Do you want to learn how to create a content marketing strategy?
In today's business landscape, content marketing has become indispensable for effectively engaging, informing, and converting target audiences.
Within this blog, I'll delve into the essence of content marketing strategy, providing insights into its definition and offering practical guidance on how to create one with maximum impact.
What is Content Marketing Strategy?
A content marketing strategy is a meticulously crafted plan that outlines how a business will use content to achieve its marketing goals.
It encompasses various elements, including target audience identification, content creation, distribution channels, and performance measurement.
A successful strategy aligns content efforts with overarching business objectives, ensuring coherence and effectiveness in marketing endeavors.
How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy? 8 Steps
Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the eight essential steps to guide you in optimizing your content marketing efforts:
1. Define Your Goals
The intricacies of content marketing often lead us to overlook its fundamental essence: the why.
Why are you engaging in content marketing? Is it to generate leads, foster relationships, or enhance customer experiences?
Regardless of your specific goals, ensure they align with your organization's long-term sustainability and resonate with its overarching mission and vision. Maintain focus and clarity by limiting your business goals to three to five maximum and documenting them meticulously.
Related Reading: How Content Marketing Drives Sales?
2. Know Your Audience
Identify and understand your target audience to tailor your content effectively.
Cohesively present your brand across multiple buyer personas for a consistent and positive customer experience.
3. Assess Existing Content
Before diving into a new content strategy, it's essential to conduct a thorough content audit of your existing assets. This audit involves assessing various aspects to ensure alignment with your goals and audience preferences.
Evaluate whether your current content aligns with your objectives and resonates with your target audience. Also, consider the effectiveness of your content distribution across different channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and direct mail.
A comprehensive content audit typically comprises three main components: the content itself, its placement, and audience engagement. Assess which social media posts or blog articles have performed well and identify opportunities for improvement. Additionally, analyze metrics from paid search campaigns to determine their effectiveness.
Following the audit, you may decide to repurpose or remove underperforming content. It's also crucial to include a technical SEO audit to ensure optimal page speed and performance across mobile and desktop platforms. This holistic assessment will provide valuable insights to refine your content strategy and enhance its impact.
4. Select a Content Management Platform
A content management platform plays a pivotal role in streamlining content organization and delivery. Here are some top digital tools we recommend:
Atlassian (including Trello/Jira/Confluence): These platforms facilitate seamless communication among team members, aiding in scheduling posts, conducting meeting summaries, and fostering idea generation.
Canva: This platform excels in visual content creation, boasting an extensive library of stock photos and user-friendly tools for crafting videos, infographics, and presentations.
WordPress: As the leading publishing tool, WordPress enables users to schedule, write, and publish articles effortlessly. Additionally, it offers plugins for enhancing analytics data.
5. Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
With a clear value proposition established, comprehensive knowledge of your target audience, an understanding of available resources, and selected tools to support your journey, it's an opportune moment to determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that truly align with your goals.
Focus on selecting a few KPIs that directly contribute to achieving your objectives, such as enhancing return on investment (ROI), reducing the cost of acquiring new users, boosting Google impressions and click-through rates, or amplifying engagement on social media platforms.
Be cautious not to overwhelm yourself with too many KPIs or ones that lack clear definition. Without specificity, vague goals like "making more money" can hinder your ability to achieve desired outcomes. By honing in on relevant and well-defined KPIs, you can ensure a more focused and effective approach towards realizing your content marketing objectives.
6. Develop an Editorial Plan
Create a structured plan for content creation and distribution to stay on track and achieve your KPIs. Utilize editorial calendars to maintain consistency and relevance in your content strategy.
7. Create and Distribute Content
After crafting editorial calendars for both publishing and social media, the next step involves producing the required articles and sourcing essential graphics. Flexibility in adjusting the editorial calendar is acceptable, but ensure a diverse array of high-quality content remains a priority.
Content will typically be disseminated across multiple channels, accompanied by various marketing campaigns and tactics to fulfill distinct objectives. Recycling ideas and graphics, particularly for longer-form content, webinars, or white papers, can prove beneficial in maximizing resources and maintaining consistency across platforms.
8. Analyze Results
The saying goes, "What gets measured, gets done," and given the effort invested in producing high-quality content, it's crucial to ensure its effectiveness.
Every content marketer experiences occasional failures—some content may not resonate, email campaigns may fall short, and certain blog posts may go unnoticed. However, the focus of analysis isn't solely on eliminating failures but rather on comprehending what works, what doesn't, and why.
Depending on the depth of your content marketing plan, there will be various elements to analyze.
Conclusion on How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy
In conclusion, creating a robust content marketing strategy is essential for businesses aiming to thrive in today's digital landscape.
It's crucial to remember that successful content marketing is an ongoing process that requires continuous evaluation, adaptation, and creativity.
By staying informed about industry trends, monitoring performance metrics, and remaining agile in response to changing consumer behaviors, businesses can position themselves for long-term success and engagement with their audience.
