You have too many marketing tasks and responsibility to do you on the hard tour. Your work is too critical of the business success to push best practice and fall through the cracks.
Since you cannot always trust AI tools to do the job right for the first time, you trust the wisdom of your industry colleagues who have found ways to better shape content and marketing.
I have collected some of your best tips, templates and cheat leaves to divide complex tasks into easier steps and avoid frustrating bottlenecks. And if you are between jobs or want to drive your role, you can know these tips to secure these approaches for good use.
Align strategic goals with the needs of the audience
Brands are often equipped in their specified mission or their specified purpose if they determine their strategic approach to content. But what your company wants to share does not always correspond to what your audience wants to hear. It can also lead to vague platitudes that do not distinguish the unique content advantages of your brand.
To avoid these pitfalls, work through the five-whynal exercise to determine where the goals of your brand overlap with what interests your customers.
The 5 Whys
CMIS Robert Rose explains that the first step is to generate a list of content marketing ideas. For example, your brand may want to clarify potential customers to use their products or the curatical industry news in order to position your company as a pioneer.
Next write down why the first idea is important. Then ask why this meaning is important. Ask why about this answer. Ask why twice the previous explanation. (Repeat this process for every idea.)
To illustrate how it works, I filled this template with a example idea that Robert offered in his article:
| Since the developments in our industry change quickly, our customers need a trustworthy partner to keep it up to date. | |
| Why 1 | Answer |
| Why is the curating news important for our customers to position us as a pioneer? | Because our customers will see that we have our finger in the pulse of the business and a point of view of the industry. |
| Why 2 | Answer |
| Why is it important that customers see that we have our finger at the pulse and a point of view in the industry? | Because our customers and interested parties have more confidence in what we say. |
| Why 3 | Answer |
| Why is it important for our customers and interested parties to have more confidence in what we say? | Since the developments in our industry change quickly and our customers need a trustworthy partner to keep it up to date. |
| Why 4 | Answer |
| Why do customers need a trustworthy partner to keep them up to date on what is going on in the industry? | Since you are busy being successful, a trustworthy partner can help him to be informed. |
| Why 5 | Answer |
| Why is it important that the success of our customers is informed? | If our customers are properly informed about the industry, they will be more competitive and successful. |
The final answer should show a motivation for the idea that matches the purpose of its audience and clarifies how it fits into the overarching history of the brand.
Fall your content processes
Your strategy determines what you want to achieve through content. Thorough operational planning enables you to consistently achieve it. Imagine this as the work, so everything else works.
Create and activate a content plan
Concentrate with the question of why you have decided on the next big questions – what content will you create? How do you make that possible? A content plan helps to determine the best answers.
A content plan includes the guidelines, practices, resources and task -related decisions to carry out the strategy. With this invaluable tool, the team can orchestrate operative workflows, implement efficient processes and enable the conversion of creative ideas into high-quality marketing assets.
To create your content plan, you must take these four components into account:
- Governance and guidelines: Standards, practices and guiding principles that define and distinguish the unique value of your content
- Processes and systems: Tasks, workflows, techniques and technologies to manage your content marketing operations
- Team resources: Roles and skills required to close the work and plans to close gaps
- Creation and delivery of content: Topics, generation process and prioritization of creative ideas, contents, formats and platforms
The decision-making process in every area can take time-and a lot of effort. But don’t worry: The tips in this following checklist for content planning will help relieve the stress. (You can get further details and resources to support them in the four -part guide from CMI to create a profitable content plan.)
