Make a content marketing plan for 2022!

2022 is quickly flying by, but it’s not too late to plan your marketing and advertising strategy. Without a strategy, you will be rudderless and unable to track any of your efforts. Get organized and get started today by creating a content marketing plan.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is the process of creating valuable and relevant content for your target audience and then distributing this content to them. Content marketing should help your ideal customer, and they should engage with the content because it is the right information at the right time. 

How can content marketing help your business?

There’s a lot of noise out there. A solid content marketing strategy gets attention because it is practical, relevant, and helpful for your audience. Content marketing can also be distributed in a variety of modes making it flexible for all businesses: 

• Social media
• SEO
• Ads
• Print
• Newsletters
• Articles
• …and more!

Content marketing reaches customers at all stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Awareness Stage

Your customers need to know that they do not need to live with their pain points. Create content that targets these issues and questions. 

Consideration Stage

Once your customers know their problem and potential solutions, educate them on the best plan of action. This could be an article for your general contracting business like “8 things to avoid when remodeling your kitchen.”

Closing Stage

You need to demonstrate why you’re the best for the job at the closing stage. Demonstrate your expertise, knowledge, and experience in the industry. 

3 Quick Steps to Create a Content Marketing Plan for 2022

If your budget is small, then simply planning out your content marketing strategy and sticking to the plan is a great option to get started. And it’s free!. Here are three quick steps to creating a content marketing plan for 2022.

Step 1: Set a goal for your strategy.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. How much time can you spend creating content? Do you have time to post weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly? Remember to factor in time for editing and posting. 
2. Where are you going to publish your content? Will it live on your website, are you posting to social media, or are you publishing to third-party sites?
3. What are your content goals for 2022? Are you trying to get more business, sell products, grow a following, or just make content for fun? Set a goal so your content plan will have a focus.
4. Who is your audience? Define your audience so you know precisely who you are writing for when you create content. 
5. What type of information does your audience want? This is an extension of #4, but define what your audience’s pain points are and consider what type of information is helpful. 
6. Who will execute the different parts of your content marketing plan? Divide and conquer, and make sure you know who is doing what before starting. If you're a solopreneur, this step is easy; you own every step.

This process is helpful because it helps you to prioritize your goals. It is worthwhile to include the people involved with the process while you set your priorities and expectations. 

Step 2: Write down your plan.

If you don’t write down your plan, you probably won't get started. By writing down a solid plan of action, you are far more likely to follow through and achieve your goals.

Maybe you have time to post twice a month. That’s great! There’s no right or wrong way to do this. This is the content plan you are creating around your schedule.

Here's how to make a plan. Open up a Google Doc and type out “January,” “February,” and “March.” We’re only going to focus on the first three months of 2022 for now. Working too far ahead can lead to burnout, so start small. If three months sounds too intense, just start with January. Since you’ll be doing two pieces of content for January, you need to develop two topics for this month. Take some time and think about the topic. Once you’ve selected your two topics, write them down under January. Now do the same for February and March. At this point, you should have six topics listed on the Google Doc.

Step 3: Schedule your writing and posting.

Now that you have your topics ready, schedule due dates for each post. Since you’re posting two blogs in January, schedule the first post to go live on Monday, January 17th, and the second to go live on Monday, January 31st. I generally try to post on the same day of the week but feel free to find a schedule that works for you. Now work backward from each due date to see when to start writing each post. Always account for research, outlining, edits, and rewrites. This might take some trial and error if you're just getting started, but you'll quickly realize how long it takes to create and publish your content. Finally, schedule when and how you will post your work. Will you schedule your posts earlier in the month or post them manually on the due date?

Now that you have a plan in place, 2022 will become the starting point for your content marketing journey. By this time next year, you'll probably see a nice boost in traffic to your website.

If you are blogging for your business, remember to add Google Analytics tracking to your site. You can review the traffic coming to your new posts and track your progress throughout the year.

Get started content marketing with an experienced agency.

A lot of time and energy goes into creating content, but planning will make the process easier. Remember to set a goal, write down your plan, then schedule your content marketing plan.

Content marketing doesn’t just end at posting to your blog. It’s where content creation becomes content marketing. We can get your business’s message to more people. 

If you are looking for a trusted content marketing company, Crosby Digital Marketing can help develop a solid content marketing strategy for your business. Contact us today.