By Megan Hamby, Editorial Director
A wise woman once sang,
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
Strategy sets the scene for the tale”
OK, so maybe Taylor Swift borrowed that first line from Benjamin Franklin. And she definitely wasn’t singing about content strategy. But the sentiment is true: Failure to plan is planning to fail.
With only a handful of weeks left in the year, now is the time to start thinking about your content plans and goals for 2023. Consider these four questions.
- What worked in 2022? Look back over the past year and determine what worked well. Did a paid campaign expand your reach and influence on social media? Did an e-book with promotional assets generate new leads? Did your weekly blog bring more traffic to your website? If it had positive results this year, consider adding similar ideas to your list for 2023.
- What do we want to achieve in 2023? For your content to be successful, you need to be specific with your goals. Do you want to increase website traffic? Grow your social media following? Improve conversion rates? Increase brand awareness? The most successful goals follow the SMART acronym: They are smart, measurable, actionable, relevant and timely. Assigning key performance indicators (KPIs) to your goals can help you measure your success.
- What changes need to be made to our current marketing materials? Did your company rebrand this year? Review your marketing materials and ensure that they are all aligned with your new brand standards. Even a simple change like updating your company’s branding colors should prompt changes to your marketing collateral. Review your email lists, your customer data platforms and your buyer personas to make sure all information is current and up-to-date. Look at content that can be repurposed in the new year, too—could an e-book become an explainer video? Could a blog post turn into an infographic? Upcycling your content can reach an audience segment that otherwise would not have found it.
- Do we need a content partner? Even large companies often don’t have a marketing team that is large enough to create, implement and maintain a robust content marketing plan. This is where content partners (like Hammock!) can help. A content partner can work as an extension of the existing marketing team to develop long-form content assets, videos, blog posts, social media posts, landing pages, paid ads and more to help reach your goals. The best content partners can help you articulate your expertise around the problems you help customers solve; build credibility in the industry and establish your company as a leading authority; and provide digital marketing insights to help you reach your goals.
Do you need help planning your content marketing strategy for 2023? Give us a call.
Image: Getty Images
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