Your content needs a strategy

Too often, we jump right into creating, distributing, and (sometimes) promoting content without pausing to build (and write down) a strategy. And some of us think writing down a strategy isn’t necessary because we already know it. This can result in ineffective marketing Think of it as driving to an unfamiliar destination without a map or GPS. You might get there, but you’ll probably waste time on unnecessary turns, stops to ask for directions, and to backtrack.

So, yes, you must write down your content marketing strategy. But you don’t have to spend much time creating a lengthy, complex presentation that no one has time to read.

Here are some critical questions from the content marketing institute that I think for the basis for a great content strategy.

1. What are your business’s purpose and goals?
2. Who is your target audience? What are their interests and needs?
3. What are your content marketing objectives? What do you want your audience to know, think, or do?
4. What are your primary content topics? This is where your industry and business subjects overlap with your audience’s interests and needs.
5. What type of content do you create? Identify the formats possible within your content marketing program, such as blogs, videos, infographics, social media, etc.
6. Where will you publish this content?
7. At what frequency will you create and publish this content? (Be realistic. It’s better to increase frequency than to decrease it down the road.)
8. What are the measurable goals for your content marketing program? Translate your content marketing objectives into quantifiable measures of success. Don’t forget to include a time frame to complete each objective.

Then leverage the content you do create:

Break it into smaller pieces, 

• Three blog posts
• Three podcast episodes
• One presentation
• One board game
• One quiz
• One infographic

Leverage your best work

20% of your content delivers 80% of your results. Your percentages may not be precisely that, but I bet the concept applies to your content marketing: Some of your content delivers big, but most does not. 

• The small editorial team updates articles that perform well and are still relevant to add more recent statistics, correct titles for sources, update outdated links and add new angles. (For example, at the top of this article, you can see the “Updated” label that lets readers know we’ve brought this one back.)

Create a calendar

If you have an editorial calendar, that’s a significant step. If you create a master tracker – an editorial calendar on steroids – that’s even better.

Your master tracker should include:

• Production process (assignments, reviews, approvals, deadlines)
• Related content elements (keywords, headlines, metadata, etc.)
• Goals and metrics (dated and updated regularly)

Your related content elements could include:

• SEO-focused URL (keywords)
• Headline
• Meta description
• Click-to-tweets
• Social media headline options
• Call to action
• Preview text that appears in an email
• Excerpt for newsletter

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