Why is Content Planning Important? It's a Ton of Effort, Make It Pay Off

Content Planning: Why It’s Important and Simple Tips to Get Started

One of the things that I find gets overlooked so often is the need to do some content planning process. So I create a lot of content. I’m getting ready to get my podcast off the ground again, after almost a year off. And one of the ways that I like to do that is by having my whiteboard behind me.

And as you can see. There’s a lot written on there.

It’s always got a lot of ideas on there. Those are the beginnings of the content planning process. Now for my podcast, I also have some revenue streams set up and some people that have some expectations, whether it’s the audience listening or the provider who helps me with my revenue, we’re always trying to be on target and on point with all of the things that we provide.

So the way that you do that isn’t by just tossing things out there, you don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. You have to do more than that. It means sitting down and really maybe asking your customers about what it is that they like or what they don’t like or what they want to learn more about.

Oftentimes we forget that we know so much more about a topic than our customers do, and these little nuggets that we know might be enough to open up a whole new world for them. But you never know that if you don’t ask.

That’s one of the most important things that never gets talked about with marketing is the need for feedback and testimonials, not just because it’s good to hear, but also, and it also improves your business, but it also provides you with content for your content plan.

It gives you ideas for new products you can offer, and yes, it helps you with your content marketing.

It helps you understand what to post. Heck sometimes testimonials are the best things that you can post about your business or the victories that a client has had, not only as a result of your working together but also just as a result of the great work that they do.

Because after all social media is about community, it’s not just about everything that you’re selling and everything that you’re doing.

It’s about how you’re supporting other people [00:02:00] and how you’re active in your community, how you’re helping others. So I really encourage you to start jotting down all of these ideas.

Oftentimes people say they don’t know what they’re going to talk about. They don’t know what’s important. They don’t have any ideas about their content, but I would argue that if you have a piece of paper or an iPad or whatever you use to keep notes, if you have a space on there where you can be like, oh, I should really talk about that.

Oh, I read this interesting article, oh, I could do this, or I could do this.

The more that you start to do that, the more you realize that you have a ton of things that you can be talking about. You see the mistake that 40% of companies make, and I think these are companies of any size, not just small businesses, but all businesses, 40% of businesses don’t have any content marketing plan at all.

So one of the ways that you can get ahead, not only of your competition but just ahead of other businesses is to have an actual plan, write down what it is that you want to talk about, and write down what it is that your customers want to learn about. And then set up some real goals around that.

One of the things that people do is tire themselves out by posting all these things like say on social media or on their blog, but they don’t have any sort of long-term plan for it.

Meaning what is it that they want people to do? Like when somebody reads a blog post, do you want them to share it? Do you want them to become a client? Do you want clicks on your website? What is the end goal here? What is it that you’re trying to accomplish? And understanding those goals will help if you’ve been successful because really producing content for me is a lot of fun, but I’ll acknowledge it’s not fun for everybody.

So if it’s not fun for you, one of the biggest things that you can do is put together a little bit of a plan so that you can be more effective because the more you think about it, just a little bit like sketching, some things out, the more you do that. And the more you realize what success looks like for you and your company.

The more ahead you’re going to be in the [00:04:00] long run, the better off you’ll be. The more data you have to learn.

If you do one thing and you don’t get any new clients, but you do another keeping track of things, that’s really gonna help. So that’s your tip for today. Start working on putting together a content plan.

If you need any help, of course, reach out. Let’s get planning.