Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like there are a lot of programs out there that tell you what you “should” do — but that don’t seem to line up with what the author of the program actually does.
(I’m especially suspicious of this when I see people who have BRAND NEW businesses giving out business advice…)
But I actually went the other way when I created The Content Intelligence Agency. I created the system first for myself. My editorial calendar system is what I use for my own content marketing as well as the marketing strategies of most of my high-profile ghostblogging clients.
“I’m not just the president of Blogstorm, I’m also a customer…”
When I created the CIA system, I created the tool I needed to get a handle on all the moving parts of my content marketing plan. And I use it every single week. I also use it to create content calendars for many of my clients — some of whom are using their content to drive six- and seven-figure online business empires!
But rather than just say that, I thought I’d give you a glimpse into how I used it to make my fourth quarter content plan for 2015.
This post will outline the basic steps of my CIA system, but if you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, I suggest you sign up for the course.
1. Start with the calendar — Before you brainstorm
The first step in content planning for me is always looking at my calendar and seeing what I have coming up. This is vital whether you work on a launch model or have evergreen products and services.
When I’m launching something, like the live version of CIA, I know I want my blog content to get people thinking about that topic. But even when I’m not technically launching anything, I can use my blog topics to drive people’s interest towards a particular product or service I want to sell.
For Q4, I knew that I wanted to start getting my readers thinking about editorial calendars about 6–8 weeks before the course starts in January. By plotting that out in my calendar, I can easily see that I need at least that many topics around editorial calendars, as well as other topics to fill out the rest of the quarter.
I also always fill in big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas for two reasons. First, I might want to tailor my content to talk about something to do with the holiday (gratitude, giving back, etc.). And second, because I want to remember that I probably need to write that content ahead of time if I want to spend any time relaxing with my family!!
Once I’ve got my launch date filled in, I work backwards to fill in my “why” column — in other words, the goal of why I’m writing each post. For example, I know I want an action post right at launch time, some desire posts before that, etc. (based on my AIDA formula, which is explained in more detail in the course).
2. Brainstorm like crazy
NOW it’s time to brainstorm, because I have some general direction to start in.
In the Content Intelligence Agency curriculum, I give a BUNCH of ideas of how to brainstorm to fill up your idea bank, but this time around, I used one of my personal favorite techniques: eavesdropping.
I took some of my topics (like “blog editorial calendar”) and plugged them into Google to see what came up. Then, I would skim each article, but mainly head directly to the comments. What I’m really looking for are the questions people ask in the comments that the original author didn’t address. Those are blogging GOLD!
Using this technique, I was able to come up with more than 50 ideas — just around editorial calendars — in less than an hour.
3. Sort, filter, and analyze
Fifty ideas sounds awesome, but I really only needed six or seven — and they had to be the right six or seven to help me sell my program.
So, my next step was to go through and categorize each post based on my AIDA formula for blog posts. I wanted to know, is this a post that grabs attention? One that will pique my audience’s interest? One that generates desire, or one that calls for action? (You’ll notice in the image below, I’ve also been playing with Tara Gentile’s words, “challenge, expand, analyze, deliver” — but they are just different words for the same concept.)
Once I have them categorized and sorted this way, I can instantly see if I have any holes in my sequence. For example, if I only have one “attention” post, I need to brainstorm some more ideas that would fall into that category.
4. Schedule
Now I needed to narrow down the contenders. Because I’m supporting a launch, I decided to do a quick poll. I took my top favorite “attention” posts — the ones meant to grab eyeballs and get clicks — and asked a couple of communities I’m in to pick their favorites.
Once I had some clear winners, I built the rest of the sequence based on what people seemed to be most interested in. 
Notice that my posts don’t strictly go A – I – D – A. I decided to throw another “attention” post in there in mid-December, because it was a popular topic in my poll, and there’s still time in my sales cycle to grab some fresh eyeballs. (That sounds so gross, doesn’t it? Sorry!)
Finally, I ran my headline ideas through the Co-Schedule Headline Analyzer to make sure they have as much zing as possible, and VOILA! I’m ready to rock and roll.
In just a couple of hours (not counting the time it took to run the polls), I had planned out three months of blog content — including a content sequence to support my launch.
BOO-YA.
Save time and increase revenue
Planning my content ahead of time in this way makes so much else possible in my business:
- I can outsource the graphic design of the images for my posts (see above!) because I know the titles and what they’ll be about before I write them.
- I can plan ahead to create any extra content — like worksheets or checklists — that I want to offer to go along with my blog posts (to get extra sign-ups)
- I can pre-write and pre-schedule social media posts that go along with my blog content, if I care to, or write Facebook ad copy ahead of time.
I would also say that this content planning system is my secret weapon to using content marketing to drive business.
I was chatting with a biz friend recently, and she admitted that she often forgets to create content around her launches until it’s almost too late. This is a woman who regularly has five-figure launches — imagine what she could do if she were priming the pump with her content ahead of time!
Your chance to make your content plan work
No false scarcity here: Content Intelligence Agency is available every day of the year, but I only run it live with office hours twice a year, and this is one of those times! If you’d like to learn exactly how to put my content planning system to work for your business, click here to learn more about CIA.