Content That Connects: Developing a Strategic Content Marketing Plan
Series: Growth Engines: Fueling Your Business with Smart Marketing (Part 2 of 5)
You know exactly who you're talking to (thanks to your buyer personas from Part 1). But are you saying the right thing at the right time? Content isn't just writing; it's salesmanship at scale. It's the voice of your brand, and if it's generic, it's ignored.
A content strategy is the planned creation, publication, and management of all content formats across the entire buyer journey. This isn't just about posting on a blog; it's a deliberate plan. Every piece of content you create must be a direct answer to the specific pain points and motivations you identified in your persona profiles.
A strategic content plan aligns every piece of communication to a specific stage in the customer journey, moving prospects seamlessly from problem awareness to product decision. In this post, you'll learn how to map content to your sales funnel, generate a flood of relevant topics, and organize your plan for maximum impact.
Content Mapping: Matching Content to the Buyer’s Journey
The most effective content "finds" the customer where they are. This means mapping your topics to the three core stages of the sales funnel.
Top of Funnel (TOFU) - Awareness Stage:
Goal: Attract your "tribe" by solving a general problem related to their pain point. The goal is to educate and build trust, not to sell.
Best Formats: Blog posts ("How to..."), infographics, short educational videos, checklists, and guides (often used as lead magnets).
Middle of Funnel (MOFU) - Consideration Stage:
Goal: Introduce your solution as a viable category. You are establishing your expertise and helping the prospect compare different approaches.
Best Formats: Webinars, detailed eBooks, in-depth case studies, comparison guides (e.g., "Our Solution vs. The Old Way"), and templates.
Bottom of Funnel (BOFU) - Decision Stage:
Goal: Prove your specific product is the best choice and justify the purchase. This content is about conversion.
Best Formats: Free trials, product demos, detailed testimonials, pricing comparisons, and ROI calculators.
Ideation: Generating Topics That Resonate
Never wonder what to write about again. Your topics are hidden in plain sight.
Persona Pain Points (The Core Source): This is your best source. Look at the "Challenges" section of your persona profile. If their pain is "slow invoicing," your content topic is "5 Ways to Speed Up Your Invoice Processing."
Keyword Research (The SEO Bridge): Use SEO tools to find the exact terms your persona is typing into Google. This is how they find you. (We'll dive deep into this in Part 3).
The Sales and Service Loop: This is a goldmine.
Ask Sales: "What questions do you get that kill deals?"
Ask Service: "What are the top 5 most-ticketed issues?" Create content that answers these questions, and you'll shorten your sales cycle and reduce your support load.
Content Gaps: Analyze your competitors' blogs. What topics have they missed or covered poorly? Can you create a more comprehensive, valuable resource?
Repurposing: Maximizing Content ROI
Don't let a great idea be a one-hit-wonder. Use the Content Atomization Strategy to take one "pillar" piece of content and break it into dozens of smaller assets.
Example:
One 5,000-word eBook (MOFU) can be "atomized" into:
1 Webinar
5 Blog Posts (one for each chapter)
10 Short social media video clips
1 Infographic
1 Email nurture sequence
This strategy maximizes your investment and appeals to different learning styles (readers, watchers, listeners).
Organization: Developing the Content Calendar
A strategy is just a dream without a schedule. A content calendar is a simple tool (like a spreadsheet or a dedicated app) that tracks your entire publishing plan.
Key Tracking Fields:
Topic/Title: The working title of the piece.
Funnel Stage: (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)
Target Persona: Who is this for?
Target Keyword: What is the primary SEO term?
Format: (Blog, Video, etc.)
Distribution Channel: (Blog, Email, LinkedIn, etc.)
Owner: Who is responsible for creating it?
Due Date: When does it go live?
Set a realistic publishing goal you can stick to. Consistency and quality will always beat erratic volume.
Conclusion: The Engine for Engagement
A strategic content plan is the most effective way to scale intimate conversations with your ideal customers. It builds trust long before a sales call ever happens and moves prospects toward a purchasing decision by being genuinely helpful.
You've defined your persona and built the content to engage them. But how do you make sure the right people find it? In our next post, "Digital Dominance," we'll dive deep into the world of SEO and the distribution channels that get your content seen.