Content Marketing is an essential tool for any business. But, it’s not just about creating content and publishing it on your website; six specific steps need to be taken to make a successful content marketing plan. Content marketing is fantastic for attracting and cultivating a connection with your target audience. However, there is one snag. How do you go about doing it? I provide a lot of content marketing advice in my writings, but I usually presume that you’re already doing content marketing to some extent. However, if you haven’t begun yet or are relatively new to it, you will not benefit as much from those postings as others who have. So, if you’ve found my previous content marketing pieces to be too sophisticated for you, this one will be useful. I’ll walk you through a step-by-step method for creating an effective content marketing strategy. I’m talking about a system that’s easy to grasp and implement yet can bring thousands of quality visitors to your website each month (in less than a year).
What is the purpose of content marketing?
There are more than a dozen different styles of marketing. When used in the correct setting, they may all yield positive consequences. However, I believe we are at a unique period for content marketing. Businesses and marketers realize how successful it is in today’s consumer environment. People have always preferred to purchase from firms and individuals with whom they have established connections and have faith. It was difficult for firms to develop such partnerships before the Internet. However, delivering material to an audience is now simpler than ever. This is critical whether you’re selling directly to a customer or a corporation. According to a recent poll, 67 percent of B2B customers rely on their purchasing choices on content. They aren’t just purchasers; a sizable portion of them also often distribute that material (most typically in the form of a blog post – 40%). Most marketers are just now catching on to this. A content marketing approach is used by 80% of B2B marketers nowadays. However, 48 percent of respondents (in total) do not have a documented strategy in place. In most situations, this indicates that they have no idea what they’re doing. That’s fantastic news. Why? Because simply by taking the time to read through this text and jot down a few notes, you’ll be ahead of more than half of all internet marketers. I’ll tell you a little secret: Most firms are terrible at content marketing. Take a look at most business blogs—they’re a farce. Nonetheless, 30% of marketers consider content marketing “effective,” while another 44% say it has yielded some effects.
Don’t end up in one of the bottom three groups… There’s no reason why content marketing can’t generate a lot of traffic and, more importantly, quality leads for your company.
Six stages in your content marketing:
1. Why are you doing this?
It’s a good idea to plan before creating any form of material. If you just make material for a broad audience, you’re unlikely to see much in the way of results.
To get the best results, you must do the following:
- First, determine who you want to reach.
- Then, create material that appeals to those particular readers.
It is ineffective to generate generic material since it will never connect with anybody. However, just targeting a specific demographic isn’t enough. To match your content to their beliefs, issues, and wants, you must first understand their thoughts, problems, and desires.
Part 1: Who are these people? In a blank document, create a section for Step 1. You must identify your target audience at the start of this section. For example, if you offer running gear, your target market may be “runners.” But can you spot the flaw in that? While “runners” is theoretically a target demographic, it is unclear.
Runners come in a variety of shapes and sizes:
- marathon runners who make a living doing it
- sprinters who make a living
- joggers who do it for enjoyment (do it for fun)
- runners attempting to shed pounds
- Runners who are attempting to strengthen their legs…and so on.
Do you believe you could make material that appeals to both a professional marathon runner and a casual man seeking to shed his beer gut? There’s no way. Make your description as precise as possible. You want to find a group of people that agree with your classification. As a professional marathon runner may put it: I’m not just a runner; I’m a full-time marathoner who trains all year and competes six times a year. I’m not a runner, so six times may be excessive, but you get the idea. Make a note of your audience’s name once you have it. You may now begin creating a reader persona.
Before continuing to step #2, give your typical audience member a fake name. This enables you to write as if you were writing to a single person, an old copywriting tactic for writing in a more conversational tone that is more likely to connect with your readers.
