8 content planning tips to save you time and sanity
Published August 6, 2025
When we think about content marketing, we tend to go straight to creation. We’re coming up with ideas for indivial posts or campaigns and even thinking about who’s going to write that content, but it’s so easy to forget about all the content planning that has to come first.
We can’t just jump on the latest trends and start writing about AI or the next buzzword–we have to make sure that our content supports our goals, is worth the time, and actually speaks to our audiences. Here are some content planning tips to keep in mind so you can ensure that all of your content marketing efforts are strategic.
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Prioritize your bandwidth
This seems so intuitive, but it’s the number one thing that content leaders and teams tend to forget. Planning a ton of great content isn’t worth anything if no one has the time to research and create it.
Back-to-back campaigns and endless drip of new content will just fatigue your team if they don’t have the support or bandwidth. Plus, being realistic about what you can do is more helpful than setting unrealistic standards that you just can’t meet.
Especially for small teams, it’s important to be realistic about what your bandwidth looks like. Paying for a cheap content agency might get you more volume, but it won’t necessarily be great quality. Instead, investing your time and/or money into even one cornerstone piece of content per month can prove more valuable than a supply of low-value AI slop.
2. Always focus on your goals
Another tip I have is to tune out the noise. I know, it’s so tempting to forward everything you see on LinkedIn to your content team. Every time you log in, someone is saying they’ve mastered the best framework for an AEO strategy, or other founders are talking about “the next big thing.”
But hopping on every trend isn’t strategic. That doesn’t mean you can’t at all, but it’s important to plan all of your content against your business and content marketing goals. If those trending topics do make sense for your goals, then it’s a win-win, but if not, it could end up in hollow engagement.
3. Choose your content planning anchors
I see a lot of talk online about how content pillars are dead or how there are specific seasonal topics you need to plan around for certain industries. That advice isn’t necessarily wrong, but it ignores the fact that your content planning should be custom to your industry, audience, goals, and positioning.
That means that you might use content pillars to organize your content around key topics, while filling in with campaigns and seasonal trends. You could also choose to plan most of your content around your sales funnel, especially if your main goals are related to lead gen or conversion.
4. Determine your mix of content types and formats
Once you have your content anchors and topics, it’s time to think about what types of content make sense. We tend to automatically think we need blog posts for SEO, but that isn’t always the case. You may need new landing pages first, then supportive blog posts.
Your content doesn’t always have to be a standard educational post either. Perhaps some topics make more sense as thought leadership pieces, or even a video series on YouTube.
You can also lean into certain formats to test them first. Again, this isn’t about trying to do everything at once–it’s about prioritizing your content calendar and workflow. You can always start with educational, SEO blog posts one quarter, then repurpose those posts into a video series throughout the next quarter. More on repurposing below, but that is a crucial part of any content planning process.
5. Leverage keyword research for all of your content
Understanding what people are searching for can be helpful across channels, and it helps you hone in on the core topic. That applies for blog posts, of course, but also your content across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and your website.
Though you might already have topics in mind, your business keywords can help you finalize the angle you should take, or the specific questions you need to answer. This part of the planning process ensure that your content is actually discoverable.
6. Repurpose to save effort!
I mentioned repurposing in a broad sense, but it’s something you can do with every single piece of content you create in order to save time. This helps you fill out your content calendar, but it’s also crucial to getting your content seen.
No matter what channels you use, your audience isn’t seeing everything you post. That means they need multiple opportunities to see it, and that’s where repurposing comes in.
7. Create the content marketing workflow that makes sense for you
Once you have your content calendar built out, it’s time to figure out how to execute. You can’t just expect your calendar to magically execute itself, even if your content team is one person. You still need a solid workflow to understand when it’s time to ideate, research and outline, write and create content, edit, and publish.
For teams, it’s also important to know who is responsible for what task, and what tools you’ll use to manage the entire content workflow.
8. Review your KPIs for your next planning cycle
The work isn’t done once you hit publish. Whether your planning cycle is every month or every quarter, you need to keep an eye on your performance leading up to the next cycle. That way, you can start to gather data about what’s working and what isn’t.
I don’t recommend making any major changes to your content plan until the next planning cycle, but maintaining your analytics and KPIs can help you notice if there are any major issues.
For example, it’s always helpful to track what your performance looks like in comparison to your output. If you know your team is spending a lot of time on videos but your blog posts are really generating the most results, you’ll know it’s a sign to pivot and prioritize blog posts.
Take content planning off your plate
Sometimes your team is already firing on all cylinders, and it can be difficult to build in dedicated time for content planning. That’s where my SEO and content marketing services can plug in. I’ll work with you and your team monthly to maintain a performance dashboard, continually review your analytics, plan your content calendar, and produce content to take work off your pate.
I can also plug in to support with other tasks like content briefs and templates, helping your team move forward with ease. Let’s chat!
