“You definitely need content marketing in your strategy!” - Anyone new to the market today will very quickly hear that nothing works without content marketing. While this is true, it means something different for every company. While for some the whole thing works great via social media, others score points with a well-maintained blog. The fact is: all content marketing needs a good strategy - we have an article on this for you in our blog. Once this is in place, it's time to plan the content. We have outlined how to go about this and what you should look out for in 5 steps so that you have a simple but stable content plan. 

5 steps to a content plan

The first step: defining the goal

To begin with, we need to determine the content goal. We first need to determine what we want to achieve with the content and why we decided on content marketing in the first place. There are various goals that companies set themselves: 

You can increase awareness of your brand or company, drive more traffic to your website, gain leads or subscribers, acquire more customers, strengthen customer loyalty, stand out from your competitors or be perceived as an expert in your industry. 

We often want to achieve all of these goals by tomorrow, which is nonsense and will never work in reality. It is therefore better to focus on one main goal and align all measures with it. 

If you know your goal, you should also consider how you can measure its achievement (or non-achievement). Some goals are difficult to measure, so we always advise having another goal that is easier to measure. 

Second step: Determine content medium and content formats

The goal is known, now it's about getting there - and for this we need the right medium and the right formats. 

There are various options for the medium: 

• Blog 

• podcast

• Video channel (e.g. via YouTube) 

• infographics

• magazines 

• Books and e-books

It is best to concentrate on one medium and use different test strategies, as not every medium suits the company or the target group. 

Another tip: it's better to do less and do it right! What this means is that multiple media also require more resources. However, if these are limited, it is better to limit yourself to fewer or even just one and focus more intensively on this. 

Once you have decided on a medium, you now have to choose the right format. Of course, this is related, because an e-book is different from a video blog. Here, too, it is important to focus intensively on a few or even just one format and to do things right rather than trying to play everywhere. 

Videos are currently the number 1 trend format, which is also reflected in almost all media. Be it on social media or on websites and even blogs - videos deliver the best conversion rates. However, it is also important that you don't just choose a format because it is currently trending, but because it fits in well with your content strategy.

Step 3: the right mix of content 

Good, we know our goal, have decided on the medium and format and now it is important to decide what content we want to offer. This should - of course - match the strategy. 

Here are a few examples of content options that also serve the overarching goal of content marketing - namely: offering added value. 

• News and current information and content (can also have a social reference) 

• Entertainment - logical, entertainment should never be neglected. 

• Evergreen content: Timeless and useful content

• Search content: content that is easy to find in search engines

• Viral topics - with the potential to spread quickly (although this cannot be planned)

• (High) quality content: Very high-quality and detailed content that goes into great depth 

• Extremely comprehensive content (skyscraper content)

• Content about your own company 

• Personal stories & experiences 

• Influencer content 

• Strong opinions Topics with a clear positional reference 

• Topics that are particularly important to you or your company 

• Content from the community or content from guest authors 

• Topics for the promotion of sales activities 

It is also important that the mix is balanced so that your channel doesn't get boring. In addition, the right combination can also build long-term traffic, which should not be ignored. 

An example: A mix of company, personal and influencer content shows different aspects of your company and your personality. Occasional guest content brings fresh perspectives, and targeted sales content promotes products and services.

Step 4: Frequency and calendar 

Now it's important: How often do you want to post? You should take your own day-to-day business and resources into account, otherwise you will overload yourself and will not be able to maintain the quality that is crucial for the target group's perception. 

There are 3 key questions here: 

• How many times per day/month/year do you want to publish?

• On which day of the week do you want to publish?

• What time do you want to publish?

A little research is also very useful here so that you can get an idea of when your target group is active on channels such as Instagram or LinkedIn. This information serves as a framework for orientation. Top rule: post regularly. 

The content calendar is also very useful because it helps with planning. Whether analog or digital - with documentation, you always know what you have already told and what not. With a calendar, you can also plan 3 months in advance, which is of course great if your day-to-day business suddenly takes over. 

Step 5: Guidelines 

This is primarily about a uniform appearance - ideally, these aspects are already defined in your corporate identity and corporate design, if not - here is an overview of what is important: 

• General: Length, type of content, salutation

• Spelling: Brand name, terms, numbers, percentages, bullet points

• Other: Formatting, links, abbreviations, emojis, GIFs, response times

These framework conditions should also be regularly adapted and further developed. Because if you post regularly, you also learn a lot about the community and the reactions and can improve your own content based on this. 

What is a content plan again and why is it important?

It's actually nothing more than a project plan for activities, milestones and deadlines. 

First, you determine the general direction of travel with your content strategy by answering the following questions: Where do you want to go? Why do you want to get there? How do you roughly want to get there?

In the content plan, you then describe in detail the specific steps you will take to implement this strategy. You answer questions such as: What exactly do you want to do? How exactly do you want to do it? When exactly do you want to do it? The content plan is therefore a tactical plan and much more than a simple editorial plan.

A content plan is important because it increases your probability of success. Without preparation, the risk of failure is high and if you make mistakes during preparation - we all make mistakes - you can avoid things going wrong during implementation. 

Summary 

And that brings us to the end of Part 1 - because yes! There will be a second part in which we have collected tips for you that can help with content creation. 

What have we learned? A content plan is essential for successful content marketing as it provides clear structures and goals. It increases the likelihood of success by describing in detail what, how and when something should be implemented. A well-documented plan saves time, avoids errors and ensures efficiency and focus. 

So, pencils out and let's get planning. You can find more articles in the F7 blog.