Consistency in content marketing means what you share, when and how you share it. Your content should carry a unique voice and style and be shared across all distribution channels. Content consistency builds trust and strengthens your reputation. When it comes to content, consistency is just as important as quality and quantity, if not more so. A consistent approach to content means a bigger audience, better engagement, and eventually, increased revenue. Blah blah blah.
Hang on a minute…
Yes, it makes perfect sense, but that all sounds soooo exhausting. What if you’re not in a position to take it to that level, or you can’t afford to hire an expert?
Honestly, reading that made me feel overwhelmed too, and I do all of that for my clients.
Don’t panic or feel like you’re lacking in something; we all start from zero. Content marketing can be the story of the tortoise and the hare, except they can both win depending on the amount of time, knowledge and financial investment you have. Neither way is wrong.
Let’s simplify the term ‘content consistency’…
1. How and when you share it – The type of content you create, such as posting only reels, one daily video chat, five posts a day, one blog a week or a monthly email.
2. What you share – Your message, visuals, branding and engagement.
Consistency is completely driven by you, not what someone (or Google) has told you to do – unless you’ve hired an expert to tailor-make a strategy for you and support you with it. One size doesn’t fit all.
If you’re looking to create consistency with the type of content you post, then planning, batching content and scheduling it is the most organised ways of doing it. Otherwise, you’ll end up just creating content on a part-time basis and it will become overwhelming and then inconsistent.
Another way of thinking about consistency is commitment. It’s the commitment to putting your content out there and I’m sure you’ll agree commitment is far more heart-centred than consistency, which feels robotic.
Beyond the type of content you share, the time you post it or the amount you’re posting is the actual content itself – the words.
There’s so much else that goes into building a brand (not just logo and colours), but essentially it’s the message behind what you’re doing, the tone of voice you use and how you speak to your audience, it’s your customer experience.
It’s everything that the people outside of your business see, hear, feel.
Your brand is a living, breathing, moving, evolving thing. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
As you get further along in your business journey, things can and will shift and change. You learn new things about yourself, what you offer, what you want to offer, and you’ll discover more about your audience.
How do you align all your business info?
You might want to think about creating some kind of digital brand guide for your business that links in with your business and content strategy. It’s a great way of keeping track and staying consistent. Because if you have no plan, you’ll feel disorganised and therefore become inconsistent.
Even by keeping a very simple content record, you’ll have something to begin with (rather than a blank page) and a way of repurposing all the great content you’ve created. By doing this you can have an array ‘done for you content’ at your fingertips. Make sure you review it each time and tweak it so you’re keeping it relevant, fresh, AND you’ll remain consistent.
If you have nowhere or no way of documenting things, then there’s a very good chance you’ll lose the brand story and momentum, your content will seem haphazard. Nothing will follow on or make sense with things you’ve done in the past.
Keeping all the information about your brand in one place also helps you make decisions about whether to take an opportunity or a collaboration or whether or not to implement an idea you’ve had. (Because we all get distracted by shiny new objects.)
You can check in with everything you’ve got in your brand guide/plan, and it’ll help you to see if things are a good fit or not.
Brand values are important for guiding you on making decisions within your business, what to talk about, what collaborations to take, what new offerings to create. Make a note of some keywords or stories you’re passionate about and what is important to you (and your brand). All those key things will help build a picture of you and your business brand.
Keep your brand goals and notes about your ideal clients and customers in mind. If this is something you struggle with, I find it helpful to reflect on previous clients, their feedback, experiences, and the relationship. You can then figure out what did and didn’t work.
I’m sure you’re in this for the long haul too, so don’t feel you have to do absolutely everything by the book in years 1, 2, 5 or even year 10 of your business. What matters is that you’re making progress, hitting those goals, working with amazing people and having FUN (actually, that is the most important thing) instead of spending all your time perfecting your contact marketing.
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