Batching content creation will be an absolute game-changer for your business. I’m going to bet that if I asked whether you enjoyed creating content for your podcast/blog/YouTube, you’d most likely say “nope”. If you’re like me, you understand that it’s an important part of your marketing, but the thought of creating content every week is a bit of a drag.

I’m going to walk you through a process that has been a real winner for us at HelloFunnels, allowing us to batch our content creation for three months’ worth of content in around seven hours! It might sound like a lot, but it’s not even a full day’s work, and you only have to do it four times a year. Trust me; it’s amazing and incredibly freeing. So, let’s dive right into this content-creation journey.

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Recognising Content Creation is Part Of The Job

Creating content isn’t exactly my favourite thing to do. It’s kind of ironic, considering I always dreamt of being a writer and a journalist while growing up – and I actually was a journalist for awhile. However, after creating thousands of pieces of content, it started to feel more like a job and less exciting. 

But it’s still vital, and I want to ensure that the content we put out is valuable and well-received. The challenge is that I tend to procrastinate when it comes to content creation. Plus, with this podcast, we’ve added video into the mix, which means I need to look presentable. So, creating content became even more daunting and I was looking for a simple batching content creation plan that would work for me.

The Dilemma: Planning vs. Changing Plans

I often thought about batching content creation on a larger scale, like doing three months’ worth in one go. But something was holding me back – the fear of things changing. We like to align our content with our ongoing events and promotions. However, life happens, and plans shift. For instance, I once scheduled an event for our community on my son’s birthday, and I had to change the date.

If I had already recorded content mentioning that event, I would have had to redo everything. Plus, sometimes we come up with better names or ideas for workshops just weeks before they happen. So, it seemed like batching content creation would set me up for more work instead of less.

The “Pre-Roll Ads” Epiphany

While discussing this dilemma with a friend over coffee, she gave me a brilliant idea. She asked if I had heard of pre-roll ads, and it hit me – why not make my content completely evergreen? Remove episode numbers, dates, and promo details from the episodes themselves. Instead, add the latest updates and promotions in pre and post-roll ads.

This way, I could shuffle episode orders and batch content creation without fearing changes. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this earlier.

The Batching Process

The day after that enlightening coffee chat, I decided to take action. I committed to batching three months’ worth of content. Here’s the process I followed:

• 1. Planning Phase (Day 1): Spend about an hour to map out all the content ideas and create a list of 12 episode titles with brief descriptions.
• 2. Fleshing Out Phase (Day 2): Take the first six episodes and detail them, adding bullet points of what to cover, updating titles, and refining ideas.
• 3. Recording (Day 3): Record six episodes, with a break in between to prevent voice strain.

The entire process took about seven hours spread over three days. I found this approach more manageable and productive than attempting to batch my content creation all in a single day.

Our Ongoing Workflow

Once I’ve recorded all the episodes, I save the audio and video files in Google Drive. My team takes it from there. They edit the audio and video, create blog posts and show notes, and prepare snippets for social media. All of this happens weeks in advance, ensuring everything is ready for release. My weekly time commitment after batching is minimal, mostly involving a quick review.

This batching content creation approach has been a game-changer for me. I went from dreading content creation to having it all sorted in a few days. Plus, the time in between batches often sparks new ideas. If this process has inspired you, consider giving it a try in your own business to lighten the mental load and create more capacity for growth.