How To Write a 1-Page Content Marketing Strategy in a Few Hours

To get everybody on the same page with your brand’s content marketing, you need an actual page.

Your team — and everybody else involved in the process — needs to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how behind their work.

A written strategy makes it easier to:

• Align content marketing with the organization’s business goals.
• Secure leadership and budget support.
• Ensure that internal, external, and adjacent content teams work in the same direction.
• Onboard and re-educate your team as the strategy evolves.

Content Marketing Institute research has shown that a written strategy is a differentiator for top performers. A few years ago, CoSchedule reported that marketers with a documented strategy were 414% more likely to report success than those who don’t have one.

To craft a strategy that all stakeholders will actually consume (and refer to later), you should make it a single page. To help, I’ve developed seven steps to a one-page content marketing strategy.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Identify your business’s operational objectives and goals

Your content marketing program won’t be successful if it doesn’t align with what your organization wants to achieve.

Example

Business objective: To increase the belief that Bountiful Bank is a good source for loans (home, personal, and auto)

Business goal: To increase all types of loan applications by 10% (year over year) from Bountiful Bank customers

Step 2: Set the content marketing objective

Knowing what your business executives want to achieve, consider how content marketing will help. At this point, you’re looking for a general content marketing objective, not specific tactics or topics.

Example

The business objective is specific (raise awareness and trust in Bountiful Bank as a lender), and the goal is measurable (increase loan applications by 10%).

With that understanding, the content marketing team identified an objective that could ultimately help Bountiful Bank achieve that goal (becoming a go-to resource on personal finance).

Content marketing objective: To become a go-to content resource for bank customers interested in personal finance topics

Now, the work begins to define the path to achieving that content marketing objective.

Step 3: Define the audience

It’s tempting to detail a broad audience — all, you may think, the more people who consume your content, the more people to help you achieve the goals.

Resist that temptation because it’s ineffective. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to create content that works well for as many audience segments as possible.

Pick one primary audience and, possibly, a secondary audience.

To narrow the options, research your potential audiences. Look at the relevant data — demographics, sociographics, interests, needs, and pain points. Detail how and where people in that group currently get information related to your general topic (as mentioned in your content marketing objective).

Ask who would be most interested in your company’s content topics and who is more likely to take the desired action to achieve the business’s operational goal. This is your primary audience.

Example

Bountiful Bank considered several audiences interested in personal finance content. But when the content marketing team asked which of those audiences would be more likely to apply for a loan in the next five years, they narrowed it down to one — parents (with at least one young child). This target audience would be more likely to apply for car or home loans as their family grows.

Audience: Parents (with at least one young child) who:

• Are customers of Bountiful Bank
• Oversee their family’s budget
• Expect their living and transportation needs to evolve in the next five years
• Are challenged by balancing the family’s space and transportation requirements as the family grows
• Are crunched for time in all aspects of their life

Step 4: Identify content categories and topics

Knowing and describing your audience opens the window to content. What would this group of people want to read, watch, or hear that’s related to your content marketing objective?

Brainstorm a list of content ideas — big ideas, specific story angles, or both. As you review the list, put a star next to the ones that would benefit your target audience the most.

Identify several broad themes. List sample story topics that would fall under those categories to help people better understand related ideas and envision new possibilities.

Example

Bountiful Bank opted for three categories — home life, car travel, and free or low-cost fun. All those themes work well for parents (with young children) who are interested in personal finance and someday might apply for a home, auto, or personal loan. Then, it added specific story angles under each category:

Content categories:

• Living at home
  • How to create a multipurpose living room (story topics)
  • The best furniture fabric for families
  • Time-saving cleaning tips
• Traveling by car
  • Emergency tools every car should have
  • Tailgate picnics when your vehicle doesn’t have a tailgate
  • Apps to find the best gas prices
  • Free or low-cost fun
• Be a tourist in your own town
  • Help your children make their own board games

Step 5: Detail content types and formats

Deciding on content formats and types is closely tied to Step 6 (distribution channels).

