Tweet

What the Heck is a Content Strategy Plan?

Guest post by: Lisa Manyon

Article Overview: A Content Strategy Plan is basically a marketing road map to steer all of your marketing efforts for the upcoming year. Yes -YEAR. I have the unique ability to quickly assimilate information, break it down into topics and put together simple ways to create the foundation of your marketing message for the entire year.

What the Heck is a Content Strategy Plan?

I recently posted an update on social media sites delightfully proclaiming...

"Progress report: My Content Strategy for 2011 is completely mapped out. Now time to chunk it down into projects & get ready for the New Year"

A response from one of my Facebook friends, Idara Bassey, (and I do consider her a friend - she's someone I'd like to meet in "real life", thoughtful, engaging and I truly enjoy our exchange) asked... "Forgive me if you already elaborated on this in an earlier post- what exactly is a Content Strategy and how does it differ for a goal or a mission statement?"

My short answer is "@Idara it's your overall marketing theme and messages for the year. Sounds like I need to blog about it. Stay tuned!!!"

Now for a longer explanation and thanks for asking Idara:

A Content Strategy Plan is basically a marketing road map to steer all of your marketing efforts for the upcoming year. Yes -YEAR. I have the unique ability to quickly assimilate information, break it down into topics and put together simple ways to create the foundation of your marketing message for the entire year. It's another one of my Manyon Marketing Makeover techniques. A Content Strategy Plan is different from a goal or mission statement because your Content Strategy Plan is what helps you reach your goals and operate in accordance to your mission statement.

I can already hear some entrepreneurs saying "I cannot plan that far ahead." And I say to that "BS!!"

Just because you have an overall theme for your marketing for the year, break it down into monthly themes, have a solid foundation for multiple blog posts and video scripts does not mean you don't have flexibility to add or change the plan. It just means you have a solid Content Strategy Plan and you can have content locked and loaded and ready to go in advance so you can focus on your magic and since it's your business, you can ultimately change the plan any time you need to. AND ultimately you've planned in advance to leverage your time and resources.

Here are 11 ways a Content Strategy Plan will help your business.

Basically, having your Content Strategy Plan in place also means:

1. Your overall marketing theme is clearly defined to work with your sales goals
2. The majority of your electronic newsletter or eZine content can be created in advance
3. No more scrambling around at the last minute trying to decide what to write articles about
4. You won't have to search for blog topics you'll have your blog topics clearly identified
5. Video script ideas are right at your fingertips so there's no excuse for being camera shy
6. Everything you create ties together to skillfully promote you and your services while being of service
7. You're continually offering solutions to your customers problems with your marketing materials
8. JV partnerships and other special promotions are planned in advance (making it easier to say "no" to opportunities that are not a good fit & identifying the big players who plan ahead just like you)
9. A master plan to review, implement and adjust as necessary to ensure you're reaching your goals
10. Ideas to leverage your current relationships, build new relationships and stretch your own goals
11. You are planning ahead so you can create more time and space for growth

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask. And while you're at it, imagine the peace of mind you'll have once you have your Content Strategy Plan in place.

Related Articles
  Content Strategy: Your Online Site
  Preparing for 2008
  Stop working and start Earning?
  Content Strategy: The Key to Developing Effective Content
  Sifting Through the Marketing Chaos
  Heck of a Nice Guy
  How to Share Your Expertise and Get More Website Traffic
  7 Reasons Why Your Small Business Must Have A Content Management Strategy
  Does your website content grab visitors' attention?
  Are You Putting The "Content-Cart" Before The "Traffic-Driving Horse"?
  How to Develop a Strategy of Article Writing and Forum Posting for Your Internet Home Based Business
  Internet Marketing Strategy – Top Tips
  Proven Marketing Strategies For Content Distribution
  Getting More Online Traffic – Secrets Revealed
  To Blog or Not to Blog… Blogging Made Easy (Part 2)
  A Blog Blog, Question Mark
  What Is The Biggest Challenge That Every Internet Marketers Face?
  Sales Strategy
  Google is Like A Voting System
  SEO Strategy

