You may have heard the word CONSISTENCY bandied around when it comes to your content. And while it KIND OF makes sense to you, you’re not exactly sure of the specifics, why it’s such a big deal, and how to achieve it.
In this blog, I’m going to break this entire concept down so you’re crystal clear on what consistency is, why it’s so crucial for client-catching content, and exactly how to achieve it in your own content (so you start getting the meaningful comments and eeeeeek-inducing enquiries you deserve).
Why is consistency so important in your content?
I’ve been writing for 16 years, creating all kinds of content for different sorts of businesses. I regularly get compliments about my writing, and you may be thinking, of course she does. She’s a writer by trade.
But you know what?
Most of those compliments don’t mention the actual writing.
In fact, in the past two weeks three separate people I met up with in real life said the thing they love about my content is that I’m so CONSISTENT.
Yes, they say they like how I come across and my style of writing, but it’s not the specific spelling, grammar or syntax they remember.
It’s the consistency.
Consistency comes in various forms – which I’ll go into later – and it’s important to cover all bases if you want to succeed in your content and attract people you vibe with who want to work with you.
Consistency makes you memorable. It makes you stand out in a whirlwind of social media scrolling. It helps people grasp who you are and what you do and cement this in their minds. And when this happens, they know exactly who to message when they realise (often, because of your content) that they need the kind of support you specialise in.
Sooooo…. what are these types of consistency, and how do you achieve them in a practical sense?
Read on 🙃
Three types of consistency you need in your content marketing
Do you hear people telling you to be consistent in your content and think “screw that, I don’t have time to post several times a day on LinkedIn”.
The truth is, consistency is about A LOT more than your posting schedule.
And guess what, my advice to be consistent DOES NOT MEAN you have to post daily, at all.
Let’s find out now what kind of consistency you need to stand out, raise your profile, get noticed, and get clients you love.
Consistency in posting (schedule and platforms)
This is the kind of consistency you probably thought of first when you read the word.
Where and how often you post.
Whether it’s social media posts, emails, videos, or blog posts, when it comes to your posting schedule, quality and consistency win over quantity every time.
Have you ever heard (or assumed) you need to post daily – or even two or three times a day – on LinkedIn to get enquiries?
Wrong.
While this may work for a few, it’s not a schedule most people can maintain without burning out or posting any old crap for the sake of showing your face.
If you’ve had this notion in your mind, you might’ve thought it wasn’t worth bothering at all unless you could keep up that punishing schedule.
Again, wrong!
However often you post and where you do it, as long as you stick to a schedule you feel comfortable with and share valuable content your audience loves, you’ll get yourself noticed and invite the right people into your comments and DMs.
I have a client who posts once a week on LinkedIn. That’s it. And she puts so much energy and value into her posts that I see them in my feed for days after she posts them. So, she has the same visibility as someone posting every day. Plus – crucially – she understands her audience so deeply and writes so directly to them that she gets enquiries into her LinkedIn inbox on a regular basis off the back of her single weekly post.
That’s the power of quality and consistency in your content (and she’s free to do her main work and take time off for a walk or gym class because she’s not agonising over her content every day).
Consistency in voice
Ah, so here’s where it goes a little deeper than being consistent in how often you post and where.
Another KEY element of consistency relates to your voice.
Whether you’re a one-woman band or a larger business, your brand has a voice, whether you know it or not. Making sure that voice is consistent and in tune with your audience is vital to creating connections that lead to enquiries.
If you’re a freelancer or sole trader, your personal brand’s voice is how you as a person speak, present yourself, and sound to the outside world.
If you run or work within a bigger business, it can be a deeper exercise to encapsulate your brand voice, but it’s 100% worth doing because it means every person involved can then understand, embody, and replicate this voice across all of your content so your audience recognises it as uniquely yours. You’ll sound the same whether you’re replying to a customer concern, or sharing news of an award win on your socials.
Either way, consider how you’d describe your brand voice in three to five words and ask your customers to do the same. Is your brand voice warm? Professional? Sweary? Funny? Serious?
This exercise will allow you to identify and solidify your voice so it becomes consistent across your content and leads to the recognition you need to get enquiries from your content alone.
Consistency in messaging
The final type of consistency you’re going to focus on today is consistency in your messaging.
This is a different thing than your voice as a brand.
Your voice is how you sound; your messaging is what you say.
To attract the clients you actually want rather than ones who aren’t aligned to your values and boundaries (or none at all), your messaging needs to stay consistent.
If you’ve ever struggled to articulate the transformations you deliver to your clients, or what makes you different from competitors, this comes down to uncertainty in your messaging.
Market research is the ultimate way to get inside your clients minds and understand how to verbalise what you do for them. If you have existing happy clients for the service you want to push, speak to them and ask questions about how they felt before, during and after working with you. Ask what you enabled them to achieve, and get them to be as specific as possible so you can convey this possibility to more people like them and convince them you’re the person to make it happen.
Once you’ve nailed how to communicate what you do, who for, and how and why it’s so amazing, do it consistently. You may feel it’s repetitive to keep saying the same thing, but it’s not. Your dream customer need to hear your message at least seven times (some say more in an online world of so many different marketing touchpoints) for it to sink in and start to click that it’s what they need, so bang that drum as often as possible.
Try this to get more clarity in your messaging
A great place to start is to master a statement about what you do, because this will come in handy for multiple purposes – your Insta/LinkedIn bio, 60-second networking intros, and calls to action (CTAs) at the end of your content.
For example, mine is: “I help coaches and freelancers get comfortable and confident writing content that attracts dreamy clients into your DMs saying “your content spoke to me”.
I didn’t just make this up. I used client and target audience research to craft a statement that speaks to my ideal customer so I know I’m talking their language ad articulating their challenges and goals.
The more you repeat your key messages, the more your dream customers will listen and take action, and anyone not in your target audience will also grasp what you do and who for, so they can communicate it to people who are.
How to be consistent in your content writing (so dream clients enquire through your content alone)
Hopefully, understanding three main types of consistency in your content will empower you to come up with a content strategy shaped around your energy, personality, business goals, and client needs.
Being consistent about providing excellent quality content to your audience is THE proven way to start seeing the recognition, comments, and enquiries you deserve for all of the brilliance you bring to your clients.
If you aren’t sure where to begin with this, let’s work together on it so you feel like part of a team rather than a lone wolf in the solopreneur world. Talk to me about becoming one of my one-on-one content mentees and you could have me all to yourself to bounce ideas off, build your confidence, and stay accountable to create the consistency that leads to achieving the goals on your vision board.