Ask two questions:

1. How would the target audience most want to consume the content?
2. Which of those formats fit within available resources and capabilities?

Be realistic. For example, your audience might enjoy videos. But if no one on your team has video skills and you have no budget to hire or outsource, don’t choose video as one of your formats.

Example

Bountiful Bank found that parents value accessing content in a variety of formats.

Formats: The mix of digital and print content types includes:

• Blog articles
• E-newsletters
• Social media posts
• Print newsletter
• Videos

Step 6: List distribution channels and frequency

Often, your chosen format will lean toward a general delivery channel. But be as specific as possible in detailing where your content distribution priorities lie.

For example, you might distribute an article on your company’s blog or a third-party website. You might distribute a social media post through X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

At this point, you also need to look at the available resources to create, publish, and promote the content. What is the minimum amount of each type that your group can produce?

TIP: Don’t be overly ambitious. Pick a frequency you can realistically meet. You can always increase it later.

Example

Bountiful Bank evaluated its resources and opted for this schedule and delivery vehicles.

Frequency and distribution channels:

• Blog articles: 3 times weekly; Bountiful Bank website
• E-newsletter: Once a month; Bountiful Bank subscriber database
• Tweets: Once a day; Bountiful Bank handle
• Facebook: 3 times weekly; Bountiful Bank Facebook page
• Newsletter: Twice a year; Bountiful Bank and partner physical locations
• Videos: Twice a year; Bountiful Bank YouTube channel

With the format, platform, and frequency determined, Bountiful Bank detailed the categories (from Step 3) for each format and planned to:

• Rotate the three categories for each blog post as well as social media posts.
• Include all three categories in the e-newsletter and print newsletter.
• Use the travel-by-car content category as the theme for videos.

Step 7: Connect to the business purpose

Now, you’re ready to go back to the beginning. It’s time to add measurable goals to your content marketing objective (Step 2).

Consider:

1. What do you want your audience to do after consuming a piece of content?
2. How will you measure success?
3. What are the specific goals (remember to tie them to the business’s operational goals)?
4. How long will you have to achieve them?

Example

If you recall, Bountiful Bank wanted to increase loan applications by 10% year over year. To help contribute to that goal, the content marketing team wanted to become the go-to resource for personal finance.

Content marketing goals with metrics:

• Increase awareness of Bountiful Bank as the go-to resource for family-focused personal finance topics
• Increase visits to blog pages on website by 10% each month
• Grow the database of customers who want content from Bountiful Bank
• Increase customer e-newsletter sign-up number by 20% each quarter
• Convert customer subscribers into loan applicants
• Grow the number of customer subscribers who also apply for a loan (personal, home, or auto) by 5% over a year

Notice how their measurable content marketing goals ultimately lead to the business’s operational goal.

Now, Bountiful Bank has its content marketing strategy in a single page:

2 more things: Distribute and plan to revisit strategy

Once you have the written strategy, distribute it to all the stakeholders and share it in an easily accessible place.

But you’re not quite done. Schedule an appointment on your calendar based on the earliest timeframe in your goals to revisit the strategy and make sure the choices remain valid.

Among the other times to review the strategy:

• All documented goal deadlines
• Triggers or events happen within your organization (e.g., a reduction in content marketing resources, the addition of new technology or platform)
• Triggers or events happen outside your organization (e.g., a pandemic, a shift in consumer behavior)
• Operational strategic planning changes or updates (e.g., a new business goal, a new vision plan)

Start writing

OK, now you know that a content marketing strategy isn’t overly difficult to put into writing. Frankly, you probably already have the answers to most of the steps. So, set aside a morning or afternoon to pull it all together in one document. Your content marketing team — and the leaders who approve the budget — will appreciate being on the same winning page.

Updated from an August 2022 article.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute