How to Develop a Content Plan: A Complete Guide

Putting together an effective content plan is far from easy. Not long ago you could get away with creating simple 500-word articles stuffed with keywords and see them rocket to the top of Google rankings. These days, however, you need to have a content marketing strategy that is inventive, up-to-date, and engaging – for both the search engines and your audience.

While easy enough to say, it is much more difficult to put into action. That’s where the following guide will help. We will explain the definition of a content strategy, reveal why it is needed as part of your marketing efforts, and go into detail about the elements of a high-quality plan.

What is content strategy?

The clue is in the name. A content strategy plan begins by taking a close look at your goals. Then it’s a case of achieving these goals by using content.

As an example, one of these goals could be to build visitor numbers for your website. To turn this into a reality, you may utilize a content strategy that focuses on creating in-depth blog content that follows SEO procedures. This can then lead to increased visibility as your site appears higher up in relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, you might use a social media strategy that has a central mission to drive followers to your site.

A content strategy could be viewed as a non-essential marketing tactic, especially by those new to running a business. Nevertheless, quality content – whether it is videos or blog posts – can assist your company in meeting goals, building audience trust, and succeeding in general.

Content strategy plan template: what points to consider?

You have to consider various points when putting together your content strategy. These points include:

• Who to target with your content: What audience do you plan to target with your content? Will you target multiple audiences? The latter is important if your business has a diverse customer base. The more audiences you target, however, the more content types you may need to effectively engage everyone.
• A solution to audience problems: When a consumer is searching for content, this is because they want a solution to their problem. This issue can range from finding something to laugh at to gaining an education in a subject – such as content strategy! Also, ensure you’re solving a problem that is relevant for your audience.
• Be unique: Even if you operate within a super-specialized niche, you’ll still tend to have competitors that offer products similar to yours. As a result, you need to show potential customers why you’re the best option around. This is how content can help. Content allows you to be unique and demonstrates you’re an expert in your field.
• Choose your format: When it comes to content development, you first have to decide which formats are best for your business. Will you concentrate on video content? Infographics? Social media? Perhaps even a combination of every content format available? Your budget and resources will largely determine this aspect of your plan.
• Your publishing avenues: You don’t have to just stick to your own website or blog when publishing content. There are various external platforms available. This includes the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for your social media content. Another example would be publishing an eBook via Amazon.
• Managing your content creation: Even with a plan in place, this is still the most daunting point to ponder. You have to figure out who will create the content. You also need to know where it will be published and when it’ll be scheduled to go live.

How do you develop an effective content marketing plan?

The previous section highlighted the main points to remember when creating a content plan. Now it’s time to dive into the specifics and learn to develop an effective strategy with your content.

Define your goal

Prior to anything else, you have to settle on a goal to aim for with your content marketing plan. This includes knowing why you want to create content and how this will be used to target your audience.

When you define your goals from the start, developing the rest of your strategy will be much easier.

Conduct audience research

You may feel you already have a general idea about the type of audience you’re targeting with your content plan, but it’s essential this is spelled out clearly. If you miss the target with your content and it doesn’t resonate with your audience, this can end up being an ineffective – and costly – mistake for your business.

Due to this, you need to be clear with the buyer persona of your ideal customers. When your target audience is defined, you have the ability to produce content that is both more relevant and valuable for your customers. The result: conversions are a lot more likely.

However, conducting persona research is only necessary for those new to content marketing, right? In reality, this research should be done on an annual basis. You want to grow your audience, after all. To do this, you may need to expand on your current target market by moving into slightly different demographics. Alternatively, you could even target an entirely new audience for your business.

Analyse your current content

If you’re starting completely fresh with your content creation, feel free to skip this part. However, if you already have a hefty amount of content under your belt, it makes sense to run an audit.

By going with this approach, you can take a close look at what is (and isn’t) working with your current content. This way, you will have a greater idea about what new content methods can be introduced – and which ones need refinement – in order to improve on your marketing efforts.

In addition, you might decide to repurpose your current content in some way. For instance, say you have produced an eBook in the past year. You could take this eBook and break it up into various blog posts. On the other hand, you could take a collection of blog posts and turn these into an eBook. A more abstract take would be to, say, use an article as the foundation for a piece of video content.

Pick a CMS

Can you successfully run a plan without a content management system? The answer: Yes. Nevertheless, any strong content strategy template would recommend the use of a CMS. This provides a platform to plan and manage your content, obviously, but it can also track how it is doing with informative analytics.

Select your content types

As you will find out later on, there are various routes you can take when selecting the type of content to create. When deciding on which content types to focus on with your strategy, consider the resources and finances you have available.

