How do you plan something? How do you execute it?

A little while back, new employees were assigned to the Content Marketing Department again this year.
Right now, his mind is a tangled mess. Abstract terms like "planning," "concept," "message," "theme," "structure," and "angle" – all directed at him by his seniors – are intertwined, leaving him completely confused about what exactly he should produce and how.

"How do I develop a plan in this world swirling with vague terms?" "The concept is set. The message direction is set. So how do I translate these into concrete content plans?"

This time, I'd like to talk a little about the artistic side of content marketing for planning beginners like him.

1) Can you convey it without using the concept word?

A common exercise in creative training is the instruction: "Express something delicious without using the word 'delicious'."

Commonplace words often fail to convey meaning effectively. Beyond words, there are non-verbal methods—ways to express without text. To achieve this elevated form of communication, you must understand the "meaning" of your message, verbalize the intuitive aspects you grasp, and give it form. Furthermore, when you think through every last detail, there's a moment when the logical concept, rooted in language, is sublimated back into intuition and sensation, making it easier to reach the audience's heart. Cultivating that intuition is part of the training.

2) Is there an angle?

The term "angle" is also frequently used in planning. It refers to the perspective from which you approach a product, service, or the information—the message—you've decided to convey, and how you maintain that perspective while communicating it.

Even after the concept and the broad direction of the message are decided, countless angles still exist in the process of translating them into concrete plans and outputs. Exploring these is also part of the planner's job.

While it's said that writing in the web era is increasingly standardized around simply listing events as they happen or information as it's researched, it's crucial to first establish the core axis of your approach—much like the thesis statement at the beginning of an English essay. If this perspective feels fresh, it inherently becomes valuable information. This is a key point.

3) What mood do you want to create?

When you're too focused on the logic of your message, you can easily overlook the "feeling" aspect.
In creative work, this is often called the "aftertaste." It's crucial to consider what mood you want people to be in when they encounter your content and afterward.

For instance, you might want them to feel energized and excited for tomorrow. Or perhaps you want them to feel a moment of relief amidst their busy lives. These feelings are cultivated through specific words, tone, design, music, and more as you actually create the content. If the sender lacks this perspective on the desired mood, even when conveying something valuable, it might not be perceived as good at all, or worse, it might not even get seen. However, if the sender gets too carried away playing with this "mood" aspect, the core message might get lost. This sense of balance also requires training.

4) How to explain the concept

Whether you're a true planning professional becomes clear when explaining the plan to clients or team members. You might describe the feel or details, but if you can't explain why you chose that particular expression, or if the reasons you struggle to explain are subjective or personal, the plan's impact quickly fades. From the planning stage—when you're developing ideas and their supporting elements—you must consider why that particular expression is necessary. It's painstaking work, but with persistence, these connections will become intuitive in your mind.

5) How to Communicate to the Production Team

People often interpret the same words differently, so communicating with the production team is a skill in itself. How do you convey the concept to the designers, writers, and developers who will actually create it? If your words are insufficient and you can only convey a vague idea, the results will be equally vague.

Conversely, if you only communicate logically and systematically, you'll end up with bland deliverables that merely meet the requirements, making it difficult to move the viewer emotionally. So, how should you communicate? How should you guide revisions? This also requires training and skill.

 

Even in the digital age, planning and directional skills are like muscle strength. Acquiring knowledge alone isn't enough; you need physical training to hone your intuition. While you don't need to train for five or ten years like in the old days, developing the eye to instantly assess what's produced still takes some time.

While keeping up with digital marketing knowledge, you must also train your planning muscles. It's quite demanding because you're using different muscles, but experiencing this simultaneous left-brain and right-brain muscle training is a defining feature of the content marketing field.