Content is one of the most powerful tools used in the marketing industry today. In fact, research shows that content marketing generates more than three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less.
Despite this, only around 37% of businesses have a content marketing strategy, according to a recent study by the Content Marketing Institute.
One of the main reasons for this is thought to be confusion surrounding the term ‘content marketing.’ Unfortunately, many business owners and marketers are unsure how to implement content into an effective marketing strategy. To help you understand content marketing and get the most from your campaigns, we’ve put together a useful guide on how to create the ultimate content marketing strategy for your business.
Write a content marketing plan
Writing a content marketing plan is an essential step in any successful marketing strategy. Your plan will guide you throughout your marketing efforts and help you get the results you want from your campaigns. You should start by drafting a content marketing mission statement that outlines what your content marketing hopes to achieve. This should summarise the value you hope to provide to your audience. Having a
content marketing mission statement will give you something to focus on and help you to achieve your short-term and long-term marketing goals. Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPS’s) for your content marketing strategy will make your goals specific and give you something measurable to work towards.
Understand your audience
If you want to have an effective content marketing strategy, then you must understand your audience. Carrying out market research is a simple way to learn more about your audience and identify the best strategies to reach them through your content. According to business experts at
Informi - “You can find out about your target audience on websites like Reddit, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Amazon.” Use these websites to ask questions about your target audience and gain insight into their habits online. Analytical tools found on Google and social media platforms can be another excellent way to learn more about your audience and their interests. Once you have a general understanding of your audience, you can gain even more information by asking your customers for their opinions on the content you are currently producing. Having customer feedback will help you improve your content to reach a wider audience and make your marketing strategies more effective.
Complete a content audit
As a business, it is likely that you already have some content posted online such as blogs, articles, and posts on social media sites. You must identify how effective your current content is to determine whether you need to make changes to your content marketing strategies. To do this, you should complete a content audit that assesses any content you have posted. A content audit will identify what is and isn’t working for your audience, and provide you with recommendations on how to improve your content and boost visibility. Fortunately, you can easily assess the effectiveness of your content by using a
content auditing tool online.
Determine the best content channels
Companies have access to a wide variety of different content channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. As a business owner, you must carefully consider what content channels will be most effective at reaching your target audience. You can use
Google Analytics to gain an overview of where your content is being shared on social media networks. This will help you identify how your audience is responding to your content and learn which social networks they prefer. You can then tailor your content marketing to suit your specific audience and make your strategies more effective.
Choose what content types to use
There are many different types of content available to modern businesses. Some of the most popular content types include blogging, infographics, long form content, and video. Most effective content marketing strategies rely on home-based content which can then be shared on other sites. An example of this is having a business blog that you update regularly. Writing an engaging blog is an excellent way to encourage customers to visit your site and share your content online. You should experiment with a variety of different content types in your content marketing strategy to find what is most effective for your audience and overall business.
Final thoughts
When used correctly, content marketing can be a reliable and cost-effective way to build brand awareness, increase traffic to your site, and boost sales and revenue potential. The majority of people, particularly millennials, now seek information online. All modern companies should therefore be taking advantage of content as an effective way to advertise and market their business.
