Starting a new campaign or a new marketing team can be a daunting task. Marketing is an exciting and competitive field, but it’s also a very demanding one. The efforts made by a marketing team can completely change the outlook of a business. Some movies and products do much better than projected because the marketing team nailed their job and grabbed the attention of consumers.
A new marketing team has a lot working against it. The “new” might refer to a lack of experience or it could refer to the fact that coworkers haven’t worked together yet. New teams need to learn to work as a unit before they’re really able to unlock their full potential.
Whether you’re leading a new marketing team or joining forces with one, there are some content planning tips that can really help you out. Content planning is an enormous part of successful marketing, and these tips will help you nail the approach from day one:
1. Start by Setting Goals
When you begin content planning, it’s essential to decide what the best outcomes would be. The best marketing campaigns aren’t centered around a theme or message as much as they are focused on specific goals. Ask yourself what your marketing team hopes to accomplish. You may want to increase awareness, gain customer loyalty, or boost conversions. The goal you have in mind will directly affect the course of action you inevitably take.
A common marketing campaign goal is one that brings awareness to a product launch and tries to produce sales. Your content plan for a campaign like this will be a lot different than another campaign geared toward signing up customers to a rewards program. Your message, platforms, and your target audience will vary between these two goals.
2. Write Your Plan Down
Throughout each step of your content planning, you should be writing down the specifics. This way you can visualize the entire planning process and see how ideas develop over time. You’ll be able to keep track of specific details that might come in handy down the road.
When working with a team, it’s important to keep track of notes and details as a collective group. Look at platforms that enable such sharing capabilities, such as Google Docs or a project management software such as ClickUp. This way everyone can contribute to brainstorming documents and review notes from past meetings that they may have missed.
A content calendar will also be helpful on numerous occasions. Here you can list out the specific days and times that you want to release pieces of content. You can even automate when you post pieces of content, so your team can continue to focus on continuous planning.
3. Focus on Key Demographics
Now that you have a goal in mind and the outline of your plan, let’s pin down the target audience. Each marketing campaign will be geared toward a specific demographic. This will depend on the product or service you’re advertising plus the goals you have set previously.
For example, you might be part of a marketing team for a new cereal brand. If this cereal brand wants to advertise itself to kids, you’ll need to keep that in mind when planning out content. Bright colors and memorable characters are a couple tools marketers often use to get a child’s attention.
This same strategy might not work nearly as well for a cereal that’s been created for adults. In this case, you might consider placing your focus on the nutritional benefits and affordable cost of the cereal instead. This message will resonate more with an adult demographic rather than a silly, talking rabbit.
4. Think Outside of the Box
A lot of marketers, even the good, seasoned ones, will copy and emulate content from other sources. While this can be an efficient practice at times, you won’t always be successful by simply imitating the content of others. A new marketing team with fresh ideas should really try to think outside of the box when curating content.
In the content planning stage, there’s no such thing as a bad idea. This is a creative field, you should be throwing ideas at the wall until something sticks. Some ideas might sound so bad in your head, but once it starts bouncing around your teammates, it might develop into something.
5. Develop Relationships
As with any team, the more united you are, the better you will perform. The quicker a new marketing team can develop positive relationships with one another, the faster successful results will come. Look for ways to bond with your team members through conversation, activities, or acts of service.
Your marketing team should also seek out relationships with other departments. For example, the art and graphics department might be separate from the marketing team. A good relationship with them will improve communication. Then projects can be completed on time and without too many hiccups. A strained relationship with your graphics team may lead to late deadlines, poor quality of work, or just a generally miserable time.
Being a part of a new team is equal parts exciting and nerve wracking. Just do your part to try and be an asset to the team, and everything should fall into its proper place.
