Who told you that in marketing, you can just randomly make social media posts and get traffic to your page and website? You definitely heard wrong. In this age, strategy is needed for every single thing. In the business world, there is a mad rush for content, and as they say, “content is king”. It is what drives your customers to and from you. Either way, there is always an end result of your content.
Generating content shouldn’t be a chaotic process. That is why before you start dishing out content to your audience, you must have a well-thought-out plan; a strategy. Content marketing strategy, therefore, refers to an organized system of mapping out and implementing content for a brand.
Mapping out a content marketing strategy is not just to have some sort of plan in your head. It needs to be well-drafted and discussed among your team. Then, you will make workable plans to implement the strategy. In this article, I will discuss the content marketing strategies I think you need to be implementing in your business right now.
Identify your audience
Let’s say you are planning to make a speech at an important event, identifying your audience is the first step in your preparation. Who will you be talking to? What do they do for a living? What are their interests? Etc. You must understand your audience persona, so you know what to say and how to frame your words. It is the same thing with your marketing audience. You should first identify what your brand is and who it is for. Your brand can definitely not be for everyone, so you should identify your core audience first.
Tell a story
In marketing, the key to success is getting into the intricate part of your customers’ emotions. It is not what you sell that they buy, but the feeling and the solution your product gives to them. If you sell jewellery, for instance, your competitive advantage could be that yours is customizable.
There are millions of jewellery sellers, but if you tell the story of customizable necklaces and bracelets for lovers and family members, it automatically brings that connection your customers seek, not just how beautiful the jewellery pieces are.
Audit old content
As a business owner, auditing your old content is necessary. In this process, you will be analyzing the performance of your already existing content. It will give you an idea of your next step. Look out for content that performed well and why it did. Also, check out for those that did not scale. Then you will know what kind of content or format you should focus on, moving forward.
Create a content calendar
I believe you must have known what this means. In fact, it is now so commonized that its relevance now tends to fade. Some businesses do not even bother to create one. However, this is one of the most important things to do to have a great content marketing strategy.
Do you embark on a high-end project without a plan? That is exactly how it is with your content calendar. You should not be in a position where you randomly make posts on social media or your blog, without some direction. That is what a content calendar provides for you.
Create your content
Do your research on the kind of content that will suit your brand, what social media platforms to use, and how you can create blog posts, if necessary. You can start by having a dump of content, so as to help you with consistency when you finally start implementing the details in your content calendar. Remember that not all content formats will fit your business. That is why you need to research well on them and develop your content accordingly.
You can also repurpose your content. For instance, your Instagram videos can go for TikTok and those graphic listicles can be turned into full-blown blog posts. Also, user-generated content like customer reviews can give you more content ideas and social proof.
Ensure there is consistency in your brand message; story and voice. It is what will make your audience identify you in the crowded market space. Let your visual content be appealing also, to encourage more engagement. I trust that implementing these will put you on the right pedestal for content marketing success. Good luck!
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