Create Your Content Marketing Strategy. (6 Steps For Beginners)

Pro Advice Yassmin Yasser 21 July 2020
Are you looking to start your online business soon? Here's how to create a content marketing plan in 6 easy steps!

If you are launching your online business, you probably are in a full goal-setting mode right now. 

To see those goals happening, you need to create a content marketing plan; as a wise man once said,

"It's not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best."

Since the content marketing plan is the map to your treasure of goals, you need it to be up to the mark.

This article will walk you through the fundamentals of creating a content marketing strategy for beginners based on Kimberly Ann's video.

You can watch the video below

Benefits Of Having A Content Strategy 2020


Help You Keep Your Goals Clear.

Throwing caution into the wind and posting whatever whenever will get you nowhere.

When you create a content marketing plan with your solid goals laid down in front of you, it'll help you determine what you need to do.


Easily Measure Your Progress.

When you keep track of what you're doing, it's easy to know what is working and what is not. 

When you find that something is not working well for you, straightforwardly make adjustments to your content marketing plan.

Let's dive straight into how to create a content marketing strategy yourself.

How to create a content marketing plan? 


Step#1: Outline Your Goals

Outlining your goals will help you stay focused.

You have to keep your goals on top of mind at all times. 

Anything you do or are planning to do must move you one step forward towards the goal.


How to determine the goals you need to set?


- Pick the goals that will benefit your business most at the time being.

    Do you need more traffic to your blog? Or do you need to harness brand awareness on Facebook? 


    - Set realistic, attainable goals

    There are probably tons of goals you have in mind. But remember that your goals should be attainable.

    Setting huge goals can rack your brain and leave you devastated when you don't reach them. 

    - Set A Timeframe

    Set a timeframe for the goals. Whether it's one month, three months, or even a year, whatever just set a timeframe.


    Step#2: Describe Your Client Avatar

    Getting to determine the persona of the audience you're targeting will help you put yourself in their shoes and efficiently cater to their needs. 

    That's why you need to

    •  Describe your ideal client in details:
    • What are their challenges?
    • What is their lifestyle? 
    • Books they like to read
    • Blogs they visit.


    Having their identity figured out will help you determine many things like:

    1- The type of content you are supposed to share

    2- Which Content marketing trends you are ought to keep an eye on.


    Step#3: Iron Your Content Types And The Frequency Of Posting

    Decide on which content marketing formats you'll create for at least the upcoming three months.

    There is a variety of content formats for you to choose from like:

    • Video marketing: either on Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook)
    • Blog posts
    • Podcasts 

    You name it!

    In the beginning, 1 or 2 content marketing formats and platforms are quite enough.

    Producing high-quality content in 2 to 3 formats is way better than creating low-quality content in many formats.

    It's worth mentioning that, Gary Vee advises everybody to start using LinkedIn because it’s actually Facebook 2012. Linkedin is having a 2012 moment as stated by him, where it's conducting more ROI than the other social media platforms.

    That's why it's advisable to include it in your content marketing plan 2020.

    And how often will you be publishing? 

    Create a content marketing plan with the frequency of publishing you want to pursue for a certain period.


    Step#4: Strategic KPIs

    Key performance indicators are your way of measuring progress.

    Set your KPIs according to the platform and content format you choose.

    Cases in action, 

    • If you decided to go with creating a Facebook fan page, track the engagement you get on your posts, impressions, etc.,
    • Newsletter: Check how many Subscribers became buyers
    • Videos on Youtube: traffic to your website. 

    Step#5: Content Ideas: 

    Sitting down to determine the types of content ideas you want to tackle will pave your brainstorming path. Afterwards, brainstorm your content ideas accordingly.

     

    Having the ideas ready in the content plan will make your process smoother. It's much better to have your ideas settled before you take off.

    Step#6: Promotion Plan.

    Your promotional plan will be based on your KPIs.

    Begin with the end in mind and leverage every single piece of content to bits.

    Let's say your end goal for your blog is to get more traffic.

    1- Begin thinking of the methods that can get you more traffic, SEO content marketing.

    2-You need to find the right keywords that have larger volume, pick the correct title, meta description, etc for your blog posts.

    3- In your calendar, pin down revisiting your different channels to leverage every piece of content you post.

    When you create a content market plan, things start to fall in line and get more organized. 

    Hope this article has been useful, if you have any questions, please let us know in the comments.