Part 2 – What are they having trouble with? This is when thorough research is required. You should start profiling your reader right away. In this section, you’ll identify as many difficulties as possible that your target audience experiences. Sort them by severity if you can. Let’s keep the running example going. How can you figure out what issues marathon runners face? Simply talking to them is the most excellent method to get such knowledge. I realize it’s not the most pleasant thing to do for some, but if you can, talk to a few individuals for 10-20 minutes. Inquire about their most pressing issues and roadblocks. Look for online forums and community sites dedicated to your target demographic if that doesn’t work. You want to locate a space where people can speak about their difficulties with one another. Start with Reddit if you’re unsure where to begin. For almost every issue, there is a subreddit (essentially a classified community). In this situation, a quick Google search turns up a few of “marathon” subreddits:
Look through the threads you discover for at least 20-30 minutes. Keep track of any issues you hear people discussing, as well as how often they come up and how serious they seem to be.
I immediately notice two issues in the first few results:
- Beginner marathon runners who are unsure about race etiquette
- Runners who are experiencing joint discomfort during their taper (when they reduce their mileage leading up to a race)
Get a list of at least 100 issues. It may seem to be a lot, but it’s achievable, and you’ll have enough content ideas for the time being. Alternatively, use Google to look for forums.
In this situation, the outcomes are likely to be better. They’re oriented at seasoned marathoners, while the previous subreddit was for newbies (although it will have some experienced runners too). You do the same thing here: you hunt for issues.
Again, I notice a few issues straight away:
- How do you decide on a marathon pace?
- What should you do if you begin to experience discomfort in the weeks running up to the marathon?
Before continuing, make a list of your difficulties (in your document or a separate spreadsheet).
Part 3: How do they search for solutions? You must find a means to bring those solutions to your audience to present them with answers to their difficulties. The majority of these locations are online, so that’s where you should concentrate your efforts. First, you’ll need to make a list of the websites they frequent. That begins with the forums and communities you discovered in Part 2 of this series. Then, you’ll simply have to look around for the rest.
I’d suggest beginning with the following:
- best (niche) websites
- a list of the best (place) blogs
You should be able to put up a list of at least 20-30 “popular” websites that they frequent. If a site seems to have just a few hundred visitors, don’t register. Instead, keep track of these locations since we’ll return to them later.
Part 4 – How will you handle their issues faster and more effectively than anybody else? Whatever your subject, there are already a few prominent websites that cover it. Readers want compelling reasons to either add your site to their existing list of favorites or replace one of their favorites with yours. And the best way to persuade them to do so is to provide more excellent value. You will attract readers away from your competition if your material is superior to theirs. Begin by visiting the most popular websites in your field. Examine their material for flaws and make a note of them. For instance, I chose the first prominent marathon site I came across, which happened to be a blog on a big-running website. Although a qualified expert produces the information, it is pretty elementary and anecdotal.
I’d add the following to the list of flaws:
- There aren’t enough photos, lists, or other visual aids.
- More statistics to back up points would be helpful.
- Very brief, it does not go further into the subject.
After that, I’d go on to the next blog. After 5-10 times, you’ll notice that the same items appear each time. These are the possibilities available to you. Return to your original document. Here, your objective is to provide a summary of how your material will be more beneficial to your target audience. Consider the following scenario: We’ll have a lot of valuable visual information and data-driven responses in our content. We’ll go into topics in-depth to please our target audience. Having that description as a guide helps ensure that you concentrate on ethical issues in the future.
2. This is how you figure out what content to create.
The term “content” in content marketing may refer to various things.
The term “content” refers to anything that might carry a message. This includes the following:
- postings on the blog
- infographics
- sketches, comics, photography, and paintings
- podcasts
- videos
- e-books
- slideshows
And a lot more. You’ll receive more significant results if you create some sort of content for your audience than if you develop others. Two things must be considered to choose the appropriate kind. First, what are the preferences of your target audience? Specific audiences prefer certain sorts of material over others. Home decorators, for example, are primarily interested in visual content. In the home design sector, pictures and videos are the most common types of material.