| Content planning checklist | ||
| Focus areas | Take measures | Tips for getting started |
| Determine content guidelines and governance | Define the clear value that your content will deliver | To implement the properties and properties that make your content recognizable and different, including the signature and style of your brand. |
| Set editorial quality and value standards | Implement Readability, intelligibility, Action ability and shareability. |
|
| Create your systems, processes and support mechanisms | Define the workflow and create critical processes | Create your workflow by identifying the tasks that are required to generate content. Then set these tasks one after the other and create agile processes that can be adapted to maintain optimal efficiency. |
| Promote smooth cooperation and communication | Create a detailed editorial calendar so that all team members can see where assets are in the production process, which tasks still have to be done and how they are postponed to the completion. | |
| Find how projects are managed and prioritized | Implement transparent criteria such as a rating process for the ranking and prioritization of existing projects and new inquiries about your performance potential. | |
| Build quality assurance | Follow the best practice of quality assurance to keep typing errors, grammatical errors and factual inaccuracies from your published content and the call of your brand over the accusation. | |
| Select suitable technologies and implement | Make sure you have the tools to manage your content -ecosystem and maintain optimal productivity. Think about where and how (or whether) you will benefit from AI tools in your processes. | |
| Structure your team and skills | Determine essential roles | The aim is to cover the most critical content roles and to consider whether your best option is to expand your resources or to reproduce current responsibilities to close gaps. |
| Rate team skills and determine how you can fill gaps | Make sure that your team has competence for the most critical skills in content marketing and that the available resources for outsourcing, augmentation or ascent in areas in which there is no. | |
| Meet creative and sales decisions | Identify critical topics | Discover market, public and industry trends to identify topics and topics of emerging importance. Consider develop a content Council or editorial committee to determine relevant areas in which your content offers the greatest value. |
| Plan great ideas to develop into assets | Focus on generating great ideas that are likely to activate your audience or can be packed for use on several platforms and channels. Creative brainstorming is a practical technology for the first ideas. | |
| Determine optimal options for packaging and distribution options in history | Search for efficient and inexpensive options for distributing content over several platforms. Consider the content assignment techniques to determine which distribution formats and channels should be used. | |
Map your standard workflow (and common variations)
To ensure that high-quality assets are consistently developed, content teams need a system to pursue and manage production and sales tasks.
This five -stage process can help you map the workflow for every content format (and variations). From there you can create the processes to operationalize these workflows.
You can find the details in this manual, but this abbreviated description and the sample templates show how the information should look like in every step:
Step 1: Perform a content test. This high -ranking view of content and distribution is organized in four columns:
- Content format: Create a line for every format that your team regularly produces.
- Main delivery platform: Note where each format is first published or released.
- Additional distribution goals: List additional channels and platforms in which this content format can be used.
- Special circumstances and variations: Note all variations that require additional steps or a specific production process.
| Content format | Primary distribution platform | Additional sales platforms | Special circumstances and variations |
| Editorial article | Website (blog) | · Newsletter · LinkedIn profile pages/groups · Social media |
· Sponsored contributions · Crowdsourced contributions · Example collections · Published contributions · Submissions of participants |
| Newsletter | None | None | |
| E-book | Website (resource page) | · E -Mail campaigns · Editorial article · Sponsored target pages |
· Gated for lead gen · Sponsored e-books |
| Video (live stream) | · Facebook · Tikkok |
· Compiled with influencers · Expert interviews |
|
| Video (script) | YouTube | · Website blog · Event Microsite · Website video page |
· Sponsored webinars |
| Social media contributions | · Facebook |
· Paid advertising campaigns · Compiled with influencers |
|
| Live presentations | Personal events | · Platforms virtual events · LinkedIn Live |
· Video sections on social media · Sales partner website |
Step 2: List all tasks required for each format. Don’t worry that the tasks will be put in order.
Step 3: Organize tasks after production level. Groups the tasks of each format one after the other based on pre -production, production or post -production.
| Stadium of content format (Editorial article) |
Necessary tasks |
| Pre -production level | Determine the topic. |
| Brainstorming angle. | |
| Identify sources/specialist experts. | |
| Request sales/marketing feedback on the subject and approach. | |
| Assign a writer. | |
| Facilitation of governance requirements. | |
| Creating/collecting authors -Bio -Info/-Assets. | |
| Production phase | Get the submission of authors. |
| Edit/revise a copy for style and substance. | |
| Order/visit. | |
| Send a final copy to the author and the stakeholders for revision/approval. | |
| Load/format copy and visuals for the layout. | |
| Set metatatails for SEO. | |
| Proof and approve the final layout. | |
| Post -production level | Plan the publication in the editorial calendar. |
| Publish content (including metadata) on its primary platform. | |
| Send content to (contact) for e -mail alarm/newsletter. | |
| Links/assets with content partners for additional advertising, reuse and sales efforts according to the content plan. | |
| Collect metric data and generate reports. | |
| Share performance data with stakeholders to inform potential adjustments or future content plans. |
Step 4: Add a column for the roles and responsibilities of each task. Map of how production flows from one role to the next.
