Content marketing has been on the rise since 2011, and with modern technology and bots, there’s no stopping it anytime soon. Content marketing strategy has been the trend for search engine marketers and SEO professionals.
That’s why content managers are on the hunt for the best content marketing strategy that will fit their client’s needs. Maybe that’s the reason why you’re reading this as well.
Don’t worry, we got you.
In this article, we will talk about everything there is to know about marketing your content and its prerequisites. We’ll try to keep it short, so you’ll have time to plan the perfect strategy. Let’s get to it!
Content: The Bread and Butter of SEO
When you’ve been in the industry for a couple of months, you’ll realize that content is what fuels a website. Here are a few examples:
- If you want backlinks, you’ll have to guest post on other niche websites. That involves content writing and scheduling.
- If you want traffic, making niche-relevant content will pump organic traffic to your blog posts.
- Do you want more internal links? Make a content series that you can interlink with each other.
Needless to say, content is so flexible that it became the core of organic SEO strategies. However, a ship won’t sail on its own. It needs a push force that will propel the ship even further.
That’s where content marketing will enter.
Related article: 5 Reasons Why Companies Need to Master Content Marketing
Content Marketing Strategy in Online Businesses
Content marketing strategies in online businesses have 4 major benefits, namely:
- Sales – proper content marketing can boost sales by enhancing brand visibility and awareness. As you release more content in your niche, your audience and potential customers will become more aware of your product.
- Savings – since more products are sold, there will be corresponding savings that will occur according to the economics of scale.
- Loyal and trusting customers – the content will dictate the loyalty of your customers. If you produce high-quality content in your blog, customers are more inclined to trust your brand, and eventually your products. If they can also see your content in social media apps, like Facebook or Instagram, they will put more trust in your product than other anonymous products.
- Profit center – content can also be a money-making machine. For example, if you can create content for a magazine in your niche, it can be a source of income for your brand. As long as you have content that prospective readers will consume, you can make money out of your content.
Because of this, digital marketers continue to improve their content and deploy killer strategies that will put their websites at the top. Content marketing strategies push the content to the public for it to gain popularity and yield the benefits above.
For that to happen, the content strategy has to be robust to turn regular visitors to quality customers. This could be through publishing a guest post, making controversial content and making it “trending”, or any other strategy that will work for your business.
4 Things to Do to Create a Working Content Marketing Strategy
Do not panic if you’re a first-timer in making a content marketing strategy. We’ll guide you step-by-step to make your plan work.
1. Set Your Goals in a Strategy
Keeping a goal in mind will guide you throughout the planning and executing part of your content strategy. It will set your standards, your vision, and your KPIs. Goal-setting will keep all content-related materials in line with the goals of your content marketing strategy.
Here are the most common goals in content marketing:
- Generate leads
- Engage via social media
- Improve revenue and sales
- Increase traffic and improve SEO
For instance, say you’re looking for lead generation from your content strategy. Content planning and strategies should focus on generating leads. Strategies such as email marketing, lead-generating ads, and video content can get new leads. Having a clear goal in mind will help you achieve more out of your marketing strategy.
2. Plan, Plan, Plan!
Planning is the most crucial part of making a content strategy. For your content to be effective in the least possible time, you have to make a perfect plan and stick to it. Here are a few tips when making a plan:
Set KPIs
Milestones (in every aspect) should be tracked if you want to see your strategy work. These key performance indicators (KPIs) will be the milestones to hit using your strategy. The best part is that they are measurable and specific, making them easier to track.
Examples of KPIs are:
- 20 leads per uploaded content
- Hit top article in SERP for a certain keyword
- Increase website organic traffic
- More email sign-ups
Know Your Target Audience
To make effective content that readers will appreciate, you must have a target audience in mind. Understanding their demographics will enable your content to speak to your target audience directly .
For instance, one demographic among many is the target audience’s income range. If you know their income, you can focus your implementation on items or services that they would be likely to purchase or at least be interested in. In other words, if your audience makes $20k a year, you won’t be trying to sell them a yacht.
Once you have an idea of whom you’re writing for, you can create what professionals call buyer personas. These are “avatars” of what an ideal customer will think of your content. Planning your content according to these buyer personas will give you an advantage in making more effective and focused content.
3. Have a Benchmark for Your Current Status
It is necessary to know your current status in the industry. This will serve as the benchmark to see if your strategies are working. You’ll have an idea of which strategies work and which ones don’t.
To check your position and performance, you can use the SEO spider of ScreamingFrog. Check how your current content is performing in SERPs. Here are some metrics you should look for:
- Inbound links from content
- Backlinks and social shares
- Ranking keywords from content
With this information, you’ll be able to identify content gaps and make a solution for them. You need to identify content gaps to decide on what type of content you will release.
For example, if you notice that readers are getting bored with your blog posts, try giving them some video content. According to Zenith’s report, video content is being consumed more today. A typical web surfer will consume 100 minutes of video content in a day.
That’s an interesting prospect if your readers are not engaged in your blog posts anymore. By identifying this content gap, you can modify your content strategy and increase customer engagement.
4. Implement Your Content Marketing Strategy
Now that you’re done with the prerequisites, it’s time to implement your content marketing strategy. We’ll try to simplify the whole implementation process here by discussing specific points.
- Find the best channel to release your content.
- Create a content calendar.
- Create high-quality content or hire a content marketing agency to help in writing.
- Market your content using email marketing, social media marketing, and other techniques to distribute content.
After you implement your content strategy, it’s time to track the results and see how your efforts are working. If you have positive feedback from your new strategy, keep on doing it and incorporate new strategies to keep your audience invested.
Get Your Content Out There!
Digital marketers and SEO professionals will tell you that content is key. They’re not wrong, but if you’re not able to market your content properly, even majestic content will still just be stagnant content.
Get your content out there! Let your target audience see what you have to say through a good content marketing strategy. The result might not be instantaneous, but it sure will be worthwhile.
