Don’t worry. This isn’t going to be one of those lofty articles extolling the value of content marketing planning where you end up feeling hopelessly inadequate by the end.
Of course, you understand the value of having a content plan. And how mapping out step-by-step plans can help you achieve your marketing goals.
The problem is, reality often gets in the way when we plan to be better at planning.
A recipe for content planning
I’m with you. I create content marketing plans for my clients all the time. Not only that, I help them execute and stick to the plan. But, when it comes to the content plan for my own business, I’ve noticed it sometimes goes off the track. For totally – or at least semi-justifiable reasons.
That’s when I took a hard look at the root causes and developed a reality-based recipe for building and executing a content marketing strategy. The ingredients?
- A time commitment based on real-life and the expectation of competing priorities.
- Practical execution that doesn’t require fancy platforms.
- A pragmatic approach to the resources required.
So, when I mix all the above with a healthy serving of flexibility, I’m able to execute on my content marketing plan in a completely do-able way.
3 essential content marketing plan ah-has
Ah-ha #1: Make time ahead of time.
Schedule short blocks of time on your calendar to do three things: Brainstorm (or blogstorm) for topic ideas, plan, and create. Be as non-negotiable with rescheduling as possible. I view these times on my calendar as the equivalent of important client meetings that I would never reschedule. (After all, when you think about it, my own business is my longest-term client!)
In other words, schedule meetings with yourself. I promise if you put the following blocks of time on your calendar every month, you’ll end up saving both time and angst:
Brainstorm.
Put 30 – 45 minutes on your monthly calendar for free-form ideation.
<Related Resource: Blog topic-itis? 5 no-fail ways to keep blog topics flowing >
Outline your plan.
Set aside 60 – 90 minutes for translating your ideas into tangible blog, white paper, or case study topics. Spend 30 minutes fine-tuning your topics and plugging them into a content calendar. Then, focus the rest of your time block on collecting proof points, doing any research needed, and outlining your content piece.
Create.
Allow 60 – 90 minutes each month to open up the outline and compiled sources and start creating. Focus on one thing per session. If you need to create a few blog posts, do that. If you’re developing a white paper showcasing your expertise, focus solely on that.
Keep it real.
Book a back-up “Create” session on your calendar each month to finish what you started. Having that cushion in your schedule takes some of the pressure off. And, if you get everything completed in your first session, use the time to re-read your draft with fresh eyes, finalize and publish. Or, if you accomplished all of that in your initial Create session, you’ll give yourself back a nice chunk of time in your day.
Ah-ha #2: Don’t reinvent the wheel – or a marketing calendar template.
Trust me, there aren’t that many new ways to map out an effective content marketing strategy. The uniqueness is more about your audiences, channels, and tactics. Invest upfront time and resources thinking through your strategy in those areas. Then, use existing plan templates to map out your one-of-a-kind content plan.
Here are my favorite, basic (and free!) templates – created by experts and test-driven by me. Access and adapt as needed.
Find your audience.
Build out and maintain persona profiles of who you’re targeting. Then, review and refine them as you add to your content library and learn from your results. I recommend HubSpot’s persona templates, which help you capture basic identifiers and push you to discover deeper, persona-specific attributes.
<Related Resource: Don’t assume: Why buyer personas are essential for your business and how to create them >
Plan it, do it.
This is the roadmap that gets you from ideas to finished product. It should include key milestones and the main steps for accomplishing each. But, personally, I prefer not to get too detailed with documenting each and every step. If I do, I find I spend more time managing the plan than executing it.
The best road map for your road map is a One-Page Content Marketing Plan from Content Marketing Institute. It includes a useful complementary tool that I also like, the One-Page Message Map.
Get it on the calendar.
Assign dates to your key steps, milestones, content delivery, and ongoing promotions. This is where you want to be ambitious but also realistic about how much time each piece takes. SmartSheet offers a range of basic calendar formats. I prefer the Marketing Editorial Calendar. But, I definitely advise adding and deleting the fields and labels so that it truly works for you. I’ve also taken the pieces I like from a few calendar templates to create a custom version that matches up with a specific client’s plan. In other words, always experiment and edit.
Ah-ha #3: Take shortcuts to success.
If all of this stresses you out or takes too much attention from running your business, don’t abandon your content marketing strategy. That’s shooting your business in the foot. Instead, consider outsourcing. Just like you tap into accounting or IT support, it may make sense to work with outside marketing experts. When you add up the costs and compare them against the value of your time, you’ll likely find it’s an affordable and effective way to execute a marketing strategy that consistently generates the business-building results you need.
Ready to create content? Write Hand Ann can help you get it created, showcase your expertise, and drive business.
<Related Resource: 4.5 reasons to outsource your blog>
