Creating content without a plan is like throwing darts blindfolded—occasionally, you might hit the target, but most of the time, you’re just flinging ideas into the void (or throwing darts at people…).
In this article, I’m going to help you build out a content plan so that every piece of content serves a purpose and you hit the bullseye with your marketing goals. And we’ll finish it off with a content plan template to tie it all together.
Ready to dive in?
Contents
What is a content plan?
A content plan is a tactical outline of the specific content you need to create as it pertains to your business goals and resources. It includes the types of content, the creation and distribution process, and any key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
So you may be wondering, what’s the difference between a content plan, content strategy, and content calendar?
While a content strategy is a high-level approach that defines the why of your content and the brand voice behind it, a content plan covers the what, when, and how, based on that strategy. It focuses on topics, formats, and deadlines—the tactical stuff. Then, your content calendar visually maps out when and where the content will be published.
Make your business’s content vision come to life with our free, easy-to-use growth strategy template!
Why do you need a content plan?
Marketing without a content plan is like going on a road trip without a map (AKA your smartphone). Whether you reach your destination is hit or miss and you’re going to waste a lot of gas. A content plan keeps your efforts organized and intentional. It also ensures:
- Business goal alignment. A content plan helps ensure that every piece of content contributes to your overall objectives, such as lead generation, brand awareness, or customer retention.
- Efficiency and consistency. It allows you to allocate resources (budget, staff, tools) properly, keep your team organized and on schedule, and maintain consistent messaging.
- Maximized impact. Defining your audience ensures your content resonates best, and strategic planning gets content in front of the right people at the right time.
How to create a content plan
I’ve broken down content planning into six key steps. Let’s take a look:
1. Start with the big picture
To create a content plan, you first need to lay down your foundation. This includes your goals and target audience.
Goals: Make sure you have clear content marketing goals aligned with business objectives. For example, maybe you want to increase organic traffic, generate leads, or increase customer retention. For help with this, check out our posts on marketing goals and long-term business goals.
Target audience: This one is huge. I don’t necessarily mean the audience itself, either, but the importance of knowing your target audience. You need to know who you want to reach with your content. Note also that your target audience with your content isn’t just your buyer personas. It includes them, but it also includes complementary businesses and influencers who will amplify your content.
For help finding your target audience, here are 12 questions to ask as well as some target market examples.
2. Conduct a content audit
Once you’ve gotten yourself oriented with step one, it’s time to take an inventory of your existing content to gather information, find gaps, and identify opportunities. The level of effort required for this step will vary depending on how long you’ve been in your role and how much content your business has produced. Luckily for you, I’ve got a thorough walk-through of how to do a content audit that will cover any scenario. You can find it here, How to Run a Content Audit: Full Guide + Free Templates.
If you don’t have much content to begin with, it may be worth doing a competitive analysis or even looking at some content marketing examples just to get acquainted.
3. Establish your key themes
These are not your topics. That comes later in the tactical section. What I’m talking about here are the core pillars you want to be covering every month. A good way to do this is to take a look at the categories that exist on your blog. Consolidate them into about 5-7 core pillars. These core pillars need to address all four of the following:
Note that these pillars will not map 1:1 to your blog categories, nor should they. You should have more categories than pillars.
4. Outline the process
Now it’s time to get tactical. As I said above, your content plan covers the what and how of your content strategy. Here are the two key elements:
Topic selection: Map out how you will come up with topics and titles. This should include a combination of strategies, including keyword research, current events, creative brainstorming, social listening, competitive analysis, content performance analysis, and repurposing content. Here are a few more resources to help you out:
Production: It’s important to have a standardized process for actually creating the content. This includes writing, editing, and approving, as well as who is in charge of what and how long each piece will take. This may vary depending on the type of content (a blog post vs an ebook or webinar, for example). Check out the resources below for more help with the production aspect of your content plan.
Put your content on a schedule ASAP with our free marketing calendar template complete with year-round marketing tips and ideas, holidays to frame content around, and more!
5. Plan out the distribution
Now that you’ve outlined your content themes and process, it’s time to figure out how and where your content will be distributed. This means two things:
Channels: Popular marketing channels include your website, blog, social media, email, partners, and influencers. The best ones for your business depend on where your audience spends most of its time and how much bandwidth you have. It’s important to diversify and tailor your content to each channel while maintaining your brand voice—like using visuals for Instagram, thought leadership posts for LinkedIn, or short, engaging videos for TikTok.
Some more resources to help you out here include:
Frequency: How often you will publish content on each of your chosen channels? How often will you publish certain types of content? For example, you may do monthly webinars and ebooks, weekly blog posts, and daily social media posts. Your content frequency should align with your overall marketing goals and the resources you have available. A content calendar will be critical here to help you stay consistent and organized.
6. Track and measure
This final step ensures that all your hard work is paying off and that you’re continually optimizing your content strategy for better results. What I mean by track and measure is:
Have a content library: This should be a spreadsheet that lists all your content assets, with tabs for different content types, such as blogs, ebooks, webinars, case studies, and videos.
Be sure to include relevant details like the last modified date, target audience, and product it supports. You don’t need to include performance metrics here. The idea is to keep everything organized so that others can access the content and you can easily repurpose and update content in the future.
Measure performance: Define the key metrics that will determine the success of your content. These can include metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, conversion rates, lead generation, and time spent on the page. Be sure to establish a regular cadence for reporting on these metrics, depending on your goals and the volume of content you produce. Some should be reported on weekly, others monthly, and others quarterly.
Some resources to help you out here include:
Based on the data you collect, make it a habit to review and adjust your content plan regularly. If a particular type of content is underperforming, brainstorm ways to improve or test new formats. And on the flip side, if something is working well, think about how you can double down on that strategy.
Put it all together with this content planning template
This content plan template employs the tips and steps I’ve illustrated above. It should help you organize your plan, communicate it to teammates, and report to your manager.
Get started with your content plan
A content plan is your secret weapon for turning ideas into impact. Plus, content planning keeps your team productive and aligned with your brand voice and business goals. Follow these tips and use the template in this post and you’ll be able to stay organized, measure your results, and adapt and innovate! For more assistance turning your business’s content dreams into reality, see how our solutions can help you create and execute a successful content marketing plan.