How to build an awesome growth-driven #contentmarketing strategy in 10 steps (oversimplified with some steps that could be swapped but directionally accurate edition)…
Step 1 – Conduct a current state assessment
It’s all about questions. Ask lots of em. What do you publish today? Where? Who creates it? What systems, tools, and expertise are needed? What about the competition? How do you measure up?
Step 2 – Define your audience
Well, yeah, obviously. Who are you trying to speak to? Spend legit time on this. Leverage every piece of data you can, from search queries, to user research, to demographic/industry benchmarks. What do they want? That’s what you’re gonna give them.
Step 3- Decide on a vision
In a perfect world, and I mean unrealistically ridiculously perfect, where would your content take you in five years? Be specific. Deciding ideal future state is key to knowing what to do next. It’s hard to get somewhere if you don’t know where it is.
Step 4 – Figure out what success looks like
You got your beautiful aspirational vision. But would you know it if it hit you in the face? How? Search traffic to your website? Subscriptions to your newsletter? Again be specific. Think it through. It will come back in play later.
Step 5 – Outline tasks most likely to result in success metrics
Get creative and create a big list. This is where you focus on what you do best, what your capabilities are, what your brand voice/persona is. What’s in your wheelhouse to achieve? #SEO? #Socialmedia? #Blogging?
Step 6 – Finalize a list of strategy imperatives
After brainstorming a massive list of tasks, cluster them together in similar groupings. Narrow to ~4-5. Stay high level, like “become industry thought leader” or “develop powerful domain authority.” This is your strategy core.
Step 7 – List key activities
Now comes the fun part. Crank out a list of everything that comes to mind laddering up to strategy imperatives. Stay tactical. If the imperative is build publicity, activities might be press releases, pitch companies, write third party op/eds, etc.
Step 8 – Map out channel & distribution strategy
You want to hit people in their moment of need. Think through user intent. What social channels matter? How can you be as efficient as possible, repurposing content across channels. Define target volume and cadence. Prioritize.
Step 9 – Recommend the team, tools, & process
The three wise men. What people do you need to achieve the above? What software, applications, or tools are must haves? Do you have documented processes and workflows? No one likes too much process, but process can save your skin.
Step 10 – Create a road map
Build a makeshift calendar in Google sheets and start filling in week by week and month by month expectations. It won’t be perfect, but it will help guide expectations. Be reasonable, allow more time than you think. Content success is a long game. ✌️
Originally tweeted by Joey Campbell (@jrok78) on March 11, 2021.
Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash