Objectives: Incre For any given slice of updates—say, your past 10 Facebook posts—what is the balance of content shared from your blog and from the blogs of others? You’ll be curating content like a boss in no time. ), Content you already own (include keyword research, social media content, email content, as well as website and other online content), Who can create the content (analysis of your team, whether you need to hire more or outsource some work). The plan includes a relatively brief executive summary, which identifies who the company or brand is, then highlights the aims and topics of the plan overall. Consult our ultimate list before you decide what to hit and what to skip. You can also include any paid promotions that further promote your content. Or, include data that shows how the content strategy is supporting sales, helping to fill the pipeline and move prospects along until they ultimately drive revenue. Read more about how to conduct an audit. Publish one podcast a week. Strategy Most business strategies have an operations component. Here’s a simple example of mapping content to the goals of the client: Mapping Content to the Goals of the Site Users. Know What Type of Content You Want to Create. Are these still the right messages for the right audience? Spreadsheets. A social media calendar—espec… A marketing plan will obviously be different for a local coffee shop than a thriving corporation like Coca-Cola. Every content marketing plan must be well structured and with the correct amount of information towards conversions. Seventy percent of marketers lack a consistent or integrated content strategy (Altimeter), and only 29 percent of leading marketers systematically reuse and repurpose content (Curata). You can gather a wealth of useable information in one conversation. The operations component of the plan would include procurement, manufacturing and logistics strategies that enable … The following are illustrative examples of an operations plan. A typical content plan starts with a main topic accompanied by content recommendations based on: Keyword variants; User intents; Superlatives; Questions; Take for example the topic “apple pie.” A “Guide to Apple Pie” would make an ideal piece of pillar content. It’s also important to note gaps in your subject areas so that you can create new content to fill that void. Content marketing can be a vital resource for an organization. The key part of the process though is ensuring you achieve the right flow. But as you will see later in this post, it gives you the details needed to build your content marketing plan. A content calendar can be anything used to plan, schedule, and organize content and other marketing projects. Here are a few examples of companies getting it right.1. A content strategy can either be about a brand's journey to land a customer (useful when a brand is new or has lost its way), or a content strategy can be about a customer's journey and how the brand can help. Let’s start by taking a look at what content marketing is: The Content Marketing Institutedefines it this way: Note the emphasis on strategy in this statement. Find out how to use Curata’s powerful analytics and calendar functionality to upgrade your marketing here. Now take the time to analyze the results. Instead it maps key content projects across different stages of your marketing funnel—or current status. In the marketing implementation section, you can focus on the type of content your brand will create, and identify who will create it. Don’t have the time, staff, or budget to produce enough content for all of your marketing channels? Free Actionable Bonus: Free Actionable Bonus: Want to create better content for social media? Then, using a content inventory spreadsheet, to chart how successful each of these elements has been to your content strategy. It is critical to keep that spirit of collaboration alive during the reporting process. Curation can help. Without a social media plan, your content is going to have a shorter lifespan. This presentation is an excellent tool for b2b or b2c companies looking to impact thru content. Purpose is a big topic but essentially it comes down to two important elements: who are you targeting with your content, and what do you want them to do with the information you provide? It covers objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and financial forecasts. List-based articles are powerful opportunities to win Google's … Ensure you are creating a variety of content rather than getting stuck focusing on one channel. To start, a good strategy document will clearly define the key elements of your effort. Here’s an example of content marketing analytics and the type of information that can be detailed in your report. There are dozens of ways to measure the effectiveness of your content strategy. Although the sample plan covers marketing in general, you can easily adapt it for use with content marketing specifically. These examples range from simple templates (to help you “fill in the blanks” and get started) to actual marketing plans produced by brands and organizations. As this article notes, all too often sales and marketing act as a silos, each focused on its own effort. Curata is a content marketing software company based in Boston, MA. Provide a brief summary of a topic, identify the content’s unique angle, pinpoint your target reader, decide which types of content you’ll need, and describe your main goal. A plan for content promotion Now that you know what a content marketing plan should include, let’s take a look at a few content marketing plan examples. When?You need to plan all the critical dates associated with creating and distributing your content. 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. It also provides a description of what each component of a SWOT analysis means, and how they influence a marketing plan or strategy. Who on your content team is responsible for the creation, posting and promotion of the content? But how should you use social channels to promote your brand? Project Plan Example: What is a Project Plan? Marion Williams-Bennett is a corporate communications consultant working in Boston. With the audit completed, you’re ready to take the next—and most critical—step in developing your content strategy. Also, look at your buyer personas. Planning your posts ahead of time means that you can build failsafes into your workflow. You can’t tell where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. In short, the editorial calendar is the working document that provides everyone involved in your content effort with the information they need to produce, deliver and promote the content strategy plan. But, as Rebecca Lieb, Digital Advertising, Media & Content Analyst, Altimeter (@lieblink) notes, what matters the most is that you are providing data on the metrics that are important to your organization. Plan is the first step in building a successful content marketing strategy. Now that you’ve got the high-level view of how to create an editorial calendar, read more about how to capture and track this information so that your team – and your strategy – stays on target. But when you bring these two teams together, it can have a positive impact your content strategy. Content Marketing One-Page Plan. Care Plan template and completed example Care Plan. For example, if a train manufacturer develops a plan to expand revenue by 50% that plan will include a marketing, sales and operations component. I work with a lot of content marketers in a lot of different organizations. Here you’ll want to define the purpose of your content marketing plan. Please also see worked example Care Plan for information. This ensures that your content marketing goals are in alignment with—and are fully supporting—the goals of your organization. 