On the other hand, a specialty like nutrition will mainly consist of written material with some images thrown in. The tricky thing is determining what works best for your niche. We’ll do this by looking at a few key indications. Begin by visiting Buzzsumo. If you don’t already have an account, sign up for one for free, and then look for your specialty (you can choose a broader niche here).
You’ll probably notice that one of the major social media platforms is much more popular than the others. Image-based content will be critical if Pinterest or Facebook become the most popular platforms. Pinterest is an image-only platform, yet photos are the most widely shared sort of material on Facebook. But it isn’t a whole picture of the issue. What about podcasts, for example? That’s where you’ll have to look for yourself. Podcasts and videos are the other types of information you should look for. You have two options when it comes to podcasts. First, check at the top 100 podcasts in a related category on Stitcher. I chose “sports” since it is what running falls under in our case.
I searched the top 100 podcasts and couldn’t find one running. So that tells me there isn’t much enthusiasm:
At a minimum, you’d want to see a few different podcasts on your subject as a sign of interest. If you find 3–4 in the top 10, it means that audio material is viral in your area, and you should include it in your content plan if you can. Another technique to find podcasts is to search for “top (niche) podcasts” on Google. I identified a couple that was operated by well-known websites. Then I went to Stitcher to check them up and saw very few reviews. This indicates that they aren’t highly famous.
Audio material is not available in this scenario. What about video material? That’s relatively simple to check for. Go to YouTube and type in your keyword. You may also use the search box to get some ideas.
This caught me off guard. There were a lot of marathon-running videos with a lot of views. This surprised me, which is why you should double-check. First, look at how many times each video has been seen. You’ll have to determine what constitutes a substantial amount, but I’d aim for at least ten films with 20,000 views to signal genuine interest. If there is just one video with many opinions, it’s most likely a one-time viral fluke that should be ignored. What are your assets and financial resources? The second most crucial component is your skillset. If you’re not a competent writer, you should generally steer clear of this sort of writing.
In many cases, you’ll discover that several types of content are equally popular in your industry. This provides you with a lot of options. You may combine them in any way you choose. But what if there is just one popular form of content? Then you don’t have an option.
If you aren’t confident in your ability to create such material, you must choose between two options:
- find out how to make it
- enlist the help of someone to do it for you
Hiring is always a fantastic choice for content marketing if you have a large budget. If not, you’ll have to teach yourself those abilities. Combine the two now: You’re currently searching for the point where these two regions meet: the kind of material your target audience wants and the kind of content you can create. You should create content for your target audience that fits into both of these categories.
3. This is the most crucial step in achieving content marketing success.
Let’s take it easy for a moment. You’ve figured out who your target market is. You also know what kind of material you’ll be creating. As a result, we can now focus on developing and releasing content. However, there is one element, one crucial principle, that you must grasp if you are to be successful: One thing determines your success: constancy. Content marketing will not provide immediate effects. It takes months of producing high-quality material before it begins to gain momentum. Many firms get off to a good start but get disheartened when they don’t see significant returns in the first few months, as is anticipated. Then, when they hit their first major stumbling block, they abandon content marketing. Perhaps they are on a restricted budget or have a lot of other responsibilities. Content marketing is the first to be axed. If you’re going to do this, set aside a particular amount of time for content marketing that you know you’ll be able to devote for at least a year. When it comes to publishing, how frequently should you do it? There is no magic number for how often information should be published.
