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<\/a> <\/p>\n2. Update your personas<\/h2>\n
Review how you\u2019re defining your target audience by evaluating personas\u2014those fictitious descriptions that aim to encapsulate who your content needs to reach. Are you interviewing actual customers to validate personas? Are you considering all the data? Research on buyer personas<\/a> by Cintell suggests that marketers with documented and updated buyer personas are more than twice as likely to exceed their goals. <\/p>\n Admittedly, different strategies have different KPIs. But beyond crunching the numbers about how others are consuming your content (or not), you need to know what’s working in each channel to develop your strategic planning checklist. On the tactical side, ask yourself what you hope content will achieve. More educated customers? More sales? Higher lead-generation? Then address specific content-delivery platforms, whether newsletters, social media or infographics<\/a> to develop the prescriptions you\u2019ll use to improve each area. Bottom like, it’s hard to decide to do more or less of a given activity if you don’t know what’s working. Sometimes, the urge is just to troubleshoot what isn\u2019t working and toss it out without a second thought. But it\u2019s worth pausing for a closer look. Occasionally, those underperforming channels are just being used at the wrong time\u2014or maybe the messaging\u2019s off. You might notice, for example, that email open rates have stagnated because you\u2019re sticking to Mondays like clockwork, when everyone\u2019s inbox is already exploding. Shifting day or tone could surprise you with results, so don\u2019t scrap things prematurely.<\/p>\n Analyze what your competition is doing with content marketing. What about their strategy is resonating (either because there’s lots of sharing or you see them doing a lot of it)? What topics are they focused on or ignoring? What areas do you think you could own? Do a basic SWOT analysis, then use tools such as Buzzsumo<\/a>\u00a0and Moz<\/a> to validate your qualitative research. <\/p>\n If you catch yourself drawn to a rival\u2019s content\u2014like pausing on their LinkedIn post or actually reading a branded newsletter\u2014don\u2019t just chalk it up to a slow day. There\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ve landed on something your audience craves, too. Let your reactions inform your research; it\u2019s data, even if it feels anecdotal. Plus, if their \u201cbig idea\u201d is consistently getting engagement, maybe the gap isn\u2019t in the idea at all, but how it\u2019s being delivered or tailored. In a way, it\u2019s almost like cheating on the test, except everyone\u2019s doing it.<\/p>\n Content managers can\u2019t operate in a vacuum. Obtaining buy-in across the departments\u00a0of your business is crucial to moving the content needle. Check in with sales, customer success, and the product team to verify:\u00a0a) the audience you’re building is helping them reach their goals and b) the content you’re creating is useful to other teams. To streamline the feedback process, consider a two-part approach. Schedule sit-downs with people in key departments and ask open-ended interview questions that help you gauge what\u2019s working and what isn\u2019t. Also solicit their ideas for new content and improvements to make. Then send a quick electronic survey to capture feedback from those who weren\u2019t able to participate. As an added benefit, you might even identify some enthusiastic content creators. <\/p>\n Based on all of the action items we\u2019ve described above, you should begin to see patterns emerge that point you toward the elements to include in your strategic planning checklist. But don’t overlook the content you’ve already created.\u00a0How might existing marketing assets\u2014or interesting content from other departments\u2014be reused as evergreen content<\/a>, for example? Remember, your objective is to work smarter, not harder. It\u2019s not cheating if some of the tactics that emerge get you closer to the mark while saving you time and recapitalizing on successful campaigns. <\/p>\n Unless you are the content marketing world\u2019s foremost rainmaker, chances are your budget and staff resources are limited. That means your content expectations have to be realistic, and they might need to be adjusted to be obtainable. Setting good goals is a little bit of an art form. Should they be based on past performance? Or should a bar be set that you just find a way to leap over? However it gets done, make sure that your goals are based somehow in reality. If, for example, you plan to see traffic grow at 10% a month, you should be able to point to activities you’ll be doing each month to drive that growth. You should also know you’ll have all the resources you need to get there. If your resources and your goals aren’t aligned, your strategy’s not going to work. <\/p>\n Ann Handley said it best recently when she wrote<\/a>, \u201cIf your logo fell off, would you<\/em> recognize you<\/em>?\u201d She\u2019s right, of course. Your written content should be distinct, and it should\u00a0reflect your core personality\u2014how you envision your business would talk to customers if it had a mouth. Does your voice capture the essence of your brand? And does it, like, bring your audience a little closer, man? I missed the mark on that last sentence, didn’t I? Take a real look at how you say what you say. In addition to Ann Handley’s existential question above, put yourself in the shoes of your personas and ask whether your content is appealing. Better yet, ask a few customers what they think. If you want a role model for developing the right tone (and getting it adopted across your org, look no further than MailChimp’s brilliant guide<\/a>. An example: Once your strategy is written, your budget is in place and your team is at the ready, it\u2019s go time. Gather the troops and walk them through the document you\u2019ve created. Nothing that’s in it should be a surprise; chances are good they helped you build it. Now, go forth and plan! Document, research and measure!\u00a0It’ll be an awesome year if you do. Nate Birt is a multimedia journalist, social media enthusiast and copy editor with experience at a variety of print and digital publications, and a Contributing Editor<\/a> to the Visually Blog<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter at @natebirt<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n }}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The next time you take that beloved crossbow outside and aim for a tree, try closing your eyes before firing. Can you guess where the arrow will land? Nowhere close to the mark. Content marketing without a solid plan has the exact same results. You\u2019ve got everything in hand you need to be wildly successful\u2014the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sem-categoria"],"yoast_head":"\n3. Take a deep dive into what’s working<\/h2>\n
4. Look at the competition<\/h2>\n
5. Get a cross-functional check-up<\/h2>\n
6. Identify opportunities to scale<\/h2>\n
7. Set measurable (and realistic!) goals<\/h2>\n
8. Check your voice and tone<\/h2>\n
9. Share your plans with your team<\/h2>\n