No idea what a Content Marketing Plan is supposed to look like?

Here is a quick 5-step guide to help you get started…

Step 1: Define your business goals and target customer

The most important element of your Marketing Strategy is a clear definition of your objectives and a sharp focus on a well-defined target audience. This informs all the decisions that follow, and provides a North-Star for your marketing efforts.

Step 2: Review your existing assets – articles, blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.

Next comes a review of all available assets, and should include any content or digital asset created in the past 1-2 years (since those will be more relevant to current times). Often times, we have access to a number of such elements within the enterprise, but they are hidden from sight or stored away across multiple locations and drives.

Step 3: Map out what content elements need to be added, deleted and modified

Once you’ve got a hold of what you have, map out the elements that can clearly be deleted (not relevant any more or of poor quality), modified (to improve on them or make them more current), or added (content ideas that you have been storing for a later date).

Step 4: Create a content calendar keeping in mind tools, media and resources

Keep in mind that the aim is consistency, not an initial spike that fizzles out in just a couple of weeks. Figure out the tools and media that you want to work with, and available resources in your team (including budgets and time). Then, create a calendar that is both doable and sustainable over a period of the next 6-12 months.

Step 5: Define a workflow for drafts, approvals and publishing with clear ownership

The final step is to put it all together in the form of a workflow with clear responsibilities of who does what, by when, and to define the approval layers needed before a content piece is ultimately published.

That’s it! That’s practically all you need to get started with a robust Content Marketing approach to strengthen your personal brand or your business development efforts.