When it comes to generating compelling and engaging content in the world of blog flipping, it’s essential to have a strong foundation in place to ensure success.
One critical aspect of building this foundation involves understanding the differences between content strategy and content plan.
Don’t worry. When I first started, I was so confused about the two too! I had no idea what the distinction was between them. But fear not, this blog post will explain the difference between content strategy and content plan.
In this blog post, we’ll explore these two crucial elements of content marketing, highlight their key differences, and demonstrate how they work together to create a comprehensive and effective content marketing campaign.
Content Strategy Explained
Content strategy refers to the overarching framework and approach that you use to guide your content creation efforts.
It is a long-term blueprint for determining the type, format, and structure of your content in alignment with your business objectives and target audience’s preferences. A robust content strategy helps you ensure that your content is:
- Consistent in terms of quality, tone, and style
- Relevant to your audience
- Effective in achieving your goals (lead generation, brand awareness, etc.)
To develop a content strategy, you should start by:
- Setting clear and measurable goals
- Identifying your target audience and their needs
- Analyzing competitors and industry trends
- Determining key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of your content
Examples
Canva is well known for their strategic content approach. Their website is filled with helpful resources, tutorials, and templates that enable them to stay top of mind among their audience.
Another great example of a successful content strategy is from Hubspot. Their library of blog posts, ebooks, and webinars is specifically designed to educate their audience about the latest marketing trends and how to succeed in a digital age.
When it comes to personal blogs, content strategy involves creating weekly and monthly editorial calendars, outlining topics to write about and the content format (e.g., article, infographic, etc.) to match each topic.
Content Plan Explored
While content strategy is about developing a long-term vision for your content, a content plan focuses on the execution of that strategy.
Content plan involves the creation of a detailed roadmap outlining the resources needed to produce content and a timeline for content publication. Key aspects of a content plan include:
- Choosing the appropriate content format (blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.)
- Identifying keywords and topics to target
- Establishing a publication schedule
- Assigning roles and responsibilities to team members
- Evaluating and adjusting your content plan based on performance
Example
Unlike content strategy, there aren’t as many examples of successful content plans out there. That’s because these plans are usually private and proprietary documents for companies.
However, Buffer, in this case, can be used as an example of tools to use in creating a content plan. Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that can be used to help you organize and publish your content across multiple platforms.
Digital marketers use Buffer (or any similar scheduling tool) to save time and stay organized by creating a content calendar with clear guidelines for launch dates, post frequency, and topics to target.
By having a detailed content plan in place, you can ensure that your team is working together towards the same goals and producing high-quality content on a regular basis.
Key Differences
Understanding the differences between content strategy and content plan will enable you to optimize your content marketing efforts effectively. Key differences between the two are:
- Content strategy is a high-level, long-term approach to guiding content creation while content plan involves the actual execution of the strategy through detailed planning and management.
- Content strategy focuses on aligning content with business goals and audience preferences, while content plan deals with the practical aspects of producing and publishing content.
- Content strategy is typically created before the content plan, providing guidance and direction for the latter.
Working Together
Although content strategy and content plan are distinct concepts, they work in tandem to form an effective content marketing campaign.
A well-developed content strategy ensures that your content plan aligns with your goals and reaches your target audience.
Conversely, a detailed and well-executed content plan helps bring your content strategy to life by producing consistent, high-quality content that resonates with your audience and drives results.
Now, let’s put it all together! A content marketing campaign that combines a strong content strategy and a comprehensive content plan is more likely to succeed in achieving your blogging goals.
This combination will ensure that you are producing effective, engaging, and valuable content for your target audience while maintaining consistency in tone and style. As a result, you will be able to build a loyal audience base and grow your blog over time.
Content Strategy and Content Plan for Blog Flipping
Whether you’re the seller or the buyer, one of the most important steps in successful blog flipping is to have a well-developed content strategy and content plan in place.
For buyers, this means doing research on the blog’s target audience and understanding the type of content that resonates with them. If you’re going to buy a site you have no idea how to manage, then having a content strategy and plan in place is even more important.
For sellers, it’s essential to have a well-defined content strategy that outlines the type of content you’ll be creating as well as the topics you’ll cover. This will help buyers gain an understanding of your blog’s purpose and mission, making it easier for them to decide whether or not they want to purchase your site.
Regardless of which side you’re on, having a content strategy and plan in place can help make your blog flipping experience successful and stress-free.
By creating a content strategy and plan before engaging in blog flipping, you’ll be able to maximize your chances of success and ensure that all parties involved are on the same page. This will save you time and effort in the long run, as well as help ensure that your blog reaches its full potential.
My Final Thoughts
When I started to implement the content strategy and content plan for my blogs that I planned to flip, I was amazed at the results. My blog’s reach quickly expanded and readers started to engage more with my content.
I realized that having a solid strategy in place helped me focus on the type of content I should be producing and keep track of the topics I wanted to cover on a regular basis.
My experience reinforces the importance of having a content strategy and plan in place, especially if your exit for your blog is to flip it for a profit.
Content strategy and content plans should be an ongoing process, with regular updates as needed — you don’t really when you can close the deal, so it’s best to be prepared for any eventuality, right?
Ultimately, having a solid understanding of the differences between content strategy and content plan is key if you want to take your blog flipping experience to the next level and achieve your desired outcomes.
I hope this article has been helpful in understanding the differences between content strategy and content plan, and how to take advantage of these two concepts when flipping blogs. Good luck!