How to Create a Content Marketing Plan
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” And as business owners, we don’t want to fail, do we? Nope.
So being intentional in the planning of our yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily content is crucial.
When you’re planning out your marketing calendar, having a sure-fire system in place - that helps you meet your goals - will not only save you time, but will also ensure that you produce better content.
Today I’m sharing with you how I’ve planned and created content for the past several years. You’re going to learn how I plan my content - all of my marketing - for an entire year.
The Big Plan
I sit down at the end of each year to plan the following year ahead. And I break down the year into quarters, based on what I have coming up in my business.
Here’s my big plan of action:
(1) Big Promotion or Launch each Quarter
(1) weekly blog post that is somehow connected to that big promotion/launch
(1) weekly email newsletter that has something to do with the blog post
(2-3) social media posts per week that are geared toward the blog post
(4-5) other social media posts per week that are centered on my content pillars
If you don’t do blogs, you could use YouTube, Instagram or Facebook Live, a Webinar, or a podcast.
But I make sure everything is tied to my business goals and what I want to accomplish that year. I’m not looking to put out content or waste time with content that isn’t ultimately tied to one of my business goals.
So ultimately the first step is to make sure I’ve determined annual goals for my business.
I print out blank calendar pages to mark these things off:
Holidays
Personal Vacations and Planned Time Off
Big Sale Holidays (i.e., Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Labor Day Sales, etc.)
Planned Promotions, Pushes, or Launches (remember: I do one big push each quarter)
Now, that the big plan is in place, it’s time to focus on Quarter 1, and plan out the content.
My Content Strategy
I use Google’s Hero, Hub, and Hygiene Marketing Strategy. Google originally came up with the Hero, Hub, and Hygiene marketing strategy a few years ago, and it still sticks today. It was originally meant as a video marketing strategy, but many marketers (including myself) have adapted it for blog content, as well. It works really well.
Hero Content
This is your meat and potatoes. Your big knockout piece of content. The stuff that requires a lot of planning, research, storyboarding (if you’re doing a video), outlining, and production. It’s what you’re going to put a big push behind.
For me, this is my weekly blog posts. It could be your YouTube video. It could be an Instagram or Facebook Live. It could be a podcast.
So what I do is look at Quarter 1’s promotions and launches, and I write out 15-20 big topics that have something to do with those promos/launches. You won’t use all of these ideas, but you’ll pull 12 of them - 1 per week - for the upcoming quarter.
For example, if you were a Real Estate Agent, and you were going to push first time home buyers during Quarter 1, then some of your possible Hero pieces of content might be:
A Guide to Buying Your First Home
First Time Home Buyer Loans
How to Determine How Much House You Can Afford
Top 10 Things to Do as a First Time Home Buyer
Top 10 Things NOT to Do as a First Time Home Buyer
Biggest Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Make
...and so on.
Hub Content
This is your regular, recurring content that your audience comes to expect from you. This could potentially be your content pillars. Some of it will be more evergreen. Your Hub Content is for the people who are already following you and on your email list. This is really where your social media lives. Your Hub Content can also be your weekly email newsletters.
Here’s how I come up with my Hub Content for the quarter:
I list out my Content Pillars, and start brainstorming smaller topics that are based off those Hero pieces of content under each one. If I’m lacking topics under a particular Content Pillar, then I do more brainstorming to add more. Not everything under these Content Pillars has to tie back to a piece of Hero Content. In fact, it shouldn’t. You want to build credibility by talking about yourself and other relevant things.
Content Pillars, by the way, are the big topics you focus on in your social media. Some people call them Content Buckets. These are some of my tried-and-true pillars (that I originally learned from Jasmine Star… she calls them Caption Categories).:
Behind-the-Scenes
My Why
Personal Insight
Encouragement
About Me
Benefits
Showcase Your Product/Service
Your Content Pillars need to be varied and they don’t need to be all business. Some of them need to be personable so you show your audience that you’re a human. That you can be vulnerable. So they get to know you and trust you.
So… once you have those Content Pillars listed out, start plugging your smaller topics under each one depending on where they best fit.
That Real Estate Agent’s Content Pillars and smaller topics might look like this (again, remember, every single one is not related to first time home buyers):
Behind-the-Scenes:
Video of me walking through a home for sale
How I find homes that meet my buyer’s needs
My Why:
Why I like to help first time home buyers
Why I became a Real Estate Agent
Personal Insight:
Why you should be ready to commit to owning a house
Favorite local hot spots
Encouragement:
Inspirational/Motivational Quotes about home buying/owning a home
You can do this - Empower my Clients
About Me:
A peek into my day as a real estate agent
What I do on the weekends
Benefits:
How I help prepare clients to owning their first home
What you get if you buy/sell your house with me
Showcase Your Service:
Pics of clients who just bought their house
Pics of houses on the market
See? You’re not actually writing this content yet. You’re just coming up with the ideas.
Hygiene Content
This is what your audience is searching for… the help they need. It’s very frequently produced and written because it’s what’s being Googled. This is where you’re going to gain more audience and followers because they’re literally searching for what you’re putting out there. This type of content is going to be threaded through your daily social media posts and your email newsletters (sometimes mini blogs), and will likely include:
Tutorials
Reels
Quick Tips
Infographics
How To videos
Behind-the-Scenes
Sneak Peeks
So to come up with my Hygiene Content for the quarter, I basically splinter my Hero Content into 2-3 smaller topics each.
Going back to the real estate agent example who is focusing on First Time Home Buyers, that might look like this:
3 Best Loans for First Time Home Buyers
How to Know You’re Ready to Commit to Owning a Home
How Much of a Down Payment You Need
How to Check Your Credit
How to Keep a High Credit Score
The 4 Main Types of Mortgages
What is a Preapproval Letter
How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
How to Make the Most of an Open House
What is a Home Inspection
Why You Need Home Insurance
...and so on.
This list should be long. At minimum, I brainstorm 24 topics.
Plan It Out. Plug It In.
Now I have lots of ideas for what content to create… all that’s left is scheduling it. I go back to that calendar I started in the beginning… the one where I wrote in my holidays, vacations, promos, and launches… and I start filling in my weekly Hero Content.
For me, I personally publish my weekly blog content every Monday. So, I write my weekly Hero Content on each Monday on my calendar. I love using a simple old-school paper calendar for this, but eventually I switch over to my Lindsay Letters Quarterly Calendar.
Then I place my Content Pillars on each day of the week. I personally assign one day each week to a different Content Pillar. For example:
Mondays: Encouragement
Tuesdays: About Me
Wednesdays: Showcase Service/Product
Thursdays: My Why
…and so on :)
Then I take my Hygiene Content and plug 2-3 of those per week where they fit best.
For example, if the Real Estate Agent’s Hero Content for the week is First Time Home Buyer Loans, then he/she’s probably also going to talk about the 4 Main Types of Mortgages and the 3 Best Loans for First Time Home Buyers during that week.
I also write out any CTA and goal next to each week so that I can remember what I’m pointing my audience towards each week.
Here’s an example of what a week’s worth of content might look like for the real estate agent:
You aren’t worrying about writing the content for any of this right now. You’re just coming up with a big plan that actually services a purpose. Although, if you want to learn how to write content that actually converts people into buyers, check this post out.
Once you do all of this - you will have a full quarter of content planned!
If you’re interested in learning how to make sure you’re writing content that speaks directly towards your Ideal Client, be sure to check out this post.
