Why your organization should embrace the ‘stop-doing’ list

I recently attended a workshop titled “Reduce, reuse, recycle: How to do more with less content in 2021” that was designed to help attendees prepare for a more productive 2021. In this workshop, Sidecar general manager Chelsea Brasted and marketing specialist Heather Nolan provided fresh content ideas and suggestions for how to beat writer's block. 

One of the many helpful tips they shared in the workshop was to implement a “stop doing” list. As a younger face in the association industry, I often ask myself and others why we continue to produce the same content year after year that may not be helpful or appropriate for the present. Not only can refreshing your content lead to better recruitment and retention, it also gives your organization the time and resources to try something new.

“It’s important to ask, if I wasn’t spending time doing this then what could I be doing instead?” said Nolan. “Sometimes that right there will get you moving and help you understand what it is you should stop doing.”

Creating a stop doing list will reduce the amount of content you produce, which will inevitably lead to more available time for more productive activities. To get started, first look at your analytics. What’s working for your organization and what isn't ? From there, find ways to make the content work, or stop producing it.

“Nobody ever wants to scroll to the bottom of the list and see things that no one has looked at,” said Brasted. “But that is the most important thing that you can do because that’s where you’re going to learn so much about the time you can get back.”

When deciding whether a piece of content should be continued or stopped, Brasted said you should ask:

• Is it supporting your content strategy?
• Does it answer important questions for your audience?
• Is anyone engaging with that content?

If you answered yes to some of these questions, great. Take some time to update these pieces of content. Refresh your data, implement SEO strategy or change a headline to make your content relevant and useful again. if you unanswered no to all of these questions, it’s time to put this piece of content on the stop doing list.

Applying these questions to your content audits will make deciding what to keep and what to toss a much easier and quicker procedure. Utilizing a stop doing list will give you back valuable time for other projects, and it will allow you to streamline and simplify your content strategy.

Missed the workshop? That’s OK! We provide recordings and handouts of all of our workshops as a perk of our professional membership. Not a member? Get more info here.