PCM® Content

Marketing
Body of Knowledge
Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Key Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Domains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Domain 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Domain 2: Modern Content Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Domain 3: Building Your Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Domain 4: Operations and Content Modeling. . . . . . . . . 6

Domain 5: Standards and Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Domain 6: Audience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Domain 7: Product Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Domain 8: Storytelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Domain 9: Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Domain 10: Storymapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2
Overview
About the AMA PCM® Program
The American Marketing Association Professional Certified Marketer (AMA PCM®) exams
are created using a Body of Knowledge format, which outlines the responsibilities of and
knowledge needed by today’s marketing professional in the specific topic.

This document outlines the 10 major content areas, or domains, of the AMA PCM® Content
Marketing Body of Knowledge. It shows the topics and learning objectives under each
domain, as well as the approximate percentage of the test devoted to that domain.

Also included in this document is a list of key terms to study as you prepare for the
PCM® exam.

Recommended Resource
While accomplished marketing professionals should have a good
grasp of the content in this Body of Knowledge, the exam still
requires preparation for most candidates.

The AMA recommends Content Marketing Strategy, by Robert Rose,

as a resource in preparing for the AMA PCM® Content Marketing exam.
For details on this book, and to purchase it online, click here.

3
Key Terms

A/B testing Content workflows

Audience-first approach Customer journey mapping

Brand guidelines Digital asset management (DAM)

Brand storytelling Editorial calendar

Buyer personas Generative AI

Competitive analysis Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Content auditing Marketing automation

Content experience goals Measurement strategy

Content framework Media planning

Content gap analysis Multichannel content distribution

Content gating Objectives and key results (OKRs)

Content governance Omnichannel delivery

Content lifecycle On-brand content

Content mapping Performance analytics

Content marketing Roles and responsibilities

Content modeling Sales funnel

Content performance data SEO optimization

Content recycling Story mapping

Content repurposing Value proposition

Content strategy Voice of customer (VoC)

4
Domains
Domain 1

Introduction 10%
Topic 1: Defining Content Marketing Strategy
Topic 2: The Modern Business Case
Topic 3: The Three Pillars

Learning Objectives
Identify the role content marketing plays in modern businesses
Define content marketing strategy
Learn the three pillars of content marketing strategy

Domain 2

Modern Content Marketing 10%

Topic 1: The Evolution of Marketing
Topic 2: Marketing Strategic Planning
Topic 3: The Two Funnels

Learning Objectives
Discuss the evolution of marketing to understand how history has influenced and
led to current content marketing practices
Identify the four components of marketing strategic planning
Learn how modern content marketing and marketing strategy form the total
customer experience

5
 Domain 3

Building Your Team 15%

Topic 1: The Six Steps of Content
Topic 2: The Purpose Canvas of Content Marketing
Topic 3: The RASCI Framework

Learning Objectives
Identify the six stages of the content lifecycle
Understand how to align team roles to content workflows and operations
Learn the key roles needed for an effective content marketing team
Discover best practices for structuring cross-functional collaboration on content
Define the core responsibilities for each role on the content team
Identify the components of a RACI matrix in relation to roles and responsibilities

Domain 4

Operations and Content Modeling 10%

Topic 1: Governance and Lifecycle
Topic 2: The Content Audit
Topic 3: Content Modeling

Learning Objectives
Understand how to implement governance models for content marketing
Learn how to develop content policies, guidelines and workflows
Identify how to conduct a content audit
Discover how to optimize and scale existing content
Define story packaging as a framework for content modeling

6
 Domain 5

Standards and Guidelines 5%

Topic 1: Standards
Topic 2: Modern SEO

Learning Objectives
Discuss a process for identifying brand and content standards
Understand the basics of search engine optimization
Discover how to incorporate SEO into your content marketing strategy
Learn how to align content and metadata with target SEO goals

Domain 6

Audience 15%
Topic 1: Audience and Buyer Personas
Topic 2: Building Audience Personas
Topic 3: Translating Personas

Learning Objectives
Identify how to generate ROI from content marketing
Understand the role of the customer journey lifecyle
Understand the difference between general audience personas and buyer personas
Discuss the 5 Ds of audience persona development
Learn to distinguish goals and needs of each type of persona
Learn to translate audience personas into actionable buyer personas

7
 Domain 7

Product Development 15%

Topic 1: Product Development
Topic 2: Mapping the Experience
Topic 3: Gating Content
Topic 4: Multichannel Planning

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the role of product management in content marketing
Discover how to align content strategy with the customer journey
Identify how to focus your content to provide value based on organizational
and audience needs
Determine when and how to incorporate content gating
Learn how to create an integrated multichannel media plan
Identify the four types of media channels
Understand how to align content strategy with the sales funnel stages

Domain 8

Storytelling 5%
Topic 1: Storytelling
Topic 2: Value Propositions

Learning Objectives:
Identify the components of storytelling and their role in marketing and business
Discuss the difference between a brand story and your brand’s stories
Discover how to develop an engaging brand story that connects with audiences
Learn how to create value propositions that speak to audience needs

8
 Domain 9

Measurement 10%
Topic 1: Importance of Measurement
Topic 2: Strategic Approach to Measurement
Topic 3 Measurement Pyramids

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the roles and challenges of qualitative and quantitative measurements in assessing
marketing performance
Identify the four categories of strategic objectives
Determine how to identify success through the 5 Cs of audience investment value
Learn how to create measurement plans tied to goals and KPIs

Domain 10

Storymapping 5%
Topic 1: Storymapping

Learning Objectives:
Define storymapping
Discover how to leverage storymapping to optimize content workflows and planning