Also, think about what content is going to be most effective in reaching out to your audience. There’s no point injecting money into producing a podcast, for example, if this is something your target market doesn’t pay attention to in general.

Come up with content ideas

Depending on your level of creativity, this part is either going to be easy or difficult. Well, the latter is down to how you take on this task. Even if you’re not the creative type, it doesn’t mean you cannot receive assistance in that regard.

For a start, don’t be scared to look at what your competitors are doing in terms of content marketing ideas. There are various RRS feed tools you can use to stay on top of their latest blog posts, which helps to ensure you don’t get left behind and miss out on any fresh or trendy topics within your industry.

If you require more inspiration, you can utilize platforms that come up with fresh and effective content ideas based on various factors, including social media share numbers. You can also refine your content by using tools that check for everything from keyword densityKeyword density is a measure of how often a keyword or phrase is repeated on a given web page. to title optimization.

Determine how content will be created

Will all of your content be produced in-house? Will you hire a content agency to take on the job? Maybe you’ll utilize a combination of both? Whatever you decide, it’s imperative you do not sacrifice quality. In-house content work shouldn’t be rushed or completed by those with insufficient skills. It’s also best to avoid the cheapest content marketing agencies or freelancers, as the low price is likely hiding a significant deficit in terms of quality and experience.

Publish your content

The last step in the process revolves around publishing and managing your content. Avoid piling up loads of content and then releasing it all at the same time. A steady, well-balanced schedule where you post diverse content is the path to take.

To take the pressure off ensuring everything is released at the right time, you can use a specialist calendar tool for scheduling content releases. This automated process can also be used for your social media posts.

What are the most effective content marketing tactics?

Once you have your content strategy in place, you then need to go about implementing it. But how? In this next section, we will go into further detail about the most popular content marketing strategies you can use:

Blog posts

It would be remiss of us not to start with blog posts. After all, you’re reading one right now. It’s also the most effective method on this list for boosting your SEO efforts.

If you’re wondering how to develop a blog content strategy that delivers results, there are many points to think about. This includes everything from ensuring your article features an attention-grabbing headline to breaking up the blog with visual content.

Above all else, however, is the need to present your audience with valuable content. Not only will it strengthen their brand loyalty to your business, but it could also make them inclined to share your articles across social media and other sites – bringing more eyes to the posts and enhancing your organic link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs. in the process.

Videos

Blog posts are great, but they don’t compare to video in terms of engagement levels and their ability to be shared across social media. After all, videos easily capture the attention of people and are easy to consume.

There is one significant caveat with video marketing, however – the effort required to produce this type of content. While a quality 1,000-word article can be knocked out in a couple of hours, video is a whole different story. A professional production requires setting up, filming, and editing. This is a combination that can be a serious drain on your marketing resources and finances.

Infographics

Another visual content type is infographics, although they don’t stray too far from blog posts. They take a large slice of data, condense it into visualized segments, and produce a compelling graphic which is much more effective than words alone. They’re also great for sharing on social media and other platforms.

eBooks

When trying to generate leads, eBooks can be a fantastic tool to use. A standard eBook tends to be more in-depth and longer than a blog post. This means if a visitor enjoyed a blog post on your website and wants to consume more content, they can simply download your eBook for free.

Yet while they don’t exchange money for your eBook, they provide something almost as valuable: their contact information.

Case studies

A case study acts as evidence that your company delivers products and services as promised. It’s essentially a testimonial from a customer who reviews their experience of working with you.

This is a versatile form of content marketing as it can be produced in several different forms – a blog post, video, infographic, and so on.

Social media

No content marketing plan examples are complete without some form of social media being used. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube – these are all great vehicles to extend the mileage of your content. Clips of videos can be posted on Twitter, for example, or you can simply link to your blog posts.

Using social media is also vital for maximizing your brand’s reach. As long as your content matches up to your platform of choice (images on Instagram, business news on LinkedIn, etc.), you can expand your audience successfully.

Podcasts

Some people don’t like to read content. Others don’t have time to watch videos. One compromise is listening to a podcast. This can be done while walking around town, driving to work, or even be put on in the background while cooking or playing videogames.

Due to the convenience of podcasts for listeners, it can be a wise choice to target this content medium and reach your audience in a different way.

Templates

Along with eBooks, another effective lead generator is through the use of templates. If you can provide your audience with free template tools that help them in their work, they are likely going to repay this with brand loyalty and supply you with their all-important contact details.

Time, effort, creativity, and organization are all required for a successful content plan. If you don’t want to take on this considerable task on your own, simply contact us today. Our team of experts will be able to organize a bespoke marketing plan that ensures your content delivers the results you desire.