Nike nailed it. "Just Do It" is quite possibly the perfect slogan. Not only because it's a simple, assertive call to action, but because it communicates an idea that is larger than sneakers or athletic wear, or even sports. "Just Do It" is the perfect piece of life advice.
When it comes to content creation, especially in marketing, where the hope is to design a series of related content pieces to express one singular message or idea, the actual process of bringing the content into existence is daunting. You're haunted by the idea of your idea not resonating with your audience. The biggest obstacle for many content creators and marketers is actually getting started with the creation.
Why? Because the longer you wait to make progress on it, the easier it is to hold onto your idea. Your perfect, unblemished, flawless idea. Getting started on it means you have to begin dealing with the inevitable flaws and setbacks that come with the realization of any creative endeavor.
The solution? Just do it. Shoot the photos, design the graphics, film the video, interview the person, make the music. Whatever your discipline is, the only way you're going to have something to show off on your website, Instagram, YouTube channel, or (most importantly) your boss, is if you take the first step.
Yes, this is all easier said than done, but here are my top three tips for getting your creative projects off the ground.
#1. SWALLOW THE FROG
"Swallowing The Frog" is an older expression meaning "Do the thing you're least looking forward to doing first. Then it's out of the way." In my personal life, this means I get to the gym first thing in the morning. For creators, it means explore the issue you want to deal with the least, first. For example, although I am a very outgoing talkative person, there has always been something about doing interviews that makes me a teensy bit anxious. So for a project where the testimonials of a wide variety of people were the centerpiece of the video, I made sure to get those interviews done first.
What you'll find is one of two things:
A) The thing you were dreading wasn't that bad at all. In the previously mentioned project, all of these interviews went swimmingly, I got great answers, and now I am much less anxious about scheduling and performing interviews.
OR
B) You'll be glad you didn't put this off. In another project, I knew I was going to be designing some heavy duty motion graphics. I went to work right away on those, and I was glad I did. Because not only did they end up taking longer than I had planned, I ended up needing to scrap and shift my original idea into something else. Had I put that off till later, I would've been caught between a rock and a hard place as I scrambled to finish them before the deadline.
"But Mark," you might say "I'm not really afraid of doing any of the project. I just can't seem to get the ball rolling."
Funny you mention that, because that brings me to...
#2. START SMALL
In my career as a musician, I always have described the "9-5" aspect of the job as the time I spend practicing the instrument. Practicing cannot be a mindless activity though. It takes a lot of planning and focus in order to practice effectively. The practice strategy I have found to be the most helpful is to set small goals every day as opposed to practicing large chunks of music over and over. "I just want to get bars 16-24 at tempo" or "I want to finish this reharmonization of 'That Thing You Do'". These are perfectly achievable goals that can be accomplished in one work day.
Same thing in content creation. Start small. Set small, achievable goals and accomplish as many as possible. Don't sacrifice quality for quantity here, but this is an easy way to get the ball rolling without feeling overwhelmed. No goal is too small, either. In fact, a byproduct of this method is that you'll usually end up creating a detailed to-do list of goals that need to be accomplished in order to finish the project.
#3. PANIC
Okay, don't actually panic. However, there are some people who will admit they do their best work in a "fight or flight" situation. I once cooked a full Thanksgiving meal for 20 people in, more or less, a single day. There were multiple moments where I'm covered in flour from making pie crusts and thinking "Oh there's just no way this all gets done. This is impossible." But I couldn't dwell on that for long because I just had to keep cooking. This story has a happy ending though, because even though dinner started a little late, I got everything on the table, everything turned out great, and no one got salmonella.
I learned a few things from that experience:
A) Never "take on the challenge" of cooking literally every dish for a 20 person Thanksgiving.
B) Sometimes, immediate deadlines are good.
Bringing this right back to content creation and marketing, sometimes setting shorter deadlines can help light a fire and get you moving. On every large-scale project I work on, my internal deadline is that by Wednesday of every week, I have something to show my supervisor. Sometimes, this means I spend all week knocking out bits and pieces of video editing every day. Sometimes, this means I spend all day and all night on Tuesday crafting a marketing strategy proposal.
This is a mentally exhausting way to get your project rolling, and I wouldn't build a career with this sort of work-ethic, but it can be effective. The major benefit is that, by the time of your actual deadline, there isn't much last-minute work to be completed. By setting these sub-deadlines for yourself, you leave time for editing, proofreading, and other changes. On top of that, you're keeping in touch and communicating with your supervisor, which is never a bad idea at all.
Hopefully one, or all of these methods will help you get the ball rolling on your next creative marketing project. If you've got any other productivity methods you've found helpful, leave a comment below!
Keep Creating,
Mark