| Stadium of content format (Editorial article) | Task to do | Roll |
| Pre -production level | Determine the topic. | · Team leader |
| Brainstorming angle. | · Team leader · Managing Editor |
|
| Identify sources/specialist experts. | · Managing Editor · Story editor · HR authors |
|
| Request sales/marketing feedback on the subject and approach. | · Managing Editor | |
| Assign a writer. | · Managing Editor | |
| Facilitation of governance requirements. | · Managing Editor | |
| Creating/collecting authors -Bio -Info/-Assets. | · Copy the editor |
Step 5: Operationalize and iTerieren. Create a mechanism to pursue tasks as soon as you are complete and notify the next party in the chain if the asset is ready for you. If you have no dedicated software tools, a simple table can work.
Systematize content requirements and allocations
Inquiries to create content for other organizational teams are a common pain point for marketing creative. These unexpected tasks can control tax plans and disrupt productivity. In the worst case, you are conflict with the strategic purpose of your brand and the different content mission.
However, you may have no way to refuse, but you can systematize these inquiries, so that everyone focuses on content with the best potential effects.
The applicant to submit a short time in content is a good starting point. If you document the required information and instructions, everyone is delivered on the same side, which is where the time is rewritten and changes. A letter also helps to outsource creation to freelance writers, guest authors and other external employees.
Dan Hatch says that a good amount of content determines clear expectations. It covers details such as the working title, the project period and history. It should also be described why the story is valuable, the key messages, the intended audience and how your brand normally communicates with you.
You can start with this template.
| Temporary template | ||||
| Work title | ||||
| Word number | Deadline | |||
| Insight or problem (why it is important) | ||||
| What is it about? (Brief overview of the idea) | ||||
| What contain (key news; potential support points) | ||||
| Conclusion (important snack) | ||||
| Desired answer ((Next steps or action calls))) | ||||
| Starting materials (links to reference materials, research data, SME contact information, etc.) | ||||
| Intended audience/ Target personality |
||||
| Copy notes (sound, style, language, etc.) | ||||
Rehabilitate bad content ideas rehabilitate
What if you receive an order that is far away from the lane or is too difficult to carry out? Read the requester in a manageable direction with this step-by-step approach, which was proposed by Amy Higgins by Cloudflare and Monica Norton by Nexiva.
In your contribution, bad content ideas: What to do if you can’t say no, share all the details and explanations. Use this checklist at the beginning to prepare for the difficult conversations to determine the best way forward:
| How to rehabilitated bad content ideas | ||
| Prepare an informed answer to the idea | ||
| Purpose | Take measures | |
| Step 1: Understand the question. | Determine what the success for the applicant looks like. | Questions: Why is this idea in the foreground? How did this idea come about? What do you like the most about the idea? Did you do it or see how another company did? |
| Step 2: Determine the intention behind the request. | Find the interruption between the applicant’s success view and your team’s KPIS. | How does his goal match the existing goals? Where are you gone? Why? |
| Step 3: Concentrate on the actual audience. | Discover the possibility of reorganizing the idea of the applicant against known customer needs. | Use the “Yes and” method to clarify the value for your audience. Example: “Yes. I love your idea of a blog post about the product functions. And let’s start first how to help our customers solve their pain points.” |
| Step 4: Identify where the idea fits the content trip. | Find whether content gaps could be filled with this idea on the trip or whether existing assets can be optimized for this request. | Check your published content to understand which content ideas resonate. Use this data to provide a reason for the move to a more effective idea. |
| Step 5: look at your resources. | Rate the needs of the teams so that you can make a conversation about what to do next. | Do you need more budget or resources? Do you have the right tools to measure the effects of the request? Do you have the time to do it right? |
Handicrafts -resonant, accessible stories
Aligning topics, ideas and formats presents your creative team for success. Working with a proven storytelling structure can ensure that the resulting content swings with the audience.
