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Executing a successful SaaS content strategy is a step-by-step process. After you define your goals and identify your target audience, the next step is to create a content plan.
Your content plan will guide content creation, distribution, and other critical steps so you can reach your content marketing goals. Here, we dive into the five steps you should take when creating a content plan and share other tips and tricks you can use for success.
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Content planning involves outlining the content topics, formats, distribution channels, and publishing schedule for your SaaS content strategy. The content plan will be a written document, and everything within it must align with your business goals and audience needs.
Tailoring the details of a content plan to match your marketing goals and engage your target audience is crucial. If your content plan does not align with your goals and audience, you'll likely publish inconsistent content that your audience won't engage with. For example, creating blog posts to engage and convert a target audience that prefers video content.
On the other hand, a well-constructed and aligned content plan will facilitate creating and publishing content that effectively guides target users through your buyer’s journey. This kind of content plan will increase your chances of experiencing high engagement and conversion rates.
Besides content topics, formats, and distribution channels, other details typically listed in a comprehensive content plan are target keywords and metrics for measuring success. In short, a content plan provides a roadmap for effectively achieving your content marketing goals.
While a content marketing strategy covers your overall approach to achieving content marketing goals, a content plan focuses on content creation and distribution specifics.
The benefits of creating a content plan are numerous, and the biggest of these benefits are:
When creating a content plan for a SaaS marketing strategy, there are several elements you should include:
Your content marketing objectives are the goals you hope to achieve by executing a SaaS content marketing strategy. You can have multiple goals, such as increasing brand awareness, boosting website traffic, and generating more leads and sales.
Documenting your objectives during content planning allows you to build and tailor your content plan to match those goals.
Your target audience is the group of people you want your content to reach. For SaaS businesses, these people will be the same potential customers you had in mind when building your product.
Unlike other consumers, this specific group of people has a use for your product, making them more likely to find your brand, industry, or product-related content appealing and valuable.
Listing your target audience in your content plan facilitates building and tailoring your content to engage the right people. Most content marketers identify target audiences based on demographics like age, gender, race, education, religion, income level, and location. However, you should also include psychographics like purchase preferences and spending habits.
What type of content should you create? While the top three types of content are videos, blogs, and images, you'll want to ensure the content types you publish fit your audience's needs and habits.
Using your content plan to specify the content to create will ensure your team understands what to work on. It also helps you focus resources on building the right content types.
These are the platforms where you'll publish your content. Besides your business website, you can also publish content on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
The more channels you post on, the more potential customers you can reach. Again, just make sure you're selecting platforms that align with your target audience's habits.
Listing the platforms for distributing content in your plan is crucial because it ensures that your team creates content in a format that will work on those specified channels. For instance, videos created for TikTok are vertical, while Twitter and LinkedIn videos are horizontal.
Your content production workflow covers who's responsible for different aspects of the content creation and distribution process. For instance, who will create, edit, and publish video content? It will also specify the content production tasks your team should follow to outsource.
Your content plan must contain a content production workflow because it will help team members know their responsibilities and deliverables. It also ensures that team members follow the same content production processes.
You can simplify developing a content production workflow by using a content planner. The best content planners help teams manage the content production process and facilitate task assignment and collaboration.
A content schedule specifies how often you should publish content. Some content marketing teams post daily, while others post weekly or monthly. Specifying dates for posting content ensures that your team knows how much time they have to create and publish content. This information will also help your team prioritize the pieces of content to create first.
Now that you know what a content plan should contain, let’s dive into the steps you can take to build a content plan for reaching and engaging your target audience.
The first step in creating your content plan is selecting the types of content you want to create. There are so many types of content to choose from, however, it's critical to choose content your target audience will engage with.
For example, commonly used content types include videos, photos, social media posts, and blog posts. Some consumers prefer visual content like photos and videos because they're more engaging and easier to digest.
One common content type that many SaaS companies often overlook is user-generated content. UGC is content created by customers that have used your product or interacted with your brand. Users typically create such content to share their experience after using a product.
Examples of UGC include product reviews and case studies. You can post user-generated content on social media and other platforms to build brand trust and drive traffic to your website.
Ready to take advantage of UGC? You can save time and effort by using Cohley to get high-quality UGC for your content marketing campaigns. Schedule a call today!
Optimal content distribution requires publishing your content on as many platforms as possible. Not just any platforms, but the platforms your target audience frequents the most.
For example, 18 to 24-year-old women use TikTok more than anyone else, making the platform perfect for targeting females within that age group. On the other hand, brands targeting professionals typically gravitate toward LinkedIn.
Other top social media platforms for distributing content include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Besides social media, you can post content on your business website.
Selecting platforms for content distribution based on your target audience guarantees that members of your target audience will see your content. Also, your target audience will see your content in their preferred format.
For instance, if your target audience prefers short-form videos, posting on TikTok will ensure you reach the right people with their preferred content. Providing your target audience content in their preferred format guarantees engaged viewers. And engaged viewers are more likely to convert.
You should also consider your content marketing goals when selecting content distribution platforms. If your goal is to educate your target audience through video, you may need to choose a platform that allows long-form videos. For example, you can post an hour-long comprehensive tutorial video on YouTube and share it on other platforms.
The next step in content planning is building your content production workflow. Your content production workflow will list the steps for creating and publishing content. The workflow will also specify the individuals responsible for fulfilling each step.
Steps listed in a content production workflow typically include:
A content production workflow is essential as it prevents mix-ups and ensures everyone knows their roles. It also promotes consistency by providing your content creation team with a single framework everyone can follow.
What kind of content should you create? Brainstorming content involves ideating content topics your target audience will find interesting. Here are some tactics to get you started:
Using the above tactics provides a data-driven approach for ideating relevant content topics. It’s far more effective than randomly creating content your target audience might find uninteresting or unappealing.
Your content schedule will specify the date and time to post each piece of content you create. Without a content schedule, you may end up with missed deadlines and other issues.
Also, following a schedule allows you to post content at set times your target audience can look forward to, leading to better engagement.
Create a content schedule by listing your content topics as well as the following:
A content planner can help simplify scheduling content creation and publishing. You can even find content planners that automate posting content.
After creating a content plan, you can start creating the actual content. You can develop your content in-house or outsource to experts. If you choose to build content in-house, check out our best tips for creating content that delivers your desired results.
While creating content in-house can be less expensive than outsourcing, it can tie up resources and distract your team from other crucial tasks. A cost-effective and hassle-free alternative that delivers a better return on investment is to outsource content creation with Cohley.
We help brands save money by connecting them with vetted creators who can provide them with high-quality UGC. You can get visual user-generated content to promote your product and brand, earn customer trust, boost sales, and more.
Every visual asset provided by a Cohley creator will be 100% yours to use as you please, and you can schedule each piece of content to publish when and where you want.
Planning your content is critical for reaching your content marketing goals. However, the content creation process can be a challenge. Once you have your content plan, simplify content production by working with Cohley.
We give SaaS businesses access to professional creators who can provide them with as much custom visual content as they need. Letting professional content creators from Cohley handle your content creation reduces your workload and delivers more reliable results.
To learn more about how Cohley can help you reach your content marketing goals, schedule a call with our team today!