There is no doubt about it – creating marketing content for your business can be time-consuming. With a never-ending number of ways to market your business, the amount of content business owners can make today can be staggering and is constantly increasing. However, your time is precious and I am always on the look-out for ways to help you market your business as effectively as possible with the minimal amount of time. And when it comes to minimising the amount of time you spend creating content BATCHING IS KEY.  

 

What is batching?

Batching, in this context, is where you repeat the same task over and over again.

 

5 reasons why I think batching content is so important

Before I dive into how you can save time by batching your marketing content, I want to share why batching is so important for saving time and maximising your productivity as an entrepreneur.

 

1 – You save time because you aren’t switching contexts

I was introduced to the concept of switching contexts by High Performance Coach Todd Herman . The idea is that every time you switch from one thing to another you lose time. Todd suggests that if you are working on 2 projects simultaneously you lose 20% of your time and if you working on 3 projects simultaneously you lose 40%. That downtime during switching is lost forever so the lesson is to try to focus on just one thing at a time. Batching is a great way to do that!

Also, some tasks need you to get into a specific mindset and that might take you a while. For example, if you have to write content and writing isn’t a strength then you might feel it takes some time before you ‘get into the flow’. By batching you can ensure that once you are in the flow you are maximising that time.

 

2 – You save time by not switching program

Tasks that require using a specific program are great for batching. For example, creating blog posts in WordPress, editing podcast episodes, optimising videos on YouTube, create images for social media content. If you use a specific program like iMovie, Garageband, Canva etc then doing the same task over and over again means you will maximise your time efficiency.

 

3 – It is great for tasks that require setup time

Batching video content has saved me so much time. Videos require setup time. You have to set up the camera, lighting and sound and then do a test shot before filming. Not to mention you might also have setup time for your space or yourself.

 

4 – You can schedule activities into your diary better

As well as being a fan of batching, I am also a fan of blocking out times in my diary for specific tasks. Batching means you have considerable blocks of time so it easier to schedule into your diary.

 

5 – You can gain a real awareness of how long tasks take

If I asked you how long it takes you to write an Instagram post, or a blog post or an email would you know? When you start batching it becomes more evident how long something takes and you can start to work out whether it is the best use of your time or not.

 

I hope by now you can see why batching your marketing content is so powerful for numerous reasons. So now let’s dive into how you can start batching your marketing content.  

 

1 – Identify marketing tasks that would make sense to batch

As I mentioned previously, you can batch most tasks but some tasks are more advantageous to batch than others. When it comes to marketing batching content creation (videos, podcasts, images, blog posts, emails etc) are great things to content. But you could also apply it to batching send emails pitching for guest appearances or follow up sales emails or creating your latest course

 

2 – Work out how much batching is going to be manageable for you

If you have been someone who has been creating content on the fly, then moving to batching can be daunting. With social media content that you post daily, I recommend you start trying to work in weekly batches, then try fortnightly and then build up to monthly. I am a big fan of Amy Porterfield and she loves to ‘mega-batch’, which is where she records 6 podcast episodes at a time. You can listen to her podcast episode about mega-batching here.

 

3 – Schedule into your calendar when you will be batching content

Once you have decided what you are going to batch and for what length of time you should be in a good place to work out how long you will need for each batching activity. For example, if it takes you an hour to write a blog post and you blog weekly and decide to batch monthly then you would create a 4-hour block for writing a month’s worth of blog posts.

Once you have determined the length of your batching blogs open up your diary or calendar and start scheduling your batching sessions in. Depending on how long you are batching for you might look at batching certain tasks on certain days or look at a monthly batching cycle.

 

4 – GET BATCHING

The day has arrived. It is finally time to get creating. As I mentioned earlier if you are new to batching it can feel daunting thinking you have to create for numerous weeks. Make it easier for yourself by removing all distractions and reminding yourself that once it has been done you won’t have to do it again for a while AND of course that you are maximising your productivity by doing it this way

 

 

 

So that’s it. You are now ready to go batching crazy with your marketing content.

 

Did you find this post helpful?. I would love to know in the comments below what tasks you will be batching in the future.

And if you would like 1:1 support to help you create a bespoke marketing strategy and action plan that you can deliver confidently then check out my 1:1 services by clicking here or book a call to discuss your specific needs.