What the @%$^& Is a Content Plan, and Why Do You Desperately Need One for 2007?
November 28th, 2006 by Lani and AllenIf you’re like most rigorous goal-setters, your business planning is SPECTACULAR.
Which makes you totally unlike us.
In true “leap and the net will appear” fashion, we jumped into business back in 2004 with a couple of retained corporate clients and a coffee pot. No plan in sight.
We’re not bragging. In fact, most of our 2006 has been spent rectifying the bedlam.
And as we’ve gone through the growing pains, we’ve realized there’s one plan that’s vital for us and any other business interested in connecting with the outside world.
It’s called a Content Plan.
What IS a Content Plan?
A Content Plan focuses on informing, educating, and entertaining your ideal audience. It involves them in your story, inviting them to care about you on an emotional level.
And since people buy on EMOTION, this is a very good thing.
Strong Content Plans take the “Know, Like, and Trust” factor and formalize it into an honest and genuine relationship-building habit.
And here’s the secret sauce:
Everything you send out becomes another reason or opportunity for your prospects to invest their time and money with YOU.
(WARNING: Content Plans don’t work if you don’t genuinely care about the audience you serve and the goals they have.)
What’s in a Content Plan?
The details rely on your core competencies and your audience’s needs and desires, but yours may involve one or a combo of the following:
- An industry blog
- Focused press releases
- White Papers or Special Reports
- Articles for trade publications
- Live workshops
- Speaking engagements
- Newsletters
- Teleclasses
The point is to start with one, get good and comfortable with it, then add another one that builds purposefully on the first.
Why Do I Desperately Need a Content Plan?
Out of the 47,321 ways you can communicate with your target market, a Content Plan helps you:
- Focus on 3-7 that are most aligned with your business goals.
- Get ’em on your calendar in a strategic way.
- Roll ’em out one at a time, so by your next fiscal year, you’ve got a treasure trove of audience-focused information, marketing assets, and public PROOF you’re an active expert and THE leader in your field.
The end result?
Because you’ve taken the time to forge a relationship with your posse, you become their go-to resource when they’re ready to invest in the product or service you offer.
If you DON’T have a plan for how you’re connecting with your audience? You’re just another generic storefront – one of thousands yammering about why consumers should buy from you.
Ick.
In essence, a Content Plan is an official dis of the Transparent Pitch, in favor of a win-win method and mindset.
Content over time. Regular, repeated, varied forms of follow-up touches of useful, gotta-have information. It’s a beautiful thing.
And at the end of just a year – even if you haven’t done it perfectly! – you’ll have created a veritable, profit-boosting empire within your niche.
Lani & Allen Voivod, aka “The Content Lovers,” help budding entrepreneurs and small biz dynamos “A-Ha Themselves!” in fun, innovative, and profitable ways. For FREE articles, tips, and strategies designed to catapult your content and electrify your business, sign up for their ezine, “The Inciter,” at EpiphaniesInc.com!
Hi,
I found your blog via google by accident and have to admit that youve a really interesting blog
Just saved your feed in my reader, have a nice day
Comment by Florian — January 28, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
Yes, this is what perked up my ears at the boot camp, Allen and Lani. I’ve been doing this for myself and clients for a while now, but didn’t have a name for it, and of course never thought to package it as a product/service and market it. We just finished writing a proposal to a new client and - thanks - included a big section on a content development plan. Content, content, content in multiple forms, delivered in multiple ways, is what attracts prospects and gives them a reason to stay, buy and hire. As you say, …’a-HAH!’
Comment by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad — May 22, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
It really is about building your own multi media empire with blogs, ezines, podcasts, articles, teleseminars etc etc etc and then using cross media promotion to keep it all going. And, for all that, you need a well organized plan, particularly as a solopreneur!
Comment by Glenda Watson Hyatt — June 7, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
[...] 7. And most importantly, make sure your campaign fits into your overall marketing strategy. Done right, this email campaign will be integrated with other marketing channels. (News releases, articles, and blogging are our faves.) And hopefully, it’ll be part of a regular Content Plan that lets your audience know you don’t just want them for their money. Ideally, your email campaign will keep your audience engaged with you - regardless of whether they’re ready to buy at the moment you email dings into their inboxes. Because as we’ve been told time and again, people don’t buy when you’re ready to sell. People buy when they’re ready to buy. And the simple trick to success is this: By implementing consistent, “Dignity Marketing” based communications, you’re bound to be there when the buying time comes. [...]
Pingback by Epiphanies, Inc. — July 16, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
[...] If you’re thinking about starting a podcast, please take a moment to think a year ahead, and ask yourself: How can I create a Content Plan that multi-tasks the effort I put into doing these podcasts? Spread your rubber loving… [...]
Pingback by Epiphanies, Inc. — October 28, 2007 @ 10:14 am