It’s Monday. You promised yourself that you’d start blogging once a week. This was the year. You’d finally make the commitment. Your goal: to publish at least one post per week and to promote it on Tuesdays.
But, much like last week, you have a nasty case of writer’s block.
You’re so tired of “real weddings.” Everyone does those. And you know you’re supposed to write so-called “high-quality, valuable content” – but that’s already all over the internet. What could you possibly offer that engaged couples can’t already find everywhere else?
You close your laptop, and quietly tiptoe away from the task at hand. You’ll blog next week, you vow.
The problem is, at the rate you’re going, next week will never arrive.
The key to knowing what to write about when you don’t know what to write about is to write like Oprah.
Oprah Winfrey’s Two Secret Weapons for Producing Amazing Content
Oprah has two secret weapons in her arsenal for creating amazing content (and building a billion-dollar empire, by the way).
Her one-two punch involves 1) Planning and 2) Authenticity.
Think about it. Oprah Winfrey doesn’t show up in the studio every week and say, “Oh crap, we need to record a show. What should we talk about?” No. Nor does she try to publish a magazine real quick, right before it’s set to hit newsstands.
Rather, she and her team create an editorial calendar around very specific content categories: stories of real people going through real struggles, health (Dr. Oz), wealth (Suze Orman), beauty and trends (Gayle King), and inner peace and wellness (Martha Beck). Then she puts her content on a schedule.
So why would you sit down on a Monday and try to hammer something out real quick for a Tuesday blog post? It just doesn’t work.
Oprah also commits to being herself, always and unapologetically. She started her career as a talk show host in the 90s, during an era of talk show mania. Everyone was a talk show host back then, and competition was fierce. There was Sally Jesse Raphael, Geraldo Rivera, Donahue, Whoopi, Jenny Jones, Ricky Lake, and Montel Williams. Even Mark Wahlberg had a talk show.
She also started a lifestyle magazine amid fierce competition. Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living had 5 and 10 year head starts, respectively.
How did Oprah do it? How did she end up having the longest-running talk show in history? How did she launch a wildly successful lifestyle magazine in 2000, when it seemed like she was late so to the game?
She did it by showing up as her most authentic self: her thoughtful mission, according to the May 2000 premiere issue of Oprah Magazine, is to “help you lead a more productive life, one in which you feel a sense of vitality, cooperation, harmony, balance, and reverence within yourself and all in your encounters…”. To this end, Oprah committed to producing content that was authentic to her and helped her audience to live their “best lives.”
It didn’t matter that everyone else was doing a talk show. It didn’t matter that other lifestyle magazines were already being published. Oprah was going to throw her hat in the ring and show up in the world as her authentic self and serve her peeps.
You need to do the same. Don’t just create content. Create the content that only you can truly create. Create content that stands out in crowded market. And, above all else, create content serves your potential clients and helps them plan their best wedding.
That’s it. That’s the secret. And it’s simple: Have a plan and be yourself!
Here are five quick tips to get you started.
5 Easy Steps to Creating Awesome Content When You Just Don’t Feel Like It (Inspired by Oprah)
- Run your blog like a magazine by establishing content categories: Just like Oprah Magazine’s regular features, you’ll want to pick 3 to 5 content categories that focus on solving problems, telling the story of what it’s like to work with you, or showcasing your values and aesthetics. These categories can easily align with the actual categories on you blog. Examples include: Real {Your Location} Weddings (“Real Aspen Wedding with Pink and Gold Details”) and Wedding {Your Industry} Advice (“Wedding Cake Advice for the Asheville Bride”)
- Brainstorm Post Ideas for Each Category: Once you have your main categories in place, start brainstorming topics and titles. Ideally, you’ll have at least four content categories, but if you only come up with two or three, that’s ok. Just rotate through them each week. It’s important that you commit to publishing at least one post per week. If you brainstorm at least 12 articles for each category, that will give you content for an entire year! But even if you can only think of three titles for each category, you’ll still have months’ worth of content ideas ready for you.
- Create a monthly series and put it on your calendar: Now that you have your categories and titles developed, now it’s time to plug them into an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar can be as simple as jotting the category and title on a Google Calendar or in your monthly planner. You want to post at least once a week. Doing so lets brides know that your business is active and successful and a steady stream of new content allows you to truly benefit from SEO and inbound marketing.
- Outline first, then write: Block out time each week to outline your post, then block out time later to go back and write it. This is the easiest (yet often overlooked) trick to calling upon your muse with clockwork precision. It prevents writer’s block like nothing else I’ve tried. It’s hard to sit down and start writing from the beginning to end. But if you block out 30 minutes ahead of time to jot down notes and outline your ideas, sitting down to write later is just a matter of fleshing out your ideas. I generally outline on a Wednesday, write on a Saturday and do final copyediting on a Monday for a Tuesday publication schedule.