Article Tags: content, content strategy plan, manyon marketing makeover, marketing, marketing message



Related Forum Posts
Book: Secrets of Six Figure Women - Secrets of Six Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to up your earning and change your life Barbara Stanny, 2002 Jacket: Maybe you've noticed - a subtle trend is gathering steam. Quietly and steadily, the number of women making six figures or more is increasing, and it continues to rise at a rate faster than for men. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives, from white collar executives to free lancers and part timers, women are forging careers with considerable financial success. Through extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including dialogs with more than 150 high earners whose annual incomes range from $100,000 to 7 million, Stanny discovered that ...they all had certain traits in common: 1) a profit motive 2) Audacity 3) REslience 4) Encouragement 5) Self-awareness 6) Non-attachment 7) Financial knowhow She amplifies on these in the book itself. Table of Contents Intro: Welcome to the era of the six-figure woman 1. The Queen in the Countinghouse 2. The Lowdown on low earners 3. Raising the bar 4. Strategy 1: The Declaration of Intention 5. Strategy 2: Letting go of the ledge 6. Strategy 3: Get in the Game 7. Strategy 4: Speak Up 8. Strategy 5: The Stretch 9. Strategy 6: Seek Support 10. Strategy 7: Obey the rules of money 11. Claiming our power Appendces: Resources and websites Tips for getting out of dent Investing Basics: Wealthbuilding 101
Re: Meta Tags - [quote="ChrisH":tzc1bohg]I'm just curious what you all think -- - How important do you think meta tags are? If the content is keyword optimized and they are being used correctly (as per Google's current instructions) how important are meta tags?? Chris[/quote:tzc1bohg] Metatags were very important 10 years ago. Now, search engines are smarter... There are 2 very important things on your page: 1/ Page title: make sure to place some keywords in your title (avoid title like "welcome to my website, great information resource". You are wasting prime keyword real estate. 2/ Content. Content. Content. Content. Content. Oh, did I mention content?? Your content as to mention your main keywords several times. 3/ <h> and <b> tags are very important too. They tell search engines you emphasize these keywords.
Starting a New Business - Congratulations on the first step of deciding to create your own business. First, you have to ascertain if you are going to be selling your products or services to people or to businesses. People purchase products and services for three basic reasons: •To satisfy basic needs •To solve problems •To make themselves feel good. You have to determine which of these three categories your product or service is the solution to. Businesses, unlike individuals, buy products and services for three reasons as well: •To increase revenues •To maintain the status quo •To decrease expenses. Knowing the reasons why people/businesses buy, you should have a picture emerging of who you think your "Target Market" (or ideal customer) is. Once you have zeroed in on your solution, you are ready to create your Marketing Strategy. If you look at any company that has grown rapidly over the past few years, (i.e. WestJet and Starbucks), it should demonstrate to you the importance of Marketing. In simple terms these companies have: •Clearly defined what makes them different; •Who their ideal customer is; •How to reach them; •Why customers should buy from them; •And most importantly why customers should come back again. It is strong Marketing Awareness that singles out the best companies. I can not stress enough how important it is to create a "living" Marketing Plan before you even start. I hope this helps a little in the creation of your plan. All the very best of luck. Remember: "A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish" Miles of Smiles, Marketing Maven
Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.
Re: Best looking social networking site? - Hi Kevin [quote:3h76yt08]With so many social networking sites to pick and choose from, what influences your decision to join a particilar site? Is it just your friends, the content, people using it or looks??[/quote:3h76yt08] For me, the most essential criteria in selecting a Social Networking Site is its Content followed closely by popularity- in terms of daily visitors. Then comes the Content followed by the Friends and looks. Most of do social networking to attract traffic to their website(s) and as such the Content and Popularity of the site are important. btw, the list doesn't have digg or netscape or del.is.us which are the top social media sites.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Induction – your first management job

Common Sense Stress Management

How do you keep it together on a daily basis?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.