Why You Need To Build a Content Plan (And A Content Team)

A content marketing strategy should make your business money by engaging current customers and drawing in new ones. There are a myriad of benefits regarding content planning and having a go-to team of producers. In this blog post, we’ll outline the different benefits of each part of a strategy.

A go-to content team is a valuable way to facilitate creation, publication and governance of useful, usable content. Since a content plan is tactical, documenting specifics of how to get the job done, different minds can add to the overall success. This is reason enough to incorporate a team vs. just one idea. Besides, work can be shared — and that’s always a positive.

A content team should have a marketing plan in place before the work even begins. Create a checklist regarding the buy-in conversation and ensure everyone is on board at the start. Lay out budget expectations, resource allocations and benchmarking specifications so that your content strategy and goals are clear and concise.

The benefits of taking the time to understand your audience goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. Businesses need customers to survive, which means they need sales — which means they should understand their customers and their audiences first and foremost.

All brands have a story — and whether or not you know it yet, yours does, too. Develop a mission statement that can grow with your company throughout various marketing and advertising campaigns. When customers understand your brand’s goals and initiatives, they are more likely to connect for the long haul — or, at least, they will engage to try you out.

Your channel plan should include the platforms you will use to tell your story. Channel plans also spell out criterion, processes, objectives, and means of execution. Utilizing a channel plan helps to create a cohesive narrative and engages customers in brand conversation.

Pre-scheduling content allows the team to focus on objectives that bring the company more business. Carving out time to schedule content posts can be done in one sitting over a span of hours, days, weeks, and months vs. on a daily basis when businesses should be working on their bottom line. Scheduling posts for the most fertile times is also a bonus — more research on that can be found here.

Businesses should stand behind the content they post and not be surprised by the outcome when feedback funnels through various formats to the creator. Using checklists is a good way to ensure the team is staying on the right track regardless of the identity or ideology of the person with the mouse.

Checklists also ensure that common mistakes can be easily avoided. For instance, are titles correct? Do all outbound links open in a new window? Are tags appropriate? Are images clear and not grainy?

In closing, it’s important to understand that when you adhere to the benefits of building a content development plan and team, you establish yourself as a thought leader. Successful marketing and advertising teams who work together will find success around every turn. There is so much content out in the world on a daily basis, why not take some time to share the load? Get those creative juices flowing with a strategy that truly works and the benefits will be all yours.