However, as a matter of thumb, the more material you post, the sooner you’ll see benefits (and more significant results). This presupposes that the content’s quality remains constant regardless of frequency. According to one poll, 91% of top bloggers blog once a week or more. However, this is more of a correlation than a cause. There are a few exceptions, such as Backlinko’s Brian Dean, who only posts once or twice a month at most. With this method, he’s done well for himself in a short period. It all boils down to quality rather than quantity. Always strive to provide the finest quality material possible, even if it means reducing the amount of information you post. So, the answer to how often you should post is: Publish as often as possible while keeping the greatest possible quality. Keep in mind, though, that you must be consistent. Don’t choose a frequency that you won’t be able to maintain for an extended length of time. Because I’ve practiced over the years, I can easily make three lengthy entries every week on Quick Sprout. Start small if you don’t have the expertise or means to do so right now. How much time will it take to create content? Another question closely connected to the previous one is how long you anticipate it will take you to make the content? A single piece of content might take anything from 2 to 20 hours to generate, depending on the sort of material you’re causing. If it takes 20 hours to make anything, you can’t publish more than once or twice a month. You must also account for promotional time (I will discuss in Step 6). You should devote as much effort to content promotion as you do to content creation. This implies that if you only have 20 hours per week to devote to content marketing and an article takes 5 hours to prepare, and you can only publish twice per week at most. You may want to play it safe and pick one piece of material every week for the time being.
4. How are you going to organize your content?
Isn’t it true that you’re devoted to being consistent? I’m hoping you’re nodding right now. You must plan to be consistent. It’s all too easy to forget to create, publish, or market your material if you don’t prepare ahead. The key to preparing ahead is to have a timetable, which is sometimes referred to as a “content calendar.” How are you going to make a content calendar? Although the phrase may seem complicated, it is relatively simple. All you’ll need is a calendar on which you may assign post ideas to particular days. There are several tools available to assist you in your endeavor, but I’ll focus on three excellent ones. Trello, a project management tool, is the first. You may make lists for each week (or the whole month) and then add “cards” for any piece of material you’d want to schedule:
One of the best features of Trello is the ability to assign a due date to each piece of content. You may change your settings to get alerts about material that is due in the next few days, or that is past due. Use this WordPress editorial calendar plugin as a second alternative. It adds a calendar tab to your site’s dashboard, allowing you to view what you’ve planned at any moment in a traditional calendar format:
Because the plugin is linked to your posts, you can adjust their scheduled time and date and update post titles directly from the calendar. Finally, a basic spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets is one alternative worth considering. A spreadsheet containing a column for posting dates and a column for article titles is all you’ll need:
Aside from how easy it is, the most appealing feature of this choice is how readily it can be customized. You may add columns for due dates (so you don’t forget to complete the article), categories, and analytics like traffic and social shares. It makes no difference whatever choice you choose. Simply select something straightforward for you and will assist you in sticking to your content development timetable.
5. How will your material be distributed?
Another major blunder made by many new content marketers is beginning a blog with no audience. Your blog will not expand if no one sees your material, no matter how wonderful it is.
In the beginning, there are essentially two options for dealing with this issue:
- Make your material available on other websites with a link back to your blog.
- Make your stuff more visible.
Both of these things should be done by you. Of course, you may post entirely on your site as your following grows if you want to. I’ve already spoken about how to market your material. To help you start, here are a few resources: The first section is the most crucial to comprehend at this time. Do you recall the sites you mentioned earlier? The ones where your target audience can find answers? You’ll now figure out how to bring traffic from those sites to yours.
Necessary: Don’t just direct them to your blog. Send them to a page on your website called a landing page. Provide them with a lead magnet in exchange for their email addresses. You may then direct these viewers to your future blogs in this manner. The first category is blogs, which will be your list. Guest posting on a related blog is a great way to get your solutions before a blog’s readership. Guest postings are not permitted on all blogs. To find out, just Google “(site name) guest post” and see what comes up. You should be able to locate some guest-posting rules or previously published guest pieces if you look hard enough.
Remove a blog from your list if it does not accept guest articles. If it does, follow the procedures outlined in my guest blogging guide to increase your chances of success.