Basic stories on familiar archetypes
Seven classic archetypes are suitable for memorable stories. In my contribution about archetypes in storytelling you will find detailed explanations and examples. Here is a practical overview that authors can use if you stare at an empty page the next time:
| Archetypes storytelling | ||
| Archetype | Classic definition | Ideal for |
| The quest | A protagonist must overcome a number of obstacles to acquire an important object or achieve a desired goal. | Using approaches and helping consumers who enable them to achieve critical goals |
| Overcome the monster | An unlikely hero is challenged by an impressive enemy and is gradually receiving the courage, knowledge or strength to defeat it. | When you conquer your brand – and your customers – as |
| Rags to wealth | A protagonist from modest beginnings receives great power, knowledge or wealth and changes to the better after initial fights. | Illustrate how their pioneers and team members have overcome relating challenges |
| Rebirth | A controversial person or an event drives a faulty main character to think about their actions and forces them to achieve a more positive result by accepting redeeming changes. | Reset expectations in your company by speaking out about known topics and the steps you take to combat you |
| Travel and return | A protagonist travels to a foreign country and meets unexpected opposition forces. When returning home, the protagonist was changed for the better through experience. | Highlight the transformation effects of your product and service offer |
| comedy | In surreal or unlikely scenarios, a protagonist triumphs over adversities by taking out extreme lengths absurd. | Help small or newer brands that attract attention, bring legacy brands back into the mix of thoughts and redeem the flames of passionate loyalty |
| tragedy | A faulty hero hits an election or takes an action that ultimately leads to your cancellation. | Share of important information such as instructions that protect consumers from damage |
Write to be read and understood
Even the most powerful ideas do not help your brand to gain traction when the audience tries to get involved, and writing is unclear.
You can find dozens of tips to write precisely in Ann Gynn’s contribution, examples, tips and tools. It is among them quickly. For example, Ann suggests some replacement for word -rich phrases:
- “Show”, do not “show”
- “Use”, do not “use”
- “Too”, not “to”
- “Help”, do not “relieve”
- “Get yourself”, don’t “get”
To express your ideas more concise, work with a tool like Web FX’s Readability test.
Make the content easily accessible
No matter how well written, your content has no influence on someone who cannot access it. This includes consumers who use voice commands and screen readers to navigate websites or read transcripts to deal with videos and audio stories.
See the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) of the World Wide Web Consortium) Guidelines for accessibility of web content To ensure that your content is fully accessible. This checklist covers the basics in Irina Weber’s eight practical accessibility tips:
| Accessibility | ||
| action | Why | Tips |
| Optimize the title tags and headings. | Helps users to find the information you need quickly. | Use clear and clear page titles and headings. Use only one H1 day. Keep yours in sequential order on the way. Describe exactly the content. |
| Create accessible tables. | Tables in the text may be difficult to interpret for screen readers. | Build tables with Cascading style leaves. |
| Use the descriptive anchor text for links. | Users want to know what to expect when clicking on the link. | Avoid generic phrases. Consider using a target keyword. Be concise. |
| Add the descriptive old text for pictures. | Enables search engines and the visually impaired visual content to interpret precisely, and can increase Google’s visibility and ranking. | Write old text for every picture and every video. Add cap leads for content on websites that have no old text option. |
| Add a public sitemap. | Allows visitors to find what they need and help search engine index sites. | Make sure that your website contains both an XML and an HTML site. |
| Make social media content accessible. | Social media can have an impact on what the purchase decisions influence, especially for younger consumers such as Gen-Z. | Add cap leads and transcripts for video and old text. Have a sign language interpreter for videos and events. Capitalize every word in hashtags. Avoid the overuse of emojis. |
| Use an accessible language. | Accurate language and a well -structured format make content easy to understand. | Use a clear and simple language or enter a simplified version. Explain unusual words, idioms, phrases and abbreviations. Use spheres for the focus. Enter the language of the content with the “Lang” attribute in HTML. |
| Create accessible calls for action. | Encouraged and enables consumers to take the next step. | Write the scriptif and action -oriented text. Use this Contrasting To determine whether the CTA key corresponds to the guidelines for accessibility. Place the primary CTA over the fold so that users can see you without scrolling the page. Adjust the size and placement of the CTA in mobile versions to ensure its effectiveness. |
Plan an effective distribution
Your marketing team has no bandwidth. Do not waste any precious resources on channels and platforms that are unlikely to have the right effect. With some additional impact work, you can make more detailed decisions about where you should share and promote the content.
