Blog Post

How to Create a Killer Content Marketing Strategy   

  • By Mark Baker
  • 07 Dec, 2016
Clock with various content terms

Maintaining engagement with your audience is increasingly difficult as the digital landscape evolves. From social media posts to blogs to newsletters, the amount of opportunities for customer engagement has grown tremendously. Where content marketing was once a great bonus, it’s now become a requirement for building a successful digital presence.

So what exactly is content marketing?

Content marketing is the link between brand awareness and lead generation. When executed properly, content can build trust, familiarity and loyalty with current and prospective customers. However, in order to reap all the benefits content has to offer, you must first develop your content marketing strategy. By following these five steps you’ll be well on your way.

1. Document Your Goals, Budget and Strategy 

What goals are you hoping to accomplish with your content? How much are you able to spend on content marketing? What kind of content will you be producing? These questions may seem obvious but they are essential to developing a quality content marketing strategy. Goals, budgeting and strategy all go hand-in-hand. A marketing plan without direction is destined for failure. The goals you set for your content can range from developing brand awareness to driving traffic to your website. Once your goals have been identified, it’s important to set up a strategy based on a budget. Larger budgets allow for more expansive strategy options while smaller budgets may require a bit more creativity to execute. No matter the amount of money you can spend, the strategy is ultimately what will determine your success.

2. Identify Your Target Audience 

Content marketing is less about selling and more about educating, entertaining, or otherwise informing your readers. In order to accomplish this best, you should identify exactly who your audience is across your social media channels, blog readers, or anywhere else you plan on posting your content. Once your audience has been established, the next step is to understand their needs and market directly towards them. For instance, if your target audience consumes content from YouTube more than any other channel, then producing the best video content should be a top priority. Keep in mind that you’re creating content that appeals to your consumers and not yourself; by focusing on their needs you’ll be in a better position to capitalize on their interests.

3. Create a Content Execution Plan 

Once a strategy for your content marketing has been determined, create an execution plan. The execution plan adds stability to your efforts, and ensures that you can track the progress of each piece of content at every level. The plan itself should include a schedule, a brainstorm session or outline, and the creation of the actual content.

Assessing your target audience should provide you with some context on how to schedule your content. If your audience is extremely engaged, then you may want to post relevant content weekly or even daily, based off the audience consuming it. Creating a calendar for your content allows for accountability and consistency.

When it comes to the creative process, certain people should be responsible for regularly contributing content ideas. However, the development of your content should be transparent so that anyone who has a great idea can contribute. You don’t want someone to keep an idea to themselves because of restrictions. Once an idea is approved, you can move along to creating it.

Since content creation is the last part of the process, there should be defined roles for all involved. A typical execution process begins with writers and designers who expand upon the ideas developed during the idea phase. Once the content is written it is passed off to a copy editor who may then pass it along to designers. Once the piece is reviewed by all those involved in the process and revisions are made, your content is ready to go!

4. Determine Key Metrics 

Measuring the metrics of your content is integral to determining the success of your strategy. The objectives you initially set for your content marketing strategy will dictate the metrics you value. Examples of metrics that can be measured include website traffic, leads, or sales. These metrics help prove the value of your content strategy efforts on a larger scale, which is extremely valuable when dealing with stakeholders who either aren’t exposed to the content marketing side of your business, or who are skeptical of its value.

5. Evaluate and Refine Your Strategy 

The key to success in content marketing is the ability to evaluate your strategy and refine it based on performance. In addition to determining metrics for your content marketing strategy, you will need to establish a regular schedule for tracking the performance of your content. Maintaining a schedule for analyzing data allows for you to objectively evaluate your current processes. With digital marketing constantly evolving and new platforms arising, it’s vital that your strategy adapt as well.

There you have it: a guide to content marketing. By leveraging these best practices, you can create an effective content marketing strategy or fine-tune the one you already have in place. It will take some work to build when you’re just starting out, but it will be worth it in the long-run.

 

Mark Baker

Mark Baker is a natural artist. Since starting his first business hand painting graphics onto vehicles in high school, Mark gained experience in the entertainment, sports, and retail industries before founding this company in 1993. Honest and pragmatic, Mark knows that anything can be accomplished with a great communication plan and creative thinking. 

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