Does your content creation lack a clear structure and goal? Content mapping is the solution.

A problem many creatives have is that they like to take an idea and run with it, often without doing any research. Disjointed content that does not work in harmony towards a shared goal is confusing and off putting to your audience, and wont deliver any results. 

Content mapping lets you review your content and create a clear ‘map’ of where your future content should take you. In this post we clearly explain what content mapping is, give you a 6-step process to creating a content map and share our top reasons why you need to use content mapping for your blog.

What Is Content Mapping?

A content map is a document that helps you see the big picture for your blog content. By developing a content map you ensure that your content resonates with your audience, speaks to their problems and nurtures them through your marketing funnel. 

With a content map you can start creating the right content, for the right audiences, at the right time. You connect every blog post that you create to your customer journey. Without your content map you are creating content without direction and it will miss the mark. 

How To Create a Content Map (6 Step Plan)

Creating a content map can be broken down into six stages. You start with understanding your current customers and the journey you want them to take. Then you move on to reviewing your existing content, and finally you look at the future content you want to create. 

Here are the six steps for creating a content map: 

1. Create Buyer Persona(s): Create your buyer persona or gather your existing persona
2. Map Out Your Customer Journey: Document the journey your customer takes to from being a prospect to converting to a customer
3. Complete A Content Analysis: Review what blog content is working best at each stage of your journey
4. Complete A Content Audit: Audit your existing blog content 
5. Map Your Existing Content: Map your existing blog content to the relevant phases of the customer journey [content mapping template below]
6. Map Your Future Content: Review where there are gaps in your current content and map future content to fill these gaps

Example/Template For Content Mapping 

How Content Mapping Help You Create Killer Content For Your Blog

Creating a content map has a ton of benefits for your blog. Here are our top three reasons you should start content mapping: 

1. Understanding Your Customers 

Mapping out a defined path for your customers to take helps you understand where your customers problems and obstacles are. You get to know what their end goals are, what they need and the questions they have about your product or service.  

These insights help you create tailored content that has a specific goal in mind. You talk more directly with your customers, address their issues and each piece of content you create for your blog should help a specific type of customer move through your funnel.

2. Cataloguing Your Content 

Content mapping requires you to audit and review your existing content. Centralising your content helps you identify outdated or redundant content that no longer benefits or even possibly negatively impacts your brand as well as highlighting content gaps for you to fill. 

3. Quality Over Quantity 

When it comes to blog content you want quality over quantity. Many marketers have given out advice over the years about how many blogs you should be creating every week. This has led to numerous brands focusing on the amount of content they are creating rather than its purpose. By creating a content map, you ensure all content is purposeful and fully optimised to serve that purpose.

To Sum Up

Content mapping is a simple to implement and highly useful strategy to use when creating blog content. It helps you better understand your audience and ensure all you are well allocating resources by attaching a goal to each piece of content you create. 

See inspirations here:

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