The old saying ‘to fail to plan is to plan to fail’ has real relevance to the content marketing process. Content marketing is a time consuming exercise so to fail to generate the required results simply because of the absence of a plan is a significant waste of business resources that could be avoided.

Two key elements are required to succeed in inbound (content) marketing. The creation of engaging valuable content and the delivery of that content via the correct channels to that ensure it has the best chance of being read and engaged with. If either element is missing then the required results will not be achieved.

It is important to deliver content to prospects and customers on a regular basis. This aids engagement and credibility and ultimately increases the chances of securing quality sales leads. Different content may be delivered at various points in the sales cycle. Without a content marketing plan delivery is likely to be on an ad-hoc basis and will not achieve the desired result.

A well constructed plan ensures sources of content are progressed appropriately against due date and are delivered on time. Content may come from many sources, it may be existing information that just needs some editing and conversion or it may be an article written by a thought leader within the business or new content produced by the marketing department. All these sources need to be collected, collated and delivered as specified in the marketing plan.

Given all the effort that goes into producing content it is a waste if it is not delivered by the most appropriate medium to ensure it has the best chance of being read by the target audience. With a list of channels and an appropriate plan in place there is the best chance of making minor modifications to content and distributing that content via several different channels.

There are many distribution channels available including social media, social bookmarks, webinars, seminars, blogs and whitepapers. The challenge is to co-ordinate what information will be distributed via which channel and without a effective plan in place this can be an impossible task.

A plan to co-ordinate the content marketing process then is essential to success. It ensures delivery of content, on time and via the most appropriate delivery channel to ensure content is read and engaged with. Most importantly the chances of obtaining a steady stream of sales leads are significantly increased with a plan in place.