Coming up with great, organized content ideas on a regular cadence can be a daunting task. Sometimes creativity flows, but the content doesn’t align with the task at hand. Sometimes the content idea aligns, but your creativity refuses play along.

Having a common structure for planning out your drafts increases efficiency, giving you more time to be creative— something we all need.

Here’s a simple, 4-step way to plan a content idea:

• Specify the purpose of the piece of content. Visually mapping this out can help you stay focused while creating the piece.  Think about how this topic supports your campaigns goals.
• Next, identify the audience. Map out:
  • Which buyer, user or advocate does this support? (Start with thinking about their needs.)
  • At what point in their journey with your company will they be interested in this topic? (Is this the right topic for the type of campaign you’re contributing to?)
  • Does it meet a specific need? If possible, get really specific and be as buyer-centric as possible. If your topic is more general, note what points and language will best provide connections between the buyers specific needs and your general topic.
• Plan out your key points before spending time drafting. Mind maps are a great way to organize and help to visualize your concept. Mind maps translate well into outlines you can use to build your content, or pass along to someone else creating it for you.
• Choose the format with your audience preferences in mind. Does your audience prefer a concise list with a visual? Or a video? Delivering your idea in the format the audience prefers greatly increases their chance of engaging with it.

Are you looking for a way to manage strategic content planning?  Check out our Content Planning module.