A content marketing strategy is an important part to the success of your digital marketing program. It will help you increase your visibility, attract more traffic, build a valuable audience and convert more leads.
Some of the most important benefits of content marketing is the ability to create sustainable streams of revenue and foster customer engagement. Let’s start with….
What is a content marketing strategy?
A content marketing strategy involves thinking about the audience that you want to attract, what you will produce and how you will sell it. It also involves understanding the customer journey and where your customers are at this point.
Your content marketing strategy should help you create a consistent brand experience across all of your digital platforms such as your website, local marketing sites and social media accounts. This will promote a unified image to your audience and they will easily identify with your brand.
You should include all points on the customer journey within your content marketing strategy; from awareness, consideration, conversion and loyalty.
A well-designed content marketing strategy can help you create sustainable streams of revenue and foster customer engagement. The best part of this is that the brand is not compromised as the customer service level remains high and consistent across all channels.
Here are 8 steps that will help you develop an effective content marketing strategy for your audience:
1. Know your audience
It is important that you understand what your target audience wants from a content marketing strategy. It is not always necessary that you provide exactly what they are looking for. You will need to be adaptable and flexible when you create the content and make it more relevant to the audience.
For example…
You may have a chatbot or website that educates on certain topics. It’s not necessary that this content was originally intended for people who have a specific knowledge of the topic. You can provide useful information to your more general audience. Do not forget to include a “how-to” section in the content that guides readers through the steps they need to perform and achieve results once they have read through it.
2. Define your content
Next, you need to decide what exactly you will publish.
This is a huge topic and there are many options available. Some things that you can include:
How-To content
This type of content can help the reader to learn more about a certain task, skill or technique. If there is something that your audience needs to learn in order to interact with your brand and become a customer, this is the perfect place for creating content.
In-depth articles
This type of content is useful when you are providing information that your audience may not fully understand. You can take certain subjects that relate to your industry or niche and deliver them in an easy to understand way.
High quality images and infographics
These types of media provide high impact and will entice the reader. The best part is that they can be used as part of other types of content such as videos, blogs, etc.
Educational videos
Video marketing is a great option for your content marketing strategy as it can reach a large audience. It allows for more of an impact to take place and it is more memorable.
Contest or survey
You can ask the audience questions that will help you learn more about their needs and wants. It is a type of interactive content that can deliver valuable information that you need to know.
3. Target your audience
There are other factors also that you need to take into consideration when creating content for your audience.
What channels will you use to reach them?
Ensure that the content is going to be published on the right channels. It will need to be in an environment where it can easily be viewed by your intended audience. If you use Facebook only, then this means that the content will not be seen by someone who is not already a Facebook user or who doesn’t have a knowledge of Facebook itself. Ensure that the content will be seen in the right places.
What is the tone of your voice?
Consider the tone of voice that you will use in your content when targeting your audience. This is very important as it can help to engage and build trust with the reader. If you are a formal brand, a formal tone of voice may be better suited than using a casual one. Use your knowledge and research surrounding your brand and target audience to define this part of the content marketing strategy.
What themes will you use?
It is also important to consider the topics that make your brand unique. Focus on what makes your brand different from other brands and what can you provide your readers that they may not be able to find elsewhere. This will help to create a strong bond between the brand and the reader.
4. Create content
You should already have a better idea of what you want to create after following the above steps. Now, it is time to start writing and creating your content. It is best to create a schedule that will help you stay focused, on track and giving each task the attention it needs. There are tools that can help you with this such as Trello or ProofHub for project management.
You should break down your content into smaller sections and not overwhelm yourself with all of the steps at once. There will be a time where you will need to get creative with your content. Consider the environment that you are publishing it in, how it will be viewed and the tone of voice that you want to use.
A great thing about creating content is that you can do it in a variety of formats such as writing, speaking, video and so on. It is best to have a few different types ready before starting on one piece. This means that you have all of the bases covered if it is needed. Always use your creativity and look at what is stopping you from creating the content that you want without getting overwhelmed.
It is important to create content that will stick in the mind and be relevant to your target audience. While this may not be easy with every piece of content, it will make for a stronger bond when it is all put together in the end. If you take the time to think about how the audience is, where they are and what topics they are interested in and then use these to create your content, you will see success much faster.
5. Schedule posts for future
Don’t forget to schedule your posts so that they are ready for publication, no matter the time of day or when you have free time. This may be a blog post, or it may be an article that you are writing for another social media platform. Whatever it is, make sure that it is ready to publish.
6. Publish and Promote
Once you have finished creating all of your content, it is time to publish them and promote them online. You should publish your posts on a schedule and if it is a blog, blogging platform or content marketing tool, then publish on a regular basis. Establish a posting schedule that you will stick to and ensure that it will be published each day. You should keep track of the analytics and traffic that your content is getting. You may find that creating content isn’t so hard after all.
7. Repurposing and Rewriting
You must continually be thinking about how you can re-use existing content on your blog and on other social media platforms to help attract more people. You shouldn’t just post the same old posts but incorporate some of the content that you have already written. Also, think about whether or not you need to rewrite content that isn’t working for you. For example, is the title a bit boring? Does the content need to be longer or shorter? When you begin to see that your blog is gaining traffic and creating an audience, then you will know that this strategy is working for you.
8. Create a Social Media Schedule
Your social media profiles need to be consistent on each platform. You should post social media updates at least five days per week and it can be any combination of days and times as long as it is regular. Most people create and use social media profiles as part of their marketing strategy. To do this, you need to be involved in the online community. This means that your audience will expect to see updates from you on social media at the same time of day or evening.
If you don’t create a schedule for posting on each social media platform, then some people might think that you have gone out of business or aren’t participating in this medium any longer.
If you are beginning to post on social media, you might have an idea of what you want to post about. However, if the only thing you can come up with is that you want to post your weekly specials five times a week, then it is time to get some help.
You don’t want to put that same information out there over and over again. It is better to have a few pieces of high-quality content instead. People will read it and appreciate the time and effort that went into creating it.
The wrap
Using a content marketing strategy will help you create sustainable streams of revenue and foster customer engagement. It will help you develop your brand and build a trustworthy authority online. The best part is that the brand is not compromised as the customer service level remains high and consistent across all channels.
While creating content can be time-consuming, it pays off in the long run when it comes to building an audience that is loyal to your brand and has a desire to buy from you.
Don’t skip the planning stages of your strategy because having a concrete idea of what you want to do can make it easier to achieve success.
Thanks for reading!
We hope you have found value in this article! Whether you are looking for a way to attract prospects and generate leads or you are just starting out, we would love to help. We have an array of articles that may be able to help so be sure to check out our blog.
If you need any more help on content strategy, we have a content marketing guide which will help you get started in the right direction.