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. The editorial calendar is also a good place to keep the URLs associated with where your contented has been posted. The Smart Insights content marketing strategy hub page has lots of helpful articles and guides to steer you in the right direction. Plan around seasonal events, such as Christmas or Easter. © 2021 IZEA. 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. 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. By keeping the lesson plan design simple, the focus is really on the content of the lesson plan. Content Plan Sample Template Use this content plan template to organize and prioritize potential topics by theme or by any category that suits your needs. Before you dive on into creating content for Instagram, … When most people think of types of content marketing, they think of blogging as a starting point.Blogging helps you get visitors’ attention with helpful information, and provides content to flesh out your social media presence and fuel your SEO efforts, too. 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. A Content Plan is a technique that will assist you in setting and programming the information that you will provide to your target public.. Every content marketing strategy will include a content plan that will save you a lot of trouble . In addition to her corporate work, Marion is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in The Boston Globe and Skirt! If you’ve used the content audit template we have provided along the way, then you now have the information you need to develop your editorial calendar. Ideally, a content marketing plan will include: Now that you know what a content marketing plan should include, let’s take a look at a few content marketing plan examples. Then include information that shows them new ways (such as your product) to solve that problem. To realize the potential content marketing offers, it’s critical to have a plan. Moreover, you have a road map or guide that you can share with others in your organization. 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. To start, gather all your content that is currently produced by your organization: keywords, blog, website, social media, etc. Step 1: Complete a SWOT analysis of your content marketing efforts and develop a plan to improve them; Step 2: Define the right objectives and KPIs for that plan ; Step 3: Brainstorm content ideas and map these across your funnel ; Step 4: Create a timeline to put your plans in action For a detailed editorial calendar template, look here. A business plan is a written document that describes your business. Washington Post's List-based Article. Is it a video, blog post, infographic, or podcast? How many product pitches do you make? Where?What channels will you use to promote the content? This level of content goes beyond an education and includes a high level of persuasion. To start, you’ll want to see what content was most successful and what didn’t meet your expectations. The roadmap is not a place to list every single content piece your team publishes. For inspiration, we’ve selected six great examples of social media content from brands that are getting it right. What are these prospects telling your salespeople about their problems, the industry, and the role your product or service plays in making their life better? Magazine. The content audit will take some time and effort. These examples range from simple templates (to help you “fill in the blanks” and get started) to actual marketing plans produced by brands and organizations. Good news is on its way! Collaborate with your sales and marketing teams. They stress the importance of sticking to just a single sheet of letter-sized paper. Excel and Google Sheets can be cost-effective tools for building marketing calendars. From writing and posting to sharing and tracking, each member of the team knows what needs to happen and when. Ask your sales team about the customers and prospects they talk to on a regular basis. You have great ideas for content that you are sure readers will connect with. Free Download: How to Curate Content Like a Boss Taking a strategic approach to your content plan ensures your message cuts through the clutter and reaches your target audience with the right information at the right time. Otherwise, it’s possible to go too in-depth and get bogged down in the details. This type of content can encourage a new understanding of your product but should never be an all-out sales piece. >. The template isn’t just a template. You can easily import and export Excel files to work with your tasks online, manage dates, track progress, and estimate marketing budget. Add blog@curata.com to your trusted senders list. Keyword: high-level. Content plan: What is it. What outcome do you expect to receive from this effort? Care plan; Posted: 17/08/2020. The tricky thing is, you’re not sure what to include in your plan, or how to go about creating one. If you are like most marketers, you begin your content marketing efforts with the best of intentions. Marketing Plan Sample. It will specifically outline who you will be talking to, what you will say and how to say it, where the content will be promoted, and how you will know when you have been successful. To be inspired, read this in-depth look at how to connect content with your buyers. The scale of your marketing plan will greatly depend on the purpose or type of business it is for. Why create this content? Now that you’ve got a solid base for the topics and … You’ll receive an email alert when new articles are published to the Curata Blog, about 2 times a week. No two marketers’ objectives are exactly alike. One thing that is particularly useful about the marketing plan is that it includes a SWOT analysis, examining the company’s current overall strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This can include your owned channels such as your Facebook Page, blog, website, YouTube channel, email newsletters, etc. Are you struggling with how to better quantify content marketing’s impact on your organization, especially. This content marketing strategy template fits on one side of standard printer paper. ), Audience personas (full and detailed, versus the CMI’s snapshot versions), Connect your brand’s solutions to the audience needs (i.e., how do you solve their problems? Be sure you have the data you need to fully demonstrate just how valuable it is. For example, if you