Do You Have a Content Marketing Strategy Yet?

Beginners and experts alike need a powerful content marketing strategy. For those new to the world of marketing, this should be the first thing on their to-do list. Even if you’re an experienced marketer, it doesn’t hurt to revisit your plan, ensuring it is relevant and up-to-date.

What is a content marketing strategy? Simply put, it’s a plan in which you use content – audio, visual, and/or written – to grow your business. Whatever your product is, it will attract a key demographic, and you want your content to be tailored to this particular audience. A successful content strategy will attract this key demographic and keep them engaged even after they’ve made their first purchase.

70 percent of marketers actively invest in content marketing. In this case, you definitely want to jump on the bandwagon! Content marketing will help you prepare and plan for consistent website traffic and new leads. You can count on quality content to continue generating new leads long after it’s been published. It will also generate awareness and trust for your brand in general.

As you’re developing your content marketing strategy, there are a few things to ask yourself:

1. Who will be Reading what You Publish?

Who is your target audience or audiences? Quite possibly, you will want to attract a wide variety of customers who respond to different kinds of messaging. Creating diverse content and publishing it on different channels will allow you to have a wider, yet still focused and effective, range. The most important thing is to tailor your content to audiences you want to reach.

2. What are You Offering Your Audiences?

Potential clients, of course, are not going to purchase something unless it proves useful to them. Your job is to identify your audiences’ needs, what problems they may have, and use your content to help the audience address this need. Identify the problem and provide a solution. Effective content will also help build trust with your audience.

3. How are You Unique?

Any industry has its fair share of competition. Whatever product you are selling, likely there are numerous other companies offering something quite similar. Your job is to differentiate your product from the competition, highlighting why it is better or at least unique and therefore a worthwhile investment. This is a message you want to permeate throughout your content marketing strategy.

4. Where will You Find Your Audience?

Meet your audience where they are at. If your key demographics are reading blogs or binging YouTube videos, make sure you are creating appropriate content to meet the demand. Don’t waste time producing content that your audience won’t even find in the first place!

5. Where will You Publish Your Material?

Once you know what kind of content your audience is consuming, you need to determine what platforms they use. For example, there is a significant difference between the audience that consumes longer video content on YouTube and younger audiences who prefer quick content on platforms like TikTok. Ensure that your content strategy includes a rigorous analysis of social media platforms and which ones are worth investing time and energy into.

6. How will Content Creation and Publication be Managed?

To properly execute your vision, you’ll need to establish who is creating what, where it will be published, and when. The exact rhythm of your strategy depends on the intricacies of your business – how many staff you have, how large your company is, etc. The larger your enterprise, the more team members you will need to manage and the more complicated the process becomes. Therefore, it is extremely important to establish all the details long before you intend to become live!

Now that you have asked yourself these important questions, you are ready to get started with the actual creation of your content marketing strategy! These are the steps you need to take to create an effective one.

1. Define Your Goal

To be successful, you need to define your measure of success. What ultimately do you want to accomplish? In how long a time frame do you hope to accomplish this goal? This is an important step to ensure your company’s growth is measured throughout each stage of implementation. With your team, it’s worthwhile holding a brainstorming session to outline your plan.

2. Research Your Buyer Persona

Know who you are trying to reach. Define your content marketing strategy’s target audience so that your plan can be tailored to meet their specific needs. Then, conduct as much research has you can about the wants and needs of this target group. That way, you’ll be creating relevant content that they want to read.

3. Determine the Success of Your Content

Early in the content strategy implementation plan, most brands will start out with blog posts. Once you test out this initial material, you can run a content audit to identify your top- and lowest-performing content. This will allow you to identify gaps, brainstorm new ideas, and generally reassess your approach as needed

4. Identify Your Content Management System

A content management system is crucial for content creation, content publication, and content analytics. Investing in a management system will allow you to smoothly run all aspects of your content strategy with minimal effort on your part.

5. Identify Your Core Content

Next, you will want to identify which content you want to specialize in. There are many options to choose from. In terms of written content, there are blog posts, eBooks, and social media posts. Social media posts are effective ways of catching an audience’s attention and directing them to more information about you and your products. eBooks and blog posts are a particularly effective way of building authority in your market. By demonstrating your knowledge – and desire to solve your audience’s problem – these potential clients will be far more likely to turn to you when they decide to make a purchase.

Alternatively, audio and visual content are becoming increasingly relevant. From podcasts to YouTube videos and livestreaming on Instagram, there are many ways to engage your audience in a more personalized way. This is a particularly effective way of reaching younger audiences.

6. Create Your Content

After all your research and planning, eventually you have to create your content! To save you the time and effort of crafting regular content, Writer Army provides a full range of services to help you craft any sort of written content. Our skilled writers take the time to understand your company, your product, and your target audience. To keep audiences actively engaged, you’ll want to be producing a regular stream of engaging, quality content.

7. Publish Your Content

In the final stage, make your content live! Social media content calendars and editorial calendars are particularly useful tools to keep you on track. This is another area where Writer Army can help you design your calendars and stay organized. Regular posting is crucial to building your online presence!

With these steps in mind, you are ready to get started with crafting your own content strategy! And at any point along the way, Writer Army can provide additional insights and support. Creating a content strategy shouldn’t be a stressful experience. You deserve maximum returns with limited stress.