Simple Steps to Creating an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

Simple Steps to Creating an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

As the lines between a content strategy and a content marketing strategy is blurring, people often use it interchangeably. A content strategy is more concerned with the creation and publication of useful content. And it deals with all kinds of content for a business.

On the other hand, a content marketing strategy deals with the why of creating content. It helps you stand out by defining your audience and creating a unique way of enlightening your customers in ways other people aren’t. Businesses invest in content marketing to gain followers so that it increases their probability of conversions.

There are plenty of businesses out there that don’t have a content marketing strategy that spelled out. More than 60% of digital marketers have their strategy documented. The advantages of a documented content marketing strategy are as follows:

• Your digital agency will be able to justify a higher portion of your budget reserved for content marketing, as they know what brings in results.

• A plan which is already in place means everything is chalked out in advance, and you don’t have to be grappling in the dark.

• Clients would be more confident in your abilities, as they will know what’s coming.

Content marketing strategy doesn’t have to be boring, but it sure needs to be documented. To get started here are a few tips.

• Defining the goals and the case behind it: Setting out with a goal, will give you direction. You should document what you are planning to achieve, and the kind of obstacles that you’re expecting.  It’s not always that you get everything right the first time. Keeping roadblocks in mind will prepare you to find a way to overcome them in order to reach your goal.
  
  Your clients will also be more receptive to your ideas if you document everything and keep them abreast of what’s coming up and how you are planning to execute the content marketing strategy.
  

• Defining your Audience Persona’s: Get as specific and detailed as possible. Who are you creating the content for? If you already have a set of customers dig in deeper to find out their desires, wants, fears and frustrations. How do they engage with content? Are they more of the restless kind who like videos or would they much rather prefer reading long form of copy? This will determine your digital and SEO marketing strategy.
  
  And if you don’t currently have a list of consumers, you can start your research by digging through your competitor's’ content. You could also answer questions like what makes people buy the products that you’re offering, what kind of results are they expecting from a service like yours, what are their usual objections?
  
  It might take some time, and you might get a lot of data in the process. It’s essential to stay focused and take one thing at a time.
  

• Forums Where Your Ideal Audience Hang Out: As a part of the audience persona research, you’ll have to figure out where your customers usually ask their queries or do their research. There are multiple forums online where people go for unbiased opinions, review sites, and open question and answer forums. You do have to take online research with a grain of salt because it’s sometimes infiltrated with brands trying to promote their own products or services.  You can still do your preliminary research to find out what kinds of queries are prevalent.
  
  Another way of finding out firsthand is to talk to people, about the services that you’re offering. Ask them about their decision-making process and what would be deal breakers for them.
  
  
• What do they need to know and believe in before they buy your product or service: By now you should have enough information about buyer personas and what kind of questions are generally on their mind. You’ll need to find answers to these questions, as these will serve as a gateway to creating content that builds trust in your consumers.
  
  You can use content tailored around what people are searching for to educate them, help them and establish yourself as a trusted source of information.

Keeping these in mind will hold you and your clients in good stead for a long time. Especially your goals need to be constant while other evolving parameters in content marketing might need periodic reviews to align with your goals.

The digital marketing world is ever changing. At Results Driven Marketing, we implement SEO marketing strategies to ensure that your website and content are “Turning Clicks Into Clients” as a result of proper optimization. To learn more about how we can assist with your SEO marketing efforts or to learn about our other services, contact us today at (215)-393-8700.