Forbes published an article called “3 Steps To Creating A Killer Small Business Content Marketing Strategy” by Jayson DeMers.
Step 1 is research: the audience, your competition, content trends in and out of your industry, and up-and-coming social media platforms.
Step 2 is to set your content marketing goals. Include objective targets like customer retention or more conversions. Set timeframes: content marketing results don’t happen overnight but they do need to happen. Also set goals around how much time and money are you willing to invest, and when. Don’t empty the budget on a single flashy project, but don’t practice false economy either. Content marketing needs time, money, or both to get top results.
The 3rd step is what DeMers calls “drafts,” although I would call it something different. Essentially he means creating and leveraging content. In this section, he is 100% right on setting phases in your project management timeline. For example, you might build your phases around content bundles on your hot quarterly topics. Write a white paper, then leverage for 3-5 different platforms. Or create a phase around growing traffic on your blog, or increasing shares on social media. DeMers also points out strategically allocating resources, and the importance of being consistent while still staying flexible.