The early stages of content marketing saw marketers launch blog after blog and hope for the best – not knowing how or what to measure. Your content marketing must evolve with technology and people. Search tools and the way people use them have all changed, and your content and content strategy should take that into account. But where are you going to start? Read on for some helpful tips on content marketing strategy and the tools you can use to be successful.
Content Strategy Tool
What is content strategy?
If you are completely new to content marketing, this Andorra Email List can seem overwhelming. Let’s face it; content marketing stresses even the most seasoned marketers. However, breaking it down can minimize the hassle. Content strategy includes all of your media (writing, videos, downloads, etc.) and how you plan and manage it. You can create a quick how-to video, but if you don’t know why you created it or how you’ll use it, it quickly becomes less useful.
Develop a content strategy
Having a strategy in place helps every piece of content you create serve a purpose in your overall marketing plan. When used appropriately, content grows your business and drives sales. Here are some key questions to answer when developing your content strategy.
Who is the content for and why are you creating it? Think about your personas when you venture into content strategy. You need to have content in place for prospects as well as for current clients or customers. You want to attract more qualified prospects, but you also want to retain your existing customers.
What are the pain points of your personas? How is this particular content going to help you? Your company creates its products to reduce the problems of a certain industry – but how will they know you are doing just that? Your content takes buyers along a journey that ultimately leads them to your services, and continues to nurture and update them once you’ve made a sale.
What content formats should you use? Content comes in a variety of forms, from tweets, blog posts, and informational videos. The format should reflect the message and the character. If you have a character who reacts more favorably to the video, film it. If your buyer prefers infographics, design them.
What sets you apart from your competition? Content is the most valuable resource you have to beat your competition. Of course, you can have similar products. But yours is better. Presenting it in a weekly Twitter chat or in a detailed blog post can help prove you’re the expert.
Essential items to tick for implementation
After you’ve answered the questions about your content strategy, you can start checking off the essentials for implementation. Here are some things you can take into account as you dig deeper into your plan.
Define your goals. In marketing, it pays to be SMART. Or rather to have SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound. This methodology helps to create achievable goals. For example, if you want to increase your income by 60% by the end of the first quarter, this is a specific, measurable and time-bound goal. Develop your strategy around it.
Search / refine existing personas . Personas are your target audience for your business and they change over time. Whether you are just developing them or have them in place, it’s good to have a plethora of research built around them.
Choose a content management system (CMS). If you are an established business, you probably have one. A CMS manages your content, including creation, publication, and analysis.
Audit your current content. What content already exists? Can you reuse it? Look at the results and see if you can improve. If you are just starting out, consider starting with blog posts. Create a blogging calendar that works best for your business, as it varies from business to business.
Brainstorm new ideas. Set aside time with your team to focus on creating ideas for upcoming projects. If you want a different perspective, include someone from your company in your meeting. A developer or office manager may have ideas you wouldn’t consider.
Strategy your content ideas with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind . To see better leads and more site traffic, consider SEO when brainstorming and auditing your ideas. Find keywords that touch your topics and target audiences that you can rank for and implement them seamlessly into your content. Remember to write a concise title and meta tags and include anchor links to other elements of your content.
Topic groups and pillar pages
Establishing an SEO strategy within your content strategy is essential. You create all of this great content – you want the right people to find out about it. As search algorithms advance, it can become more difficult to keep pace. But new content marketing initiatives are changing the game.
