How to Create a Content Roadmap

We all know the phrase “Content is King,” but you probably don’t have time to plan out a whole bunch of content well in advance while also running your business. Have you ever looked at one of your competitors and wondered how they are churning out so much great content? We’ll let you in on a little secret: they probably aren’t just randomly coming up with content and posting it when they feel like it. They are most likely utilizing a content roadmap and planning their content at least a month in advance, including the topics and who they are targeting. Whether you want to keep writing all of your content yourself, or you are ready to outsource your blog to an agency, a content roadmap will help you be prepared and help you attract a lot more traffic. 

Definition of a Content Roadmap

A content marketing roadmap is a strategic tool that helps you create and execute a content plan that will help you reach your marketing goals.

It will help you visualize and plan out the work you need to do, so you can create a timeline to get it done and achieve your objectives. Your content roadmap might include planning for blog posts, long form pieces, case studies, videos, and other types of content. 

Why a Content Strategy Roadmap is Important

Almost 80% of B2B marketers report having a content marketing strategy, but only 43% have documented their strategy. However, among more successful companies, that number jumps to 60%. A visual representation of your content strategy is your content roadmap — and it can even make you more successful. 

Just like any other type of roadmap, your content roadmap ensures that you get where you want to go. A well thought-out content strategy is the heart of many successful content marketing campaigns. A trove of valuable, well-written content helps you develop a relationship with your existing and potential customers by building trust, demonstrating your knowledge in your industry, giving examples of how your business can help your audience with their pain points, and providing your audience with insightful and helpful tips and information. 

But if every week rolls around and you are panicking and you can’t come up with any new content ideas, it’s time to utilize a content roadmap. A roadmap will help you plan out your content well in advance so you’re never scrambling. It will also allow you to spend more time crafting excellent pieces of content instead of scrambling to come up with topics. The topics on your roadmap will be designed to connect with your target buyers and address their questions about your product or service. 

How to Create a Content Marketing Roadmap

While the idea of creating a content marketing roadmap might sound overwhelming, it takes less time to make a content plan than you probably think. Our training will help you become a content roadmap expert. Here is what you can expect from our content strategy training: 

Sign Up Via Our Form

First, we will ask you to provide some basic information about goals for your content and your business. This will help our content team prepare for your upcoming training. All of our training is completely personalized to you and your needs! SEO Design Chicago offers both online and in-person training, and we can start as soon as possible or three months away. We take the time to sit down with you and really craft a content marketing strategy for your business. We can also perform a content audit to help you look over your existing content and determine why it is or is not performing well. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all content strategy at SEO Design Chicago. 

Choose Your Goals 

The first step of any marketing campaign is to choose which goals you want to achieve. After all, you can’t achieve your goals if you haven’t decided what they are, right? Are you hoping to attract more website customers, or do you want to convince people to commit a certain desired action, like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase? Whatever your goals are, we need to know what they are before you can start mapping out your content strategy. 

Do Research 

Before you can start crafting any kind of effective content, you need to know who your target audience is. After all, in order to know who you are writing to, their pain points, and other important demographics. This step can also help you determine which types of content you should create and where you should promote that content. 

Create a Mission Statement 

Every content plan should begin with a mission statement. This helps everyone who has a hand in content, social media, videos, etc. understand the ultimate goal of the project. 

Topic Brainstorm 

Next, we will work with you to come up with topics that are both good for you customers and good for your SEO. Our team specializes in SEO content that ranks well on search engines and draws your target audience to your site. 

Create an Editorial Calendar

Next, we will help you create an editorial calendar so you can schedule your content well in advance and around holidays, important days for your business, etc. Rather than publishing your content on the fly, you can schedule your blog posts to automatically publish. 

Content Generation 

Finally, it’s time to actually create the content! You can either create the content yourself, or you can outsource your content writing to the expert team of professional writers at SEO Design Chicago. 

Sharing Content 

What happens are you publish content? At SEO Design Chicago, we don’t stop at simply helping you create your content. Our marketing team also excels at sharing content on social media and other platforms to ensure that it performs well and finds the right audience. 

What Excellent Content Roadmaps Include 

Here is a list of everything that your content roadmap should include:

• Goals
• Mission Statement
• Calendar 
• Assignments (if you have more than one person working on content)
• Schedules 
• Status 

Content Creation Strategy Training at SEO Design Chicago

The SEO Design Chicago team offers Content Creation Strategy training to teach you how to create a content roadmap for your individualized business. Or, you can go ahead and outsource all of your blog, email, and social media content to us to handle. We can work with you to create a content roadmap that helps you connect with your target audience and ultimately, convert more customers. It has never been easier to map out your content strategy than with the content creation experts at SEO Design Chicago. 

FAQ: 

• What is a content roadmap? 
• How do I make a content roadmap?
• Why is it important to create a content roadmap?
• Where can I learn how to create a content roadmap? 
• What should my content roadmap include?