How to develop a content marketing plan

One of the easiest ways to create a brand that feels streamlined and thought through is by developing a content marketing plan. This will also help you build brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads.

In this post, we’ll walk through the key steps to developing an effective content marketing plan that aligns with your business goals and resonates with your audience, because they should always be the foundation of everything you do!

Define your goals

Before you begin brainstorming content ideas, it's important to determine what you want your content marketing to achieve. Common goals include increasing website traffic, generating leads, improving search engine rankings, building brand authority or nurturing customer relationships.

Understand your audience

The key to everything in marketing (and business). Content only works if it speaks to the right people. Who is your target audience? What challenges do they face? What questions do they ask? And where do they spend their time online?

Creating buyer personas can help bring this to life. These are fictional but realistic profiles of your ideal customers, complete with demographics, interests, goals and pain points. Once you know who you're talking to, it's easier to create content that captures their attention and provides value.

Conduct a content audit

If you already have existing content, I recommend reviewing it and have a look at what you’ve published so far. This helps you identify what’s working, what needs improvement, and where there are gaps in your content.

Look at performance metrics such as traffic, engagement, and conversions. This data can inform what topics resonate most with your audience and which formats work the best.

Choose your content types and channels

Content marketing can come in many forms: blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, white papers, case studies, etc. The best formats depend on your audience preferences, industry, and resources.

You should also consider where your content will be seen. This might include your own website, social media platforms, or email newsletters. Choosing the right channels ensures your content reaches your target audience where they are most active.

Plan your content topics and calendar

Now it’s time to brainstorm content ideas that align with your goals and audience needs. Use tools like keyword research, customer FAQs, industry news, and competitor analysis to decide on your topics.

Once you have a list of ideas, you can create a content calendar. This should strategise what content will be published, in what format, and on which dates. A calendar helps you stay consistent, and also gives you an overview of it all.

Assign roles and create workflows

If you're working with a team, make sure you know who is responsible for each part of the content process, from writing and editing to design and publishing. Establish a workflow that includes deadlines, review stages, and approval steps to keep things running smoothly.

Measure and optimise

After your content is published, track how it performs against your goals. Use analytics tools to monitor key metrics like page views, time on page, social shares and lead conversions.

Regularly review the data to identify trends and opportunities for improvement. Content marketing is an ongoing process, and the best plans evolve over time based on results and feedback.

A plan that goes to plan

It can feel overwhelming to create a content marketing plan. That’s why it’s so good to break it down into steps. It will ensure that your content plan goes to plan. Another key benefit of this is that you’ll have a streamlined and well designed plan that you can go back to throughout the year. No questions, no messy weeks, just a plan that works for you and your audience.

And if this all feels overwhelming then I am here to help. Book a discovery call and lets talk through your needs.