# Content Marketing Strategy Checklist 7 steps to create a solid content marketing strategy ### RESEARCH ## 1. Know your target audience You're just an alien from another planet until your content strikes a chord with your audience. So: - Collect data about your audience and analyze it - Create your target personas and content themes around the topics they're interested in Here are some great tools to help you identify your audience and their interests: - [Tally](https://tally.so/?ref=illy), [Typeform](https://typeform.cello.so/wIslWkoOHH5) and [Survey Monkey](https://www.surveymonkey.com/) are great for asking questions in fun ways. - [Think With Google: Marketer's Almanac](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketers-almanac/) and [AnswerThePublic](https://answerthepublic.com/) help you with market research. - [Google Analytics](http://www.google.com/analytics/) and [Moz Analytics](http://moz.com/tools) allow you to monitor your web traffic or other channels - [CoSchedule's Headline Analyzer](https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer), [BuzzSumo](https://buzzsumo.com/), and [Feedly](https://feedly.com/i/welcome) can help you to define topics and create killer headlines - [Usepanda.com](https://usepanda.com/) to find trending articles - [Intercom's](https://www.intercom.com/blog/) resources are a killer way to gain timely key insights. ### SET GOALS ## 2. Unearth your goals Why are you bothering with a content marketing strategy to begin with? For example, make sure your goals are: - **Realistic**: "I want to publish 1 piece of content daily." This is both specific and doable. - **Measurable**: "I want to increase our blog traffic by 5% by next month." There is a timeline and way to measure this. - **Relevant**: "I'll increase the quality of leads by providing valuable content that builds trust." This aligns with the business strategy. Platforms like [StoryChief](/content/site-root.html) help you meet your end goal, where you can create content and collaborate before distributing and tracking performance. "Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today" Tim Fargo ### AUDIT ## 3. Create an inventory What do you have in-house already? Perform a content audit so you're not reinventing the proverbial wheels. You can do this manually or use one of these great tools: - [Content Insight](http://www.content-insight.com/products) - [Dyno Mapper](https://dynomapper.com/features/content-audit) - [Screaming Frog](https://seoagency.tools/tools/screamingfrog) - [Bynder](https://www.bynder.com/) While you're at it, make sure to set your brand's tone and voice. [Mailchimp's Content Style Guide](https://styleguide.mailchimp.com/) and our [Content Writing Checklist](/content/content-writing-checklist/index.html) will help you level up your content marketing for sure. ### PLAN AHEAD ## 4. Get to planning it Powering up your content marketing strategy is key. But before you blast off, make sure to... #### 1) Decide on your format: - For Brand Awareness: Social Media Posts, Blog Posts and Articles, Infographics, Videos - For Lead Generation: Ebooks, Case Studies, Templates, Webinars, Podcast #### 2) Decide on your publishing channels: - Social Networks: [Hootsuite](https://hootsuite.com/), [Buffer](https://buffer.com/), [Zoho](https://www.zoho.com/social), [Kontentino](https://www.kontentino.com/), [StoryChief](/content/social-media-management/index.html) - Email Marketing: [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/) - Referral Marketing: [Co-workers & Ambassadors](/content/employee-advocacy/index.html) - Content Syndication: StoryChief - Guest Blogging/Content Swaps - Promotion through ads and [PR/Influencers Linkpizza.com](https://linkpizza.com/) ### DOCUMENT IT ALL ## 5. Document it all A solid content marketing strategy yields documented and repeatable workflows. Get the right tools so you don't fall into the Black Hole of Content: #### Visual Content and Workflow Diagramming - [LucidChart](https://www.lucidchart.com/) - [Draw.io](https://www.draw.io/) #### Notes and List-Keeping - [Evernote](https://evernote.com/) - [Microsoft OneNote](https://products.office.com/en-us/onenote/digital-note-taking-app) - [Google Keep](https://keep.google.com/) #### Project Management - [Trello](https://trello.com/junstorychief/boards) - [Airtable](https://airtable.com/) - [Basecamp](https://basecamp.com/) - [Asana](https://asana.com/) - [Notion](https://notion.so/) ### PUBLISH ## 6. Blast off and promote You've got your content in place and you know where it's going. It's time to launch it. **But before you do:** - Be sure your content is optimized for mobile. - [Avoid duplicate content](/content/blog/how-to-solve-duplicate-content/index.html) issues. - Prioritize using a [Content Calendar](/content/content-calendar/index.html). - Don't forget about SEO & [link building](https://il.ly/seo/link-building-for-beginners): - [Ubersuggest](https://ubersuggest.io/) is super easy to use for keyword research - StoryChief's very own [SEO tool](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/seo-tool-by-storychief) was ranked #2 of the day on Product Hunt. Make sure to take a look! Now go and get your brand out there! ### IMPROVE ## 7. Measure your landings Equally as important as the launch is nailing the landing. You need to determine what works and what doesn't work, and where. The behavior of your visitors will dictate your future content plans: - [Google's Campaign URL Builder](https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/) is a gem for tracking where your visitors are coming from. The [UTMs](https://help.storychief.io/en/articles/2082574-add-utm-codes-to-your-social-posts) identify your flow of traffic. - [Kissmetrics](https://www.kissmetrics.io/) Then you can go huddle with your team live or via [Slack](https://slack.com/) or Whereby and do it all over again! ### Good Luck!