future post, but in a nutshell…one article can be broken down into multiple social media posts!