How to use When to use For whom Planning pitfalls Reaching deadlines

FREE Content Creation Template

Master content creation template project plan timelines with our intuitive content creation template project plan Gantt chart template.

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Gantt chart template

Why use our Content Creation Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Content Creation Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.

Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Headache-free collaboration and sharing.

Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s content creation template to build and share your office renovation project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Content Creation Template.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Content Creation Template based on your project description.

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What is a content creation template?

“Content is king,” said Bill Gates. Those words are as true today as when he first said them back in 1996. Of course, the type of content that resonates with different audiences has changed and evolved. Once, it was primarily text-based content. Today, there are infographics, videos, social media content, and so much more.

And still, content is king. Without it, you can’t connect with your audience. It follows that content creation is one of the most important aspects of building a successful business, whether you’re a would-be influencer, an up-and-coming brand, a startup looking to make your mark, or an established company trying to forge a stronger connection with your customers.

A content creation template can help ensure that your content resonates with the people who matter most. It can also help streamline the creation process through accurate planning.

A content creation template, sometimes called a content production template, is a living document that helps you plan your content marketing efforts in detail. That’s the key to achieving success with content marketing: a solid plan that outlines what you’re creating, when, and for whom.

Use a content creation Gantt chart template

Rather than trying to use Excel, Google Sheets, or even Word as a content creation template, consider using a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner. Why opt for a Gantt chart? As mentioned, the key to successful content marketing is accurate planning and ideation. A Gantt chart is ideally suited to that.

With a Gantt chart, you can create custom timelines, assign tasks, allocate resources, schedule activities, assign priorities, and set custom statuses for key elements of your marketing campaigns. Tom’s Planner makes it simple to create an in-depth plan to underpin your success.

You can also easily create custom fields specifically for particular elements of your content marketing strategy, as well as for your overarching content plan. A content creation Gantt chart template allows you to add fields like:

  • Content channels
  • Content types
  • Content assignment
  • Dependencies between tasks and subtasks
  • Content moderation assignments
  • Monetization strategies per channel
  • Connections between content types and channels in your marketing strategy

A content creation template like Tom’s Planner improves your ability to plan, enhances insights during your planning, and increases the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts.

When to use a content creation template

You’ll use a content creation Gantt chart template at multiple points, including the following:

Planning Phase:

Content templates are essential components of the planning phase. Marketers and content creators can use templates to rough out content, set goals, connect ideas, and plan to make the content as effective as possible.

Resource Allocation:

Content managers and creators must use a wide range of resources. Allocating them properly is an important part of planning and will help ensure a smooth process while improving the quality of your results.

Communication:

Content teams, managers, marketers, and other stakeholders must communicate information throughout the process. Using a content creation Gantt chart template helps plan effectively and ensures that key stakeholders stay informed at all times.

Who should use a content creation template?

A wide range of individuals and teams will require access to content creation templates. Some of the most common users include the following:

Content Creators:

Content creators are the primary users of content creation templates and will use them to plan and script content, pitch it to stakeholders, ideate, differentiate content for use on different channels, and much more.

Project Managers:

Project managers rely on content creation templates to ensure that all tasks are assigned and being carried out, that appropriate stakeholders are involved, and that the content fits within the wider marketing strategy.

Marketing Teams:

Marketing teams will use content creation templates to map content to channels and initiatives, inform strategy development, ensure accuracy in the content created, and leverage the content created for use within marketing efforts.

Tom’s Planner is the foundation of successful marketing by enabling everyone involved to plan, ideate, and communicate effectively.

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The top three pitfalls to avoid when creating content

  1. Failure to Plan How Content Interests:

    No piece of content is an island. Everything you create intersects with other pieces. Failure to plan for this can mean creating redundant content, missing opportunities to build on previous efforts, and other mistakes.

    Solution:

    Pay close attention to existing content during your planning so you can maximize the value of your existing assets and avoid duplication and redundancy.

  2. Not Planning to Reuse Content:

    Think that blog post is a once-and-done thing? Think again. All the content you create should be reusable in different formats to help you maximize its value to your organization and boost your reach.

    Solution:

    Plan how you’ll reuse content being created now in the future, whether that’s chunking book chapters into blog posts, turning blog posts into infographics, or something else.

  3. Not Planning Sufficient Content to Support the Sales Cycle:

    Your sales funnel is only as successful as the amount of content you generate for it. If you don’t plan and create sufficient content, you’ll fail to attract, engage, and retain customers, and they’ll go elsewhere.

    Solution:

    Plan enough content (and the right types) to support your customers through the entire sales funnel, from awareness to retention.

What does a content creation template include?

No two businesses have identical content marketing needs, so each content creation template will be unique. However, they often share similarities, including:

  1. Goals:

    What are your goals with the content? Do you want to educate your audience? Drive traffic to another destination? Incite curiosity? Specify the goals for each piece of content and how those dovetail with the larger strategy.

  2. Theme:

    What’s the theme of the content piece? How does that theme work in your wider strategy? What other content pieces share the same theme and can connect with this one?

  3. Funnel Stage:

    Where does the content fit within your marketing strategy and the customer lifecycle? Is it geared toward awareness, consideration, purchase, or retention?

  4. Competing Content:

    Unless you’re very lucky, a competitor will have created similar content to what you intend. How well was it received by its audience? What lessons can you draw from that? How can you create better content?

  5. Content Creator/Lead:

    Who’s responsible for creating the content? This helps ensure accountability and the ability to plan your content marketing efforts.

  6. Stakeholder Approval:

    Who signed off on the content? Who is ultimately responsible for approving it to be sent out into the world?

Sound planning is the foundation of successful content marketing. Tom’s Planner ensures that you can plan content creation simply and easily.

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

1. Plan Content Well in Advance:

Don’t let your content marketing efforts get derailed by a lack of time, planning, or resources. Plan what you’ll create well ahead and get a jump on it so you can empower your sales funnels.

2. Plan a Robust Content Marketing Strategy:

Don’t stick to just one or two types of content. Each type offers different benefits and will deliver a return over a different time frame. Your content marketing strategy must be robust and filled with multiple content types.

3. Pay Attention to Your Content Team:

Your content team is responsible for ideating and creating the content you’ll use to attract leads and engage customers. Pay attention to their suggestions, workload, and resource availability so they can continue to do what they do best.

4. Be Flexible:

There’s a lot to be said for flexibility when it comes to content marketing and deadlines. By planning ahead, understanding your audience, and ensuring you have the right tools, like Tom’s Planner, you can update your strategy on the fly and easily adapt to changes.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

Excel Tom's Planner
Cost License required Free version available
Learning curve Hours Minutes
Create your first Gantt chart Hours Minutes
Making an update in your chart Several minutes Seconds (drag & drop)
Sharing charts with others At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion
Look & Feel Messy Clean, polished and professional
Dependencies
Filtering
Zoom in/out
Automatic Legend
AI-assist Let our AI assist do the work for you
Export to image or pdf Requires workarounds to export One mouse click

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