Assignment Overview: Content Marketing
In addition to social media and the textbook chapter, we are exploring the topic of
'content marketing' this week. Before you work on the week's assignment, read the
following article. This will provide you with background information and give you
context for the assignment. As you work on this assignment, please remember that you
are focusing on “content marketing" and not on overall business strategies.
Article: What Is Content Marketing (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Assignment Instructions: Content SWOT Analysis and
Content SWOT Action Plan
Let's learn more about what
ands are doing online! For the next two weeks, you will
work to build a content marketing plan for a
and. Choose one of the
ands from the
table below (or you may also choose another
and not listed if you are familiar with a
and and it uses social media). Whichever
and you choose, make sure to clearly
identify the
and on your content planning document.
Step 1: Read pages 1-8 of the Content Marketing Planning Template Guide
Step 2: Pick a
and and do some research! Find out how the
and uses social media.
Explore the
and’s presence and activity on all of the major social media platforms.
Step 3: Using the Content Marketing Planning Template
complete:
• Tab 1_Content SWOT Analysis
• Tab 2_Content SWOT Action Plan
Step 4: Submit your spreadsheet here by Sunday at 11:59pm.
Note: The Content Marketing Planning Template has 5 sheets. This week you will
complete sheets 1 & 2. You will complete sheets 3-5 of the Content Marketing Planning
Template in future weeks.
Brands to Choose From
Adidas Ebay Lululemon Papa Murphy
Blendtec Fendi Mastercard Pepsi
https:
contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing
Bu
e
y Ford McDonalds PR Newswire
Burger King Fo
ester Research Microsoft Red Cross
Cisco Honda National Geographic Sony
Coca-Cola HP The New York Times Southwest Airlines
Comcast IBM American Nike Staples
Dell Intel Old Spice Sta
ucks
Disney Intuit Oracle Tiffany & Co.
Dunkin’ Donuts Jet Blue Oscar de la Renta Toyota
CONTENT MARKETING
Planning Template
2018
2018 CONTENT MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE
The popularity of content marketing has soared in recent
years. In particular, video content is in high demand with
consumers, with 53% of people wanting more through this
medium in 2018.
This widespread adoption of content marketing is making it
more difficult to stand out from the noise. In order to compete
with ‘Content Shock’, it is becoming ever more important to
question your approach, tweak and optimise your strategy,
and grab the attention of your potential customers.
Planning strategically for content marketing has a major
influence on the effectiveness of your efforts.
In a recent study by CMI, they found B2B marketers who had
a documented strategy were a lot more effective than those
who simply had a ve
al one. Of those who had a documented
strategy, 60% consider their organisation to be effective at
content marketing, compared to only 32% who had a ve
al
strategy.
Why You Need A Content Marketing Plan
https:
esearch.hubspot.com/charts/people-want-more-video-content
https:
esearch.hubspot.com/charts/people-want-more-video-content
http:
contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/10/2015-b2b-content-marketing-research
http:
contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/10/2015-b2b-content-marketing-research
2018 CONTENT MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE
Content planning will undoubtedly have a major impact on the
success of both your inbound marketing campaigns and the ef-
fectiveness of your content marketing overall. That’s why in this
guide we’ve created 4 steps and templates that will help you
put together an effective content marketing plan for either your
usiness or those of your clients.
The templates will help you to:
STEP 1: Complete a SWOT analysis on your content marketing
efforts and develop a plan to improve them.
STEP 2: Define the right objectives and KPIs for that plan
STEP 3: Brainstorm content ideas and map these across your funnel
STEP 4: Create a timeline for your content plans
How should I use these templates?
To make it easier for you to implement these steps, each one
has a standard structure explaining how to use it.
• The benefit of completing the step
• Instructions to complete the step
• An example of what a completed template looks like
• An empty template for you to fill out
Who has created this template?
HubSpot has teamed up with digital marketing planning experts
Smart Insights who use a similar approach in their member
esources for developing and creating digital strategies and
managing digital transformation.
How to Use the Templates
http:
www.smartinsights.com/content-management/content-marketing-strategy/?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=contentplanning
http:
www.smartinsights.com/solution/online-marketing-strategy/?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=contentplanning
http:
www.smartinsights.com/solution/digital-transformation/?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=contentplanning
Template to use
SWOT analysis of cu
ent content marketing efforts.
Why you should do this
A SWOT analysis of your cu
ent content marketing
efforts is an essential part of creating your plan. It
allows you to create a plan of action based not on
what you’re interested in doing or on your gut-feel,
ut what you need to do given the situation in the
marketplace. It provides a strategic view of the main
opportunities and challenges available from content in
your market.