- Make it meaningful. The days of quick-and-dirty content are over. Take the time to outline and then write content that is authentic and unique to you and meaningful and useful to your clients.
5 Powerful Ideas for Content Types for Wedding Pros (To Get You Started)
1. Pre-sell with FAQs: Write down a huge master list of all of the frequently asked questions you get from email inquires and in your consults. Then, turn each answer into a blog post.
Examples:
- Planners: How to find top quality vendors in your area. Venue reviews;
- Photographers: How to look great in photos. How to look natural in photos when you hate getting your picture taken;
- Makeup artists and hair stylists: How to look like you on your wedding day. Natural beauty for your wedding day. Classic beauty for your wedding day, and
- All: What to expect in a client consult. How to make the most out of your vendor consult. Why Bridal Magazines have it wrong when it comes to vendor consults and what to expect instead.
2. Show off your amazing competence with case studies: Get out of the “real wedding” rut and take real weddings a step further with case studies. These are real-life ways you do your job and serve your clients. Don’t call them case studies. Call it something like a “love story” or “client spotlight.” Name them by the problem or need that was addressed and don’t forget to include a location. Work with local photographers to use professionally captured images of your work.
Examples:
- Planners: “How We Helped one Bride Make her Biltmore Wedding Truly Magical for Christmas”;
- Photographers: “How We Captured Dance Floor Moves at the St. Regis without Making Guests Look Awkward or Weird”;
- Hair Stylists: “How to Make Your Personal Style Match Your Bridal Style for a Woodland Wedding in Vermont”, and
- All: Follow a basic outline of “Here’s what the client wanted; here’s how we helped her achieve it; here’s the end result”.
3. Build Authority with Local Tips and Reviews: Remember that you are a location-based business. Couples are planning their wedding in the area you serve, so include location-based information whenever possible to drive organic SEO and highlight your expertise as a local vendor. Incorporate any benefits or quirks of your location into your editorial calendar.
Examples:
- Planners: Venue Review/walkthrough; day of emergencies and how to handle them, weather-related issues (humidity and attire, rain plan for each venue, common weather patterns for each season in your locale: rain, snow, wind, heat, humidity, et cetera);
- Photographers: Tops vistas for portraits in your area; off-the-beaten path adventures for your portraits or anniversary session;
- Bakers: Buttercream and humidity; transporting cakes in difficult situations (traffic in the middle of summer or winding rural roads), flavors based on fresh local flavors;
- Florists: Local and seasonal flower selections and bouquets; Local bloom calendar;
- Caterers: Local seasonal fare, harvest calendar, perfect foods for different situations (large weddings, summer, winter, etc), and
- Musician and DJ: Local-inspired music selections (Cosmopolitan jazz, casual bluegrass, culturally sophisticated classical, famous singers and conductors from the area).
4. Eliminate the competition with Unique Preferences: Show off your uniqueness and preferences to attract your ideal client.
Examples:
- Planners: Design trends you are loving that are great for weddings, leverage Pantone’s color of the year and show fresh design ideas that incorporate it. Offer a new twist on an old design element (lace, mason jars, chandeliers);
- Cake bakers and caterers: Your favorite unique flavor combinations. food trends you’re loving and not loving, cake decorating alternatives;
- Photographers: Photography trends to love and avoid, props for styling your portrait session, favorite venues, favorite architectural elements;
- Florists: Floral trends to love and avoid; your favorite flowers for each season and why, edible flowers for your wedding cake or garnish, and
- Musicians New music for each part of the wedding. Classic selections for each part of the wedding, and
- All: Trends to love and avoid in your industry. i.e., Cake trends to love and avoid; playlist trends to love and avoid, reception decor trends to love and avoid, etc.
5. Become an Expert in Your Field: Help others in your industry. This helps you gain authority, respect among vendors, and attract inbound links which helps SEO.
Examples:
- Planners: Tips and tricks for difficult situations, Capturing weddings to satisfy the couple and to prepare for submission;
- Cake bakers: How to articles and videos (packing and transporting cakes, making and decorating cakes, different techniques;
- Photographers: Photography tips;
- Florists: Flower recipes;
- Caterers: Recipes, and
- Musicians: Equipment set up for challenging situations.
Final Thoughts
The method for always having something awesome to write for your blog is simple, but it takes some forethought and a bit of time strategizing. Set aside a morning or an afternoon to brainstorm your content types and post ideas. Then get them onto your calendar. Once you have your foundation laid, sitting down to write is a lot easier. Not exactly easy, but easier. Good luck!
