More than an editorial calendar, a content marketing plan document is your road map to a successful content marketing effort. Create your content plan; I wrote this on the YouMoz blog last year as a introduction to content planning and it contains some useful elements around beginning to structure your editorial calendar, or plan, by using key elements. If you are one of the 70 percent of marketers operating without a plan, take heart: we’ve got the information and templates you need to guide you through the planning process and produce a content plan that can generate results. A marketing plan will obviously be different for a local coffee shop than a thriving corporation like Coca-Cola. For example, if you are trying to gain awareness in your marketplace, then content that is education-based will be beneficial. Collaborate with your sales and marketing teams. Content strategy is the ongoing process of translating business objectives and goals into a plan that uses content as a primary means of achieving those goals. This type of content can encourage a new understanding of your product but should never be an all-out sales piece. Keep in mind that a lot of the content you create can be repurposed in another format. Consult our ultimate list before you decide what to hit and what to skip. While a content marketing strategy outlines what your goals are, who your audience is, and so on, a plan covers the execution of content marketing so that you can reach your goals and connect with your audience. In fact, your boss expects to see a copy of your team’s plan so that they can evaluate whether it will be worth the upfront cost, and to verify that you have some actual way of carrying out content marketing. For a detailed editorial calendar template, look here. One of the foundations of a social media content plan is figuring out the ideal ratio for the content that you’ll share. ), Research on competitors (what content are your competitors producing, and what other sources of content are out there? If you want to gain sales or interest in your product or service, then your content will need to be more focused on specific benefits while still being educational. This type of content can shed new light on a business problem your prospects have. See the webinar for an example of each. Care plan; Posted: 17/08/2020. That’s why the first step in creating your content strategy plan starts with a content audit. The Care Plan template is provided for your reference as a starting point for the documentation that you should have in place as a provider of care and support services. Free Actionable Bonus: Free Actionable Bonus: Want to create better content for social media? Strolleria is the content marketing example that proves you can use content to promote … As this article notes, all too often sales and marketing act as a silos, each focused on its own effort. Instead, it’s a full on how-to guide to putting together a comprehensive strategy and plan. Sharing your plan also gets others in your organization to buy into the role that content plays in making the organization successful. Now take the time to analyze the results. Publish one podcast a week. Look at what content areas were successful, and ask yourself the following: Analyzing what content was successful with which audience gives you a start on developing your content messages. Be sure to allow enough time for the development of written or visual elements you’ll want to include with your content, including images, illustrations for infographics, and charts. Download our white paper, The CMI Content Marketing Framework: 7 Building Blocks to Success , for an overview of the process, or learn about the other steps with our how-to guides on the right-hand side of the page. Everything from SEO research and engagement tracking, to blogging and white paper writing, are included in a content plan. Plan around seasonal events, such as Christmas or Easter. Ask your sales team about the customers and prospects they talk to on a regular basis. Template example. With this audience defined, you then want to consider what action you want your content to inspire. For example, if a train manufacturer develops a plan to expand revenue by 50% that plan will include a marketing, sales and operations component. A vital part of your content marketing plan is the editorial  calendar. Care Plan template and completed example Care Plan. Taking a look at some content marketing plan examples and templates can help you get an idea of how to put together your own. Distribution Plan. Here’s how you might map content to some of the goals of site users: What Are These Content Maps For? This not only supports your efforts but also gives you a team of employees who are engaged and willing to share the company’s content. Who? Now let’s look at how to create that strategy and at the templates that are available to guide the process along the way. Planning your posts ahead of time means that you can build failsafes into your workflow. For example, if your organization values the consumption of content, then you will want to provide details on how many people are consuming your content, how often it is being shared, and by whom. At high level, your editorial calendar needs to answer the critical questions of who, what, where, when and why of your content strategy: Also, what format will the content take? It is an approved document that serves as the roadmap for the project and defines the execution of the project, how it will be monitored and controlled. Here are three common types of content calendar: Printed calendars. In addition, this question also asks to whom are you targeting this content? Also, look at your buyer personas. No two marketers’ objectives are exactly alike. Provide your organization with data on how well content marketing is supporting lead generation and lead nurturing activities. Before we jump into calendaring our content, let’s talk about what a content calendar actually is and a few baseline requirements for success.We define a content calendar as You’ve done your audit, defined the audience and the goals of your content strategy. It requires marketers to analyze where their marketing efforts have been and what they want it to achieve in the future. It sounds simple, yet it’s a step many content marketers don’t take. 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