Rate your options for social platform
Like the content plan that leads the creative and operational efforts of your team, a robust sales plan requires effort. Each media platform offers a unique experience with its advantages and disadvantages. You have to weigh them carefully.
Although this task can be complicated with social media platforms, the planning process takes four steps:
- Examine your options
- Examination of existing assets
- Identify top opportunities
- Define the procedure and guidelines
I sketch details for every step to create a profitable content plan for social media. However, this checklist helps you know what information you should collect and what questions you should ask:
| Rate social media distribution options | |||
| Who uses this channel and how does it use it? | Which ingredients and formats get the greatest traction? | How are brands committed here? | Can we achieve a competitive advantage? |
| Is it an essential channel for the target personas? How much time do users spend average here? What are conversations and interactions? | Are we already producing this type of conversations? Do we have enough assets/resources to maintain a consistent presence? Does the platform offer integrated creative tools to scale production? | Do brands have different profile options than other users? Is there a verification system? What options are there for increasing the organic reach? How does the platform treat backlinks and recommendations? What metrics does the platform offer? | Are our competitors active in this area? What types of content/conversations do you share here? |
Measure and compare the content performance
Thorough planning can increase the chances of success, but you also have to consistently measure the performance of the content in order to prove that the plan works correctly (or that this is not the case).
A content scorecard can help you to understand the effectiveness of your content and corrective measures to optimize its effects. When setting up a content assessment process for better decisions, Tendo Communications Vice President Lindy Roux outlines a process for a quantitative and qualitative assessment. Although each analysis uses different criteria, both rate the performance on a one-to-point scale.
In Lindy’s approach, quantitative reviews measure the performance of assets against the goals of the content, such as:
- Exposure: Views, impressions, backlinks
- Engagement: Time on page, clicks, reviews, comments
- Conversion: Purchase, registrations for closed content, returns, clicks back
- Redistribution: Shares, pens
Qualitative reviews measure the relative value of the assets regardless of its performance analysis. Lindy shares some of the criteria that she used in her scorecards:
- Consistency: Does the content match the branded voice and the style?
- Clarity and accuracy: Is the content understandable, precise and up -to -date?
- Discharge: Does the layout of the information support the key information?
- Engagement: Do the content use the corresponding techniques to influence or engage visitors?
- Relevance: Does the content correspond to the requirements of all intended user types?
- Authenticity: Is the content authentic and original?
In her article, Lindy explains how to define benchmarks and carry out their calculations. Then you can create a scorecard like this:
| Qualitative results | |||||
| Content A | Content B | Content C | Content d | Content e | |
| consistency | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Clarity and accuracy | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Discovery | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| engagement | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| relevance | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Average qualitative score | 3.8 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| Quantitative values | |||||
| exposure | 3.2 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 2.8 |
| engagement | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.0 |
| Conversion | 2.2 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 3.0 |
| Average quantitative score | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
| Average qualitative score | 3.8 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| Recommended action | Check and improve | Remove and avoid | Remember distribution plan | Remember distribution plan | Check and improve |
By comparing the ratings of each asset value, you can easily determine the best procedure. For example:
- Quantitative values higher than qualitative: Check the content and look for ways to optimize it and improve performance.
- Qualitative values higher than quantitative: Consider alternative options for distributing the asset for better performance.
- Low artists: Remove them from your content platforms and avoid creating similar types of content.
- Hochkunstler: Promote and reuse these assets regularly. Update your content plan to create more of this type of content.
Get the help you need to do the job
If you enter into one year to take new changes and challenges, use these instructions and tools to improve your productivity, maintain the quality and value of your content and to enjoy greater success in your content marketing career.
All tools mentioned in this article were proposed by the author. If you want to suggest a tool, share the article on social media with a comment.
Hand injured content:
Cover picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute