When is the best time of year to set up tactics for content marketing organization? Today. Seriously. The longer you go without a plan for marketing organization, the harder it will be to stay on top of everything you want to accomplish. The following is a list of steps to take in marketing your company.
What are your marketing goals?
Outline no more than three major marketing goals for the upcoming year. Think along the lines of, “build a library of useful content that will deepen customer engagement,” or “increase brand recognition and awareness”. Every tactic you deploy should serve one or more of those goals.
Lon Safko has a great long read at Fast Company breaking down the steps for generating these goals that I highly recommend.
What is your story?
Sketch out your main messages. These can be areas where your company has strengths, topics where your executives have significant expertise, or ideas that you want to promote. These form the basis for the content that you can develop and help guide you to the opportunities that you can pursue.
Who do you want to reach?
This list can include specific titles – independent insurance agencies, executive assistants, or HR managers for example. But more importantly, you need to include sources where those people congregate. Who are the influencers that your audience flocks to? Which publications do they read? What events do they attend? What online communities do they visit? Start here in researching opportunities.
How can you contribute?
Look for opportunities where you have something to say. Most publications publish an editorial calendar (pro tip: they are often in the Advertising or Media Kit section of their website). Scour them for stories where you can contribute. If a publication plans a feature on top HR challenges for 2019, and you have an expert on your team, suggest the editor interview your source, or develop an outline for a story you can contribute. If you get the thumbs up, meet your deadline! You might get asked again.
Events, too, are always looking for speakers. Research the website to find out the conference program organizer and ask for the Call for Papers. Most conferences start planning a year out, so if getting in front of a live audience is on your list of goals, start early. Again, submit your abstract by the deadline in the requested format. If you are selected to speak, get your slides in on time and follow all of the conference regulations if you want to be invited back. Worst offense? Selling from the podium – don’t do it.
Does an influencer host a podcast? Ask if you can be a guest – send an email outlining the topics where you are fluent. How about Twitter chats, or Reddit forums, or Instagram takeovers? Be creative in looking for opportunities.
Marketing organization – keep track of sh*t.
Marketing organization is a real thing – you can find all of the opportunities in the world, but unless you stay on top of them, you’ll miss out. Create a marketing calendar where you can monitor and manage activities. Ahem, can we suggest using PlanITPDQ for this? We designed it specifically to improve marketing organization. Everything you let slip through the cracks is going to get picked up by someone – usually your competitor. Don’t let that happen.
Fill in the blanks.
Once you have created your calendar of planned opportunities, you then can fill in with self-generated projects to further your goals. Perhaps you want to craft an ebook to use as a post-event give-away. Or you want to create executive videos to share exclusive information with your customers. Maybe you have new products planned, and want to get target dates for press releases on the calendar.
Don’t forget ongoing content such as blogs, customer case studies, and email newsletters. Plan them out with proposed ideas – you can always move things around as the year goes on, but it’s a smart marketing organization idea to have placeholders.
I know, you feel overwhelmed. But here’s the thing: you don’t have to do everything on this list and you don’t have to plan the full year. But at least get started. Marketing organization is the gateway to marketing success – go ahead and take the first step. I believe in you!
Need help getting started with your plan? Just reach out – we’re happy to answer questions and point you in the right direction. And don’t forget to start your PlanITPDQ account. It makes it so much easier to track everything in one place. We’ve got you!