Search engines: Did you realize that search engines may bring visitors to your website? They should rename it SEO or something—no, I’m not joking… Search engine optimization (SEO) is a fantastic technique to get your content in front of your target audience. However, it would certainly take at least 4-6 months of consistent labor before you see any significant traffic. So prioritize gaining visitors from other sources first, then SEO. Although there is certainly a lot to cover, here are some of my favorite SEO resources:
Social media: Social media is another excellent source of traffic. Almost every audience member is engaged on at least one social media network. Furthermore, most social media platforms make it simple to direct people to your website. Remember how we conducted a Buzzsumo search earlier? This indicates where you should publish your content:
Typically, you’ll just be sharing samples of your material, but this is an excellent way to expand your audience and increase traffic to your website. This content publishing plan should be combined with a social media marketing strategy. Finally, you may share your information on forums and other online communities under category 4. You may write material for your website and convert it to a forum format. Leave a link to your site (ideally a landing page) anywhere before or after the content:
Publish your material in a location where a significant fraction of your target audience may view it. While you’ll need a complete strategy for this (using the tools I’ve linked to throughout this section), jot down the primary locations you want to post your material in your content marketing plan.
6. The opposing viewpoint
Finally, no solid content marketing strategy would be complete without content promotion, which is the other side of the content marketing coin. One approach is to publish material on other websites, but there are different ways to promote your business. Here are the two primary choices to think about. Choose one or both, and make a note of it in your document as your content marketing method(s).
Option 1: Email outreach: Email is still the most effective method to form online connections. You should employ email outreach, in particular, to get your material in front of influencers in your field and related ones. For example, following the publication of a piece of content, you should compile a list of at least 100 bloggers, authors, and other types of influencers interested in that issue. Then you’ll send them an email informing them of the content. Your ultimate objective is to get links or social shares from them, increasing traffic and aiding your SEO efforts. Here are some excellent articles on email outreach:
Option 2: Advertising: While advertising takes less time than human email outreach, it does come at a higher expense. It’s just like conventional advertising in that you pay to have people see your content.
You may promote in three different places:
- Facebook advertisements are a decent investment for most companies on social media.
- PPC (pay per click) adverts may be put up on Google Adwords or Bing.
- Native advertisements – You can also pay for sites to connect to your material inside their content (rather than as an ad).
To be successful, you don’t need to employ sponsored advertising. It may, however, speed up your progress, making it a fantastic alternative if you have money left over in your budget.
Conclusion
Being a good content marketer isn’t tricky, but it does need a significant amount of expertise and work. First, you’ll need to understand more about the topics I briefly mentioned here. You’ll also need to put in some practice time. Finally, as you begin to create material, you will gain a lot of experience via trial and error. That said, if you follow the six stages outlined in this piece, you should have a clear content marketing strategy in place that you can use to define your content marketing strategy in the months ahead. Content marketing is a strategy that can be used to help businesses grow. Therefore, content marketers need to have a plan before they start creating content. Here are six steps to your first content marketing plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the steps for creating a content plan?
A: The steps for creating a content plan are as follows.
- Define the purpose of the campaign.
- Create and distribute assets for your marketing materials, including banners, postcards, social posts, email newsletters, etc.
- Research what topics interest your company’s audience or customers in creating relevant messaging that people will want to be part of this campaign. You may also choose to research competitor campaigns to stay up on industry trends and learn how they’re doing it better than you!
- Develop creative ideas using brainstorming techniques with others at work/home who know different areas such as design or product development/marketing strategy (or even friends who know nothing but might come up with an excellent idea) – don’t underestimate those without formal experience either! This is just a perfect way to develop your storyline and think outside the box before proceeding further into the production stages; well, talk more about these next!. In addition, if necessary, you should consider taking out ads in various publications that might drive traffic back towards your website (such as print magazines or newspapers).
- Finally, document everything from all aspects of the planning process, so someone else can pick up where you left off after time has passed since launch day. If multiple people are working on this project, please have one person take responsibility for overall leadership responsibilities like managing deadlines & budgets while delegating other tasks accordingly among team members according to their strengths.
What is the first step of content marketing?
A: The first step is to create content that fits your target audience.
What are the six steps of marketing?
A: The six marketing steps are awareness, interest, trial/marketing test, consideration, purchase, and loyalty.
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