By MICHELE LINN published JUNE 3, 2013
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By far, the most popular post we have ever published at the Content Marketing Institute is 10 Must-Have Templates for Content Marketers. Though this post is almost two years old, our readers still seem to clamor for this type of information and advice.
To that end, we wanted to provide a refresher on the most popular templates and checklists shared by the CMI team and our guest contributors. Some of these are “oldies but goodies” that we included in the first list, and others are new. All are intended to simplify some part of the content marketing process — and all can be customized to your particular needs.
Buyer-focused resources
Buyer persona template: The first rule of content marketing is that whatever you create must be relevant to your audience. Here are tips on how to create a buyer persona:
Content mapping template: If you sell something with a complex sales cycle, you’ll need to map your content requirements to stages in the buying cycle.
Content and process organization
Content marketing team and workflow checklist: You can’t create a successful content marketing program if you don’t have the right skills, resources, and experience on hand to support your efforts. Learn more about the essential roles and recommended processes for building your team and workflow plan.
Editorial calendar template: To keep all of your content projects planned and organized, you’ll likely want to develop an editorial calendar. This template will serve as a great starting point.
Content kick-off checklist: For a content project to succeed, all stakeholders — from the client to your content creators — need to be on the same page. We suggest answering these 15 questions before you start any project.
Content request template: Have too many content ideas, or too many requests from across your organization? Use this checklist to help you prioritize your projects, or those being developed by your team.
Content technology questionnaire: Are you considering a technology purchase to simplify your content processes? This checklist includes 14 questions to ask to make sure you select a solution that will meet your unique content marketing needs.
Creativity and design
Readability checklist: Not all websites are created equal. Here’s a checklist to follow for designing pages that are clear and readable, and can be easily navigated by your audience.
Killer web content template: If you are creating web content, use this template to help you make sure you’re driving action on each page.
Creating valuable content checklist: As you work through all of your content ideas, keep these key considerations in mind to ensure that you will be providing value to your audience.
Title evaluation scorecard: The importance of a great title for your content efforts shouldn’t be underestimated. This checklist walks you through the essentials for creating relevant, engaging headlines that will draw readers in.
Keyword selection checklist: While quality content rules, you shouldn’t ignore SEO. Here are 12 questions to ask to make sure you are targeting the most relevant keywords for your business.
Publication and promotion
Content publication checklist: Once you’re ready to share your content with the world, be sure to review these key steps that will help you prepare your publication for optimal reach, engagement, and ROI.
Content distribution template: Even after you’ve published, your job is not done. You need to market your content, and this template will walk you through the need-to-know basics.
Blog post promotion checklist: If you are promoting a blog post, there are lots of things you can do to position it for success. Check out our most recent list of tips to help get you started (you can also go deeper by reading our original post on the topic).
Localization checklist: If your content is targeted to audiences in different global markets, consider this checklist of tips and considerations for localizing the content you’ve created.
Content marketing success checklist: Of course, you will want to see which of your content efforts are performing best, so you can continue to deliver the information your audience wants. This checklist walks you through how to measure content marketing success.
If there are templates and checklists you have personally used in your content marketing efforts, please tell us about them in the comments. And if there are others you would like to see, let us know that as well!
Editor’s note: You can also check out these templates our readers have suggested:
- The Triangle of Relevance: Angie Schottmuller shares a content strategy principle incorporating three angles – business interest, user interest, and time significance – to maximize relevance and magnetize content, creating user action.
For more tools and ideas that will help facilitate all your content marketing efforts, read CMI’sContent Marketing Playbook.
Cover image via Bigstock
