Jill Kurtz, Owner, Kurtz Digital StrategyYou are busy, but you need to be strategic to get the most from the time you devote to content. The best way to guarantee that is to take time up front to plan. Focus on your content strategy, write down what you will do, and you will have a road map that will keep you on course.Be sure to document:

• Goals
• Topics
• Sources
• Creators
• How often
• Where
• Marketing plans
• Meaningful measurements

Understand Your Target AudienceTake time to deeply understand your audience. Where are they online? What are they interested in? What do they react to, positively and negatively? How do they feel about your topic and brand?The more you understand your audience, the better you can be at creating content that will grab attention. Understanding your audience is a continual process. Be sure to keep track of how their interests evolve over time.Develop Great ContentThis is the step where many content marketers begin, but the first two steps should provide you with insight into the content that makes the most sense for your audience. Be sure all of your content is well-developed with great writing and clear imagery.Be sure to provide a mix of many forms of content:Blog postsVisualsAudioMicro content (tweets)VideoGuest contentTextInfographicsQuotesFactsEtc.Post, Share, and Share AgainPost your content and then share it on all relevant channels. Track what you have posted and post it again in various forms on various channels. You want to increase the odds that your very busy target audience sees your content at least once. Several times is better.Measure Impact and Make AdjustmentsSome elements of your plan will hit the target, some will exceed expectations and some will fall flat. That’s fine, as long as you pay attention and use that intel to make your content even better.Be sure to take periodic assessments. This should be easy if you have defined your measures in your plan. Stop doing the things that don’t get traction and adjust to the insights that have the potential to increase the engagement with your content.