Businesses of all sizes are posting content, but few have a content marketing plan. Why research, interview, write, edit and post, if you do not have a clear path where your blogs will take you and bring back leads, sales or deals in return?

With only half of small businesses achieving profit growth, according to the study below, doesn’t it make sense to craft a plan to turn your content into dollars in 2013?

Other key findings:

• 50% of small businesses reported profit growth in 2012.
• 44% say they are now both stronger and more determined to succeed than ever.
• 38% say the weak economy has spurred them to work more efficiently.
• 27% say they asked for outside help to solve a business problem in 2012.

SOURCE: Findings are from a survey of 500 US small business owners and managers, conducted by Hiscox in third quarter of 2012.

Content Marketing Plan Musts

Writing a content marketing plan forces everyone to clarify what they want prospects, visitors and loyal patrons to do.  Here is an abbreviated list of questions to answer, pulled from 50 Smart Ways to Craft a Social Media Content Marketing Plan written by Amanda Nelson of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

1. Set your goals and objectives (what do you wish to achieve and how)
2. How will you measure your results and make adjustments?
3. Where are your prospects, visitors, and patrons currently getting info about your niche in the area?
4. What problems are your customers having when they come to you?
5. What are your customers and prospects saying on Twitter and in News Groups?
6. Which formats generate the best responses last year? (short post, long post, video, audio)
7. What is working for your competition?
8. Are you creating two-way communication and if not how can you in 2013?
9. Is your content being shared?
10. Is your content generating comments?
11. Are other sites linking to your content? If not how can you make this happen?
12. Are your keywords driving organic visits to your blog? If not, revisit and revise.
13. What steps are you doing to promote your content?
14. Are you posting 1-25 times a week? How can you increase quality postings?

Do you have a content marketing plan? According to Brendan Egan, CEO of Simple SEO Group, companies that blog more, make more. Egan challenged himself to posting two 575-word blogs a week consistently for five months to learn if increasing his posting schedule over a steady basis would bear fruit. It did.

Egan said his company’s website traffic, inquiries and new clients all increased as a result with no changes in any other variables.

So what’s your plan? It has to be more than increasing posts and sticking to a regular schedule. You really need to determine how your blogging content fits into your bigger marketing plan and creates value to your customers and two-way conversations.

Take 20 minutes to view Coca Cola’s content marketing plan called Coca Cola Content 2020 and you’ll realize your “plan” may need more meat to help you meet your long-term strategic goals. Coca Cola aims to make the world a better place, to live and dominate the beverage category through content marketing and story telling. How about you?