The outcome of this analysis should be a high-level
action plan of the most important tasks that will impact
the success of your content marketing.
How to use the template
To use this template we have
oken it down into two
eally simple steps.
1. Complete a Content SWOT analysis.
Instructions to complete the SWOT analysis:
First, select 3-4 major internal strategic strengths and
weaknesses in your cu
ent content marketing efforts.
In these two boxes you want to identify what’s working
well and what weaknesses you have. If you have yet
to begin content marketing for your company, you can
still complete this. For example, one of your strengths
may be expertise in a topic your target audience is
extremely interested in, and a weakness could be a
lack of a dedicated resource to begin producing that
content for you.
Step 1. Review cu
ent use of content marketing
Next, you identify both the
opportunities and threats that can
apply to anyone working within your
market.
Example
In our example, the addition of
paid social media distribution is an
opportunity. It can be used to further
promote our content plus it’s less
competitive (and costly) than Adwords.
On the other end of the spectrum there
is a potential threat to our successful
whitepaper strategy. Competitors can
easily replicate this, as its success
is heavily reliant on well-optimised
Adwords campaigns.
2018 CONTENT MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE
Content Marketing SWOT Action Plan (Example)
Content Marketing SWOT Action Plan (Example)
Now you’ve completed the SWOT analysis of your cu
ent content marketing efforts it’s time to use that
information to create an actionable plan. This actionable plan should be based upon the strengths and
weaknesses you’ve identified from your cu
ent efforts, it should take advantage of opportunities in the
market and also account for potential threats to your cu
ent strategy.
Example
Below, you’ll see a Content Marketing SWOT Action Plan example.
Make whitepapers more valuable for social
promotion by developing an influencer program
and adding expert commentary to maintain our
thought leadership.
Leverage technology to improve personalization
for returning leads to further improve our lead to
customer conversion rate.
2018 CONTENT MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE
0
Template to use:
SMART goal setting and strategy alignment templates
Why you should do this:
Many businesses don’t have a strategic approach
to content marketing. This results in a lack of clarity
around both the goals and KPIs that the plan is trying to
achieve. If you’re unsure of either of these elements, it’s
impossible to know if your content marketing plan is on
track or not.
This template helps to solve that. They will allow you
to plan specific objectives and KPIs structured around
the customer lifecycle. This template makes objectives
actionable by defining strategies to help you reach
these objectives.
In the example below we are using a customer lifecycle
ased on the Smart Insights RACE Planning model. This
stands for:
REACH: This stage is focused on the top of your funnel. Its
aim is to increase
and awareness and visits to the company
websites, apps and social network sites.
ACT: This stage is focused on increasing the number of visitors
who interact with your content and who then convert into leads.
CONVERT: This stage focuses on increasing conversion rates
from leads to sales.
ENGAGE: This stage is focused on increasing long-term
customer engagement and loyalty leading to repeat sales and
advocacy.
You can modify the template to suit your funnel. For
example, the Hubspot inbound marketing funnel is
oken out into attract, convert, close and delight. Read
more about the inbound marketing funnel here.
How to use the template:
Work through each row for the different parts of the
customer lifecycle – Reach, Act, Convert, Engage. For
each row, define SMART objectives and detailed KPIs
that will show how effective your strategies are.
This template builds on what we completed in step 1.
You will see in the example below the action plan we
devised from our SWOT analysis is included in the third
column. Don’t wo
y if your initiatives don’t map across
all stages of the customer lifecycle. It’s ok to focus your
efforts on a particular part of the funnel.
Step 2. Define content marketing objectives and KPIs
http:
www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy-guide/?utm_source=hubspot&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=contentplanning
http:
www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing
Example
In the following
example you will see a
one-page summary of
your content marketing
strategy linking SMART
objectives in the left
column to how they’re
achieved, as well as
detailed KPIs to review if
you’re on track.
You can use the SMART
template we provided as
part of this download to
create your own goals
for this template.
Customer lifecycle stage
and aims
SMART objectives Strategies to achieve
goals
Key performance
indicators
Reach
Increase
and awareness
and visits to company
websites, apps and social
network sites.
Increase new monthly
visits to the website by
+25% in 12 months
With help of partners,
create a resource center
filled with free long form
content on topics relevant
to our audience
New organic visits to site
%
Act
Increase audience interac-
tions with content on compa-
ny-owned media platforms to
generate leads.
Reduce our average cost
per lead by 5% in the next
9 months by increasing
the amount of traffic we
get from organic and
educing traffic from paid
Generate 10% more leads
from each whitepaper
created
Make