1. Define your goal.
What is your end for developing a content marketing blueprint? These questions are vital for the core content strategy. Identify the goals your brand wants to achieve and based on that information, then order these goals from most important to least important. Most importants goals may include the foundation of your business. This can help you decide which parts of your strategy are an immediate need and which are for long-term action. This step can also help with resource questions later in the process.
Know your goals before you begin planning, and you’ll have an easier time determining what’s best for your strategy.
2. Target Audience
Once you have identified the goals of the brand, then you need what kind of audience you are targeting, or planning to serve, aka ‘target audience’.
To develop a successful plan, you need to clearly define your content’s target audience — also known as your buyer persona. This is a crucial part of the planning phase of content strategy.
This is especially important for those who are new to marketing. By knowing your target audience, you can produce more relevant and valuable content that they’ll want to read and convert on.
3. Determine Which Type of Content You Want To Create.
There are a variety of options out there for content you can create, from written content like ebooks and blog posts to audio content like podcasts. Great content strategy is a balance of decision-making, data analysis, and risk-taking. Those skills will all be put to the test in this step.
You may need different types of content for different personas and goals. Take a careful look at your end goals and the actions you want each persona to take. Then, work backward to choose the right kind of content for each goal and user.
For example, say you’re trying to decide between starting a blog or a podcast. Blogs tend to be better for conversion, while podcasts are great for building brand awareness. Your goals and audience should be the deciding factor for which is best for your business. Once you’ve made these big decisions about your content strategy, you’ll be ready to get into the details.
4. Brainstorm Content Ideas.
Use your content audit, persona research, and goals to make the best content decisions for your business. A quick review of this information before brainstorming can help you keep these insights top of mind. With this information, think of the best type of content that suits your style and the message you intend to convey. For some blogs are easy, and some prefer podcasting and videos. So, don’t worry if you feel uneasy while facing a camera, do what you feel comfortable at.