Content Marketing Planning Templates & Other Awesome Resources [Updated]

The content marketing planning tools and resources in this article are a here to help you (and your team) generate ideas for the most engaging types of content for your audience depending on their stage in your sales cycle.

Before we go through the content marketing templates and tools for success, please make sure you:

• Have taken time to define your Buyer Personas clearly
• Understand your Customer’s Journey through the sales cycle
• And if new to the world of content marketing, read A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing

Marketing Planning Templates

Content Marketing Planning Template developed by Smart Insights

Let’s start by looking at the Content Marketing Matrix.

Ask yourself: What are your marketing goals for content?

To help review your content marketing options for your company, map content formats to align with customer intent and decision style.

Use the four quadrants Entertain, Inspire, Educate and Convince as a starting point to spark your own ideas.

This is a great resource for auditing current content and can help plan out new content.

It’s structured to help you think through the dimensions of different content based on how your audience might think and what you’re trying to achieve as a business.

Getting Your Content Plan in Order & Setting Goals

The content marketing matrix is great for getting the wheels spinning on the different kinds of content you can create, hopefully by looking at you can sit down and brainstorm ideas of what types of content you could create, but now the real work begins… actually putting your content together.

CoShecdule developed the next two resources.

Content Creative Brief

The Content Plan Creative Brief template is an excellent resource for collaborating with your team. The goal is to have everyone on the same page before developing a piece of content.

Content Creation Workflow

The Content Creation Workflow is a document that defines who does what and when they’ll do it.

• Map out everything you and your team need to do to complete the content
• Break up content tasks and delegate who does what
• Assign realistic due dates to tasks

Other Awesome Content Marketing Resources

• A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing 
• Connecting the Dots Along Your Customer’s Journey with the Right Content 
• 21 Simple Ways to Boost Your Content’s Viral Potential 
• 6 Top Tools to Transform Your Content Marketing in 2018 
• 15 Content Marketing Tools You Can’t Live Without
• Your Guide to Creating a Successful Marketing Calendar
• Learning your clients’ lingo: how to speak to your customers
• The Psychology of Social Media Sharing