A Content Marketing Outline to Plan Out Your Campaign

Author: John Foley Jr. / Source: Printing Impressions

Content marketing is a rapidly growing marketing strategy that has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years. Content marketing allows you to educate and engage with your audience in a way that builds trust and develops relationships. While this strategy is emerging quickly, many marketers are still finding it difficult to create and manage relevant content in a timely manner.
The reason behind the majority of content marketing struggles lies in the lack of a plan. Creating a content marketing plan allows you to create, manage, and measure all of your content marketing efforts in order to make sure your company is producing the most effective and relevant content consistently to its various audiences. It’s much more effective and manageable to create smaller content marketing plans more often, so it’s recommended to update your content marketing plan at least once per quarter. Use this content marketing outline as a guide to ensure future success for your company as you dive into the world of content marketing.

1. Set Goals: As with any marketing or business
   plan, the first step is to set goals. Before creating any content
   or even drafting up topics, address the goals that you would like
   to achieve. Maybe you’re trying to break into a new market this
   year, increase sales by 10% for a specific product or service line,
   or gain x amount of referrals for your business. Whatever your
   overall goals are, it’s important to be as specific as possible and
   state them clearly. Once you know your goals, it will be easy to
   derive content that supports your goals and objectives and measure
   success rate.

1. Determine Your Audiences: With each goal comes
   a target audience. Which market are you trying to break into, and
   what is the audience for that market? Which product line do you
   want to expand, and who will be purchasing the products? Who will
   you be trying to reach when promoting your content? You need to be
   able to answer these questions before creating and promoting any
   content. Each piece of content needs to be specific and targeted to
   some industry or vertical. According to TMG Custom Media, 90% of
   consumers find custom content useful, so it’s vital to segment your
   target groups.

1. Research: Once you know what your goals are
   and who you’re trying to target, it’s time to do some further
   market research. Before you create your content calendar, take a
   look at trending topics, industry news, and pain points for your
   audiences. It’s vital to know what your audience is interested in
   so you can be sure you’re creating relevant content. Don’t be
   afraid to reach out to customers and industry professionals to see
   what they’d like to learn more about as well!

1. Content Calendar: Before you create your
   actual materials,…

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