Building a content creation system. Case study part 2.

Let's continue to help Carmen in her Content Creation System.

If you don't know what I am talking about, you need to read part 1 :).

In case you don't have time for that:

• I am using as an example Content Creation to explain how to build systems.
• We went through the basics.
• The most important part? Defining your Goal.

And by completing the steps mentioned in that edition we:

• We know the end Goal of our system.
• We know what means meeting the Goal.
• We have a good understanding of the current situation on the topic.
• We know at a high level the moving parts.

Now what?

We will follow the following steps:

1. What is needed from each one of those moving parts to support the Goal.
2. Design the system, ideally turning into a Process.
3. Find tools that would help in that Process.
4. Test and measure how it works.
5. Rinse and repeat.

Let's go.

1. LINK GOAL NEEDS AND SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Ok, eyes on the ball.

When we searched for how the components look like (our System Map), we found several moving parts that we can use to make it work.

But that doesn't mean immediately that we need all of that.

We need what is needed to support our goal.

In this example would look something like this:

Do you see something missing?

Correct, we have one branch where the system does not really provide any support.

So we should then go back to the drawing board and solve it.

I know, looks messy. Don't worry, is meant to be.

Use pen and paper, works better :).

What do you want to focus on in here?

You want, at high level, to identify those "moving parts" and what they contribute to in the system. This way you can later on drill down and specify what is exactly what you need out of that block.

So we added a few elements that are actually outside the content creation process, but really necessary if we want to fulfil what we said was our goal.

Specifically in a really important area! Customer retention and generating long term value!

Do you see the benefit of doing this exercise?

We might add now more skills and details to go deeper.

2. TURN INTO A PROCESS

Now that we have that clear, we need to design the process.

What does that exactly mean?

Imagine you need to explain your system to someone.

What you will need to do?

Potentially a step by step process that explains:

• What needs to be done.
• How needs to be done.
• The end result at each main step.
• Who does it. (In case you collaborate with other people).
• The order of the steps or when things happen.
• How do we know it was done properly.

That is a process.

There are multiple ways to represent a process, more complex, less complex.

And some ways work better than others depending on the application.

For Carmen, working with one Virtual Assistant, is enough with some basic process description and a few notes.

Let's see an sketch:

From there we would need to assign who does what and further detail the steps.

For the sake of simplicity here and not to make a 100 pages long edition, I skipped multiple items. For example specify who does what, what feeds the next process, etc...

But that doesn't mean is not important.

Take it in layers. Add details as necessary.

3. FIND TOOLS TO SUPPORT THE PROCESS

The next step is finding tools that would help in that process.

Sometimes in between step 2 and 3, you find that you need to go back and forth

Why is that?

Because at times tools limit what you can do or how you can do it.

And at times, you need a tool to unlock something that you need to do.

An example:

Imagine you are designing a process to send orders to your suppliers.

It can be the case that you already pay for an ERP that your finances is using, and changing it would be dramatic (I can feel the pain of some controllers here...).

So you are bound to use that tool, and you need to work around that limitation.

A counter example:

You need to automate the onboarding process of new members, with a nice standard email and instructions on what to do next.

For that you might look what the market can offer and integrate with your existing tools or even create one from scratch.

OK, for Carmen we might use the following tool selection:

• LinkedIn as the main publishing and editing tool.
• LinkedIn scheduling to schedule the posts.
• TypeShare for ideas and Copywriting.
• The famous Hub & Spoke model from Justin W. to generate multiple content pieces.
• Youtube as a generator of both customer investigation and idea generation.
• Amazon reviews as an idea generation tool.
• ChatGPT for idea generation.
• ClickFunnels for landing pages and funnels.
• Neo to generate emails, engage with the customers and schedule meetings.
• Zoom for calls...

You can add here a long list of tools...

In any case, those tools should help you.

Let me repeat that.

The tools are there to help you, not to create unnecessary work, and they are not the work in itself.

If a tool generates more work than it facilitates, then is not a good tool. Ditch it and find a better way.

Before moving on, one important note.

If you are starting from scratch, and you are new to the process, I recommend that you:

1. Define properly the process.
2. Find tools, even if fairly manual.
3. Automate if needed, next.

IN THAT ORDER.

Why?

Because a bad defined process, no matter how good the tools will yield subpar results.

And a super automated process based on a bad design, will be at times even catastrophic. (Insert here, automated DM's sent randomly in LinkedIn).

You need to test if first, run it and crash it. And repeat.

(Have you faced those annoying customer support AI tools? You then know what I am talking about).

Instead a good process, even if manual, can be step by step improved and make things easy.

Small and simple tools, can yield fantastic results.

Once you run it for a while and see good opportunities to automate, then you automate.

4. TEST AND MEASURE

Now is time to test if it works!

That's it! Test if it works and then where it breaks (if it breaks).

What you are looking for here is to understand:

Is it working as intended?

Can be improved?

Does it get stopped too much at some step?

Did we made mistakes? Where?

So going back to your goal tree and your measurements.

One important outcome of this testing is also measuring time.

Time is something we all manage, and in those systems is no exception.

You will validate how much time and effort it takes each part of the process.

And with it, you will identify what limits your capacity.

That is a really good thing. Knowing what limits that system, is the first step to unlocking more capacity.

5. RINSE AND REPEAT

Once you start testing it, you will see how it works.

And with it, what can be done better, and what already works really well.

The thing is, this is a never ending story.

What works today, might not work tomorrow or can be improved in a few months.

Step by step the system will get better.

In the example we've been using, could be the case that Carmen decides to change platforms or that now she has another goal.

And that would mean repeating part of the process.

FINAL NOTES

You can do this in a much more complex way, or you can extremely simplify it.

But from all of this, I believe the first steps are the most important ones.

That is: defining what we want, and why.

As we say in Spanish: "Todos los caminos llevan a Roma". Which means that there are different ways to achieve the same goal.

But not having a clear picture of what you want can lead you to a place you do not want. So focus on that first.

If you have already some system working and want to improve it, I suggest:

• Review your goal and motives.
• Try to make a goal tree.
• See how your system provides support for that and where are the gaps.
• Solve the gaps.
• Test and continue testing!

Need help with some System out there? DM me!

Thanks for reading me!