First steps to start with planning a content marketing strategy

What you should do first? I think this is a good summary of tips and questions and the first steps to take when planning a content marketing strategy. Thoughts are by Sarita Harbour. It's important to figure out and understand to whom you are creating content, where they hang out and what are their interests. With these Sarita’s thoughts and 4 questions is easy to realize where to start and what you should take in consideration in minimum related to content marketing for your target groups. These questions are understandable even for beginners. Important first steps for all companies, the big and small. 

1. What are the demographics of our target audience? Pinpointing the age, sex, marital status and other key demographic information of your customers will help streamline data-gathering for the remaining questions. It may be that you have two or three different customer profiles within a larger group, and this knowledge is helpful when developing customized content and developing different product lines or services.
2. Where does my target audience hang out? This is one of the most important questions to ask when working on the social media aspect of your content marketing strategy. The most cleverly written web content including articles, blog posts, white papers, and tutorials are wasted if they don't reach your target audience.
   
   Which social media platforms do they use and what activities does they participate in when they are on these sites? Are your typical clients or customers Facebook enthusiasts, LinkedIn members, Twitter aficionados or do they prefer Pinterest? Where do they get their news - the Internet, the radio, television, or print media? Gain a clear understanding of where your audience spends their time and focus your social media interactions and content marketing there. Tip: if you don't know where to start, try Facebook. With approximately 1 billion users, chances are your typical customer is among them.
3. What are their day-to-day concerns? Identify the main concerns of your target audience. Look at the big picture, and don't limit this information to just the problems your business can help them solve. For example, a skin care business targeting middle aged women may discover that their target customers are concerned about aging parents, college-aged children, and finding time to exercise. Using this knowledge can help flesh out a profile of your typical customer, and direct content creation on websites and social media communities built around these concerns. Demonstrating your empathy and understanding of what their lives are like can go a long way to building long-term relationships with your target audience.
4. How can we help? Online consumers have questions that need answers and problems that need solving.They want help to do something (often to save time and/or money), to buy something, or to be entertained. Once you answer their questions concisely, help with problem solving or providing useful or entertaining information, they are more likely to share your content with others, bookmark your site, subscribe to your newsfeeds, friend you, pin you, retweet you and connect with you. Ultimately, they will either purchase from you online or visit your store.
   http://www.zerys.com/content-marketing-blog-1/bid/87029/4-Questions-That-Help-Define-Your-Target-Audience