AMA PCM Content Marketing study plan

Define content marketing and distinguish it from adjacent practices such as advertising, PR, and demand generation

Map the end-to-end content marketing process from audience research through distribution and iteration

Draft a one-page standards sheet covering editorial voice, sourcing, and approval requirements

Classify ten sample content pieces against a governance checklist you build yourself

Compare at least four content models (hub-and-spoke, pillar-cluster, editorial calendar-driven, campaign-based) and state when each fits

Diagram a content operating model showing roles, workflows, and handoffs

Build a content inventory template with fields for owner, lifecycle stage, and reuse potential

Identify three operational bottlenecks in a hypothetical content team and propose fixes

Write a content brief template that specifies objective, audience, format, and success criteria

Document a publishing workflow with review gates and version control steps

Apply accessibility and disclosure standards to a sample content plan

Audit five sample content assets against your standards sheet and log findings

Construct two audience personas grounded in stated needs, behaviors, and decision triggers rather than demographics alone

Map a customer journey with content needs at each stage

Segment an audience by intent and identify the content format best suited to each segment

Draft interview questions to validate persona assumptions with real audience input

Outline narrative structures (problem-solution, hero's journey variant, before-after-bridge) and match each to a content type

Write one short piece of original brand storytelling that applies a chosen structure

Revise the piece to strengthen the opening hook and remove filler

Critique three published stories against a storytelling rubric you define

Explain storymapping as a method for sequencing content to an audience journey

Build a storymap connecting audience stages to content assets and channels

Identify gaps and redundancies in your storymap and prioritize fixes

Present the storymap logic in a short written rationale

Define KPIs that tie to business outcomes rather than vanity metrics

Build a measurement plan specifying metric, source, cadence, and owner for each KPI

Design a simple attribution approach appropriate to a content program

Create a reporting template that communicates results to a non-specialist stakeholder

Synthesize prior deliverables into a single integrated content marketing plan

Re-test yourself on weak areas identified across weeks 1-7

Review every deliverable against the standards sheet for consistency

Write a 90-day action plan for applying the framework