{"id":26427,"date":"2022-03-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getflywheel.com\/?p=26427"},"modified":"2022-03-21T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T12:00:00","slug":"get-content-from-clients-keep-projects-moving","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/resources\/get-content-from-clients-keep-projects-moving\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Content From Clients on Time to Keep Projects Moving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cAt my agency, every single project was held up because of content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This quote came from a conversation with a lady that ran a small agency in Canada. It was one of around 15 similar \u201ccustomer research\u201d interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I always knew that getting content from clients was a pain point, because we dealt with it in our own business. These conversations made me realize that just about every agency and freelancer was dealing with the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of them even described content as their biggest bottleneck. One guy went as far as saying that he wanted to leave the industry because of this one problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content Consequences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At first it might not seem that bad. It\u2019s just sending off reminder emails, managing the incoming stream of emails, and collating it all into useable content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-21_Marketing-Site-Refresh-About-Page-Images-10-1_in-article.jpg\" alt=\"man wearing midwest shirt writing in orange notebook on white desk\" class=\"wp-image-26743\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you add this all up, however, especially across multiple clients, it can mean the difference between a successful business and zero profitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there is more to it than just time. When you have to constantly remind clients and still come out empty handed, it can feel like bashing your head against a wall. It adds stress to your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one needs more stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, incessant reminders can make you seem like the bad guy, potentially sabotaging client relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Streamlining the process of getting content from clients is one of those things that can make your business life a lot easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is This Even a Problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On the surface it makes no sense; why on Earth would a client give you money for a deposit, and then not even provide the stuff you need to build the thing they paid you for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you look a bit deeper, it becomes clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, your clients are busy business owners, just like us. It\u2019s likely they\u2019ll just totally forget that you\u2019re waiting on them. They\u2019re off putting out some other fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s also a lot of work to write content for an entire website, even if they have existing materials. Large tasks tend to get put off unless they are urgent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/image2-1.png\" alt=\"layout by flywheel get content from clients and keep projects moving blankslate.io\" class=\"wp-image-26747\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there is the \u201cblank screen\u201d problem. Any copywriter will tell you how hard it can be to start writing when you\u2019re staring at a white page of nothingness.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fixing the Content Problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like many things in business, a bit of systemization goes a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We need to come up with a solution to the three issues just discussed. Here are some concepts you can use to help get content faster:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Problem: Clients forget <ul><li>Solution: Remind them! <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Problem: It\u2019s too much work to write it all at once <ul><li>Solution: Break it up into smaller pieces <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Problem: Not knowing where to start <ul><li>Solution: Provide an outline and a structure for them, like a sitemap<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The big thing to remember is that you need to make it as easy as possible for your clients to send content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reminders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It pays to get a system in place early (like\u2026now) before your business is so busy you can\u2019t keep up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two ways to stay on top of reminders. You can either remind yourself to email your client, or have reminders go out directly without you even getting involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some of the best ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Calendar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is as simple as it gets. In whatever digital calendar you use, add some events (or recurring events) that remind you to check in with a certain client. Even better, block all your reminders into one time slot each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Task\/Project Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re already using a project management tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/asana.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Asana<\/a>, add some reminders for yourself to check in with clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your clients are comfortable working in the same project management tool (lucky you\u2026 that is rare!) you can assign tasks to them with reminders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/02\/image1-3.png\" alt=\"screenshot from followupthen website\" class=\"wp-image-26436\"\/><figcaption>Screenshot of FollowUpThen homepage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.followupthen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This<\/a> is one of my favorite productivity tools. When sending an email, you can \u201cbcc\u201d an address like <a href=\"mailto:7days@followupthen.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">7days@followupthen.com<\/a> to automatically bounce the email back to you, so you can follow up. \u201cCc\u201d the address and it goes to you and your client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Email drip<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you use an email automation system, you can set up a series of emails to go out to your clients to check in. This is fully automated, but you have to remember to go in and stop the reminders when the content finally comes through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Content Snare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/contentsnare.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Content Snare<\/a> has an automatic follow up system that reminds your clients until they provide everything you need from them. Once you\u2019ve sent a content request to your client, it does the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018.03.20_How-to-get-content-from-clients-on-time-to-keep-projects-moving-2233-in-article.jpg\" alt=\"man holding up a stack of papers\" class=\"wp-image-26741\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating a structure for your clients addresses both the \u201cblank screen\u201d problem and helps break a big job up into smaller parts that they can complete over time.<br>Here are some of the ways you can handle structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Web Forms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a lot of different form tools out there like Gravity Forms (WordPress specific), SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The good:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They\u2019re free or cheap<\/li><li>They allow you to control what kind of information comes back (emails, phone numbers, image uploads, etc.)<\/li><li>You can add instructions with each field to help your client along<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The bad:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They\u2019re fairly inflexible\u2014you may need to create a new form for every client<\/li><li>Not every tool has the ability to save and come back later<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Document Templates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on what tools you and your client are familiar with, this is usually either Google Drive Documents, or a combination of Word Documents and Dropbox to send files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The important thing is that you should have pre-prepared documents with areas for your clients to type in their content, and a way to share images with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/03\/image4-2.png\" alt=\"layout by flywheel get content from clients and keep projects moving blank screen in google docs\" class=\"wp-image-26749\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The screenshot below shows an example.<br><strong>The good:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>This is also free or cheap<\/li><li>It\u2019s a familiar interface for clients<\/li><li>Google Drive saves on the fly<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>T<strong>he bad:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You have almost no control over what your client can send (watch out for yellow highlighted, red text that says \u201cplease link this word to the services page\u201d)<\/li><li>It requires time to pull content out of documents and format correctly for the website<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Content Snare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/getflywheel-images.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2018\/02\/image3-2.png\" alt=\"layout by flywheel get content from clients and keep projects moving content snare on laptop on desk\" class=\"wp-image-26438\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Content Snare was built for this exact problem. It takes the best parts of web forms and documents, and layers on some other helpful tools like automated reminders and content approvals.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wrapping up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll do well by making it easier for clients to provide content. Easy things are more likely to get done. You can do this by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Structuring content by breaking it up into smaller, more manageable pieces<\/li><li>Using a system to remind your clients of what they need to do and by when<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Is waiting on content a problem in your business? What have you tried in the past that did or didn\u2019t work? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAt my agency, every single project was held up because of content.\u201d This quote came from a conversation with a lady that ran a small agency in Canada. It was one of around 15 similar \u201ccustomer research\u201d interviews. I always knew that getting content from clients was a pain point, because we dealt with it<span class=\"tile__ellipses\">&hellip;<\/span><span class=\"tile__ellipses--animated\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":26738,"template":"","resource-topic":[],"resource-role":[],"resource-type":[916],"class_list":["post-26427","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to get content from clients on time to keep projects moving<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stop waiting for content and start planning your calendar with no hesitations! 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