are trying to gain awareness in your marketplace, then content that is education-based will be beneficial. It sounds simple, yet it’s a step many content marketers don’t take. To adapt the sample plan for content marketing, you could adjust the marketing mix section to focus specifically on existing content, and your methods of distributing and promoting it. You’ll also want to note what’s in your content “library” so you can reuse that content in your strategy document. Here’s how you might map content to some of the goals of site users: What Are These Content Maps For? - Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | California Privacy Notice, sample marketing plan for a small software company, Your brand’s message, or what it’s trying to say, A description of your team and their responsibilities, An editorial calendar with a schedule for content creation and distribution, List of goals (a measurement of your company’s objectives), Strategy for content (what will the content do), Metrics (how you’ll measure and what you’ll pay attention to), Topic ideas and length suggestions/type of content ideas, Call to action (how will you get people to act? What information will it include and what is the desired action you want the reader to take? A content marketing roadmap charts the high-level strategy for a content team. While the businesses and messages are different, they all want to know. Template example. This is the old-school hardcopy solution. Sharing your plan also gets others in your organization to buy into the role that content plays in making the organization successful. 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. We use machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence to power two software platforms: Curata Content Curation Software (CCS), and Curata Content Marketing Platform (CMP). Understanding the value your content strategy brings is a good first step. 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. Your current landscape is … How to Develop a Content Marketing Plan with Templates, Todd Wheatland, Author and Speaker, Global Strategy at King Content | @ToddWheatland, Adele Revella, CEO of Buyer Persona Institute | @buyerpersona, Larry Kim, CEO of MobileMonkey & Founder of WordStream | @LarryKim, Share How to Develop a Content Marketing Plan with Templates on Facebook, Share How to Develop a Content Marketing Plan with Templates on Twitter, Share How to Develop a Content Marketing Plan with Templates on Linkedin, Share How to Develop a Content Marketing Plan with Templates via email, The Emergence of the Content Marketing Platform, read this in-depth look at how to connect content with your buyers, read more about how to capture and track this information, dozens of ways to measure the effectiveness of your content strategy, How To Unlock More Profitable Content With AI, How Content Marketing Drives Sales Throughout the Buyers’ Journey, Content Crush Nov. 17: SEO Strategies and the Revenge of the Creatives, Content Marketing Conferences: The Ultimate List, Content Marketing Job Description & Titles for Executives, Directors, Managers and Specialists, 11 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content, The Insider's Guide to Content Marketing World 2017, Content Marketing KPIs: Mapping Content’s Organizational Influence. Charting this information ensures that your content aligns with the goals of your organization, and can also show you where you need to add additional resources or subject areas. Everything from SEO research and engagement tracking, to blogging and white paper writing, are included in a content plan. 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. Strolleria. BufferBuffer’s one of our favorite content marketing examples, due to their three-pronged content marketing strategy.The compan… More specifically, a content calendar enables a business to: Make a note of key events in the industry calendar. What matters is aligning against business goals, not all the abstract things you can measure. For the other map, you’ll then want to map the content to the goals of the users of the site. Including details about the actual outcome helps you understand where your success has been and lets you prepare for the next content audit! Distribution Plan. Content marketing plan template consists of typical ready-made tasks. Why? The first step is to determine the format that you will use: content for your blog, corporative website or social networks. Publish one e-book each quarter. To find out, start with the information gathered in the content audit. Now let’s look at how to create that strategy and at the templates that are available to guide the process along the way. 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. Our template for content marketing provides an excellent roadmap for content agencies or teams. 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? A Basic Content Plan. Are the content marketing KPIs you use selling your work short? If you’re … If leads and sales are the yardstick by which your efforts are measured, you’ll want to offer a different set of statistics. Instead, it’s a full on how-to guide to putting together a comprehensive strategy and plan. A content calendar template to organize and plan your content in advance. A vital part of your content marketing plan is the editorial  calendar. What?What is the goal of the content? The editorial calendar is a good place to note what can be repurposed and how. Okay, calling this a template might be a bit of a stretch, but it will save … She has over 20 years of experience creating compelling communications that advance an organization’s goals. There are several benefits to having this level of planning in place before you start sharing content. Data sourced from Curata CMP, our content marketing platform. With this audience defined, you then want to consider what action you want your content to inspire. When she is not writing, Marion can be found in meditation or walking her Bassador, a sweet combination of Basset and Lab. As we have noted all along, sharing your content strategy with others in your organization ensures that you get their buy-in and demonstrates how the content strategy supports other sales and marketing initiatives. If you absolutely need more space, use legal-sized paper or even an 11- by 17-inch piece. More than an editorial calendar, a content marketing plan document is your road map to a successful content marketing effort. Let’s start by taking a look at what content marketing is: The Content Marketing Institute defines it this way: Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience—with the objective of driving profitable customer action. 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 template gives you a pre-defined structure of your marketing project. We’ll email you a copy as well, but click here for some instant gratification. Before engaging your content strategy, ask what metrics are important to your company and be sure you can provide the relevant data on that metric. Customers, prospects, the market as a whole? 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