A content marketing strategy is a plan for how you will create and distribute content to reach your target audience. The 5 steps of creating a content marketing strategy are:
1. Define your goals – What do you want to achieve with your content?
2. Identify your target audience – Who do you want to reach with your content?
3. Research your competition – What other content is out there and how can you stand out?
4. Choose your distribution channels – Where will you share your content?
5. Create a schedule and editorial calendar – When will you publish new content, and what kind of schedule can you maintain?
Identify your goals
Are you looking to drive traffic to your website? Increase brand awareness? Generate leads? Whatever your goal may be, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve before crafting your content marketing strategy.
Before creating any type of content, you need to know who you’re creating it for. What are their interests? What are their pain points? By understanding your audience, you’ll be able to create content that resonates with them and helps them along their buyer’s journey.
“If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you’re just winging it.” – Ann Handley
Customer research
The second step in creating a content marketing strategy is customer research. This is vital to understanding what your audience wants and needs from your brand in order to create content that resonates with them.
Other posts of interest:
There are a few different ways that you can go about conducting customer research. One option is to simply ask your target customers directly through surveys or interviews. Another option is to use social media listening tools to track what people are saying about your brand online.
Whichever method you choose, make sure that you take the time to really understand your audience and what they want from your content before moving on to the next step in your strategy.
Leveraging the right content management system
There are a number of aspects to consider when choosing a content management system (CMS). The most important factor is whether the CMS will be able to meet the specific needs of your organization. Other factors include:
- Ease of use: The CMS should be easy for authorized users to update and manage content.
- Flexibility: The CMS should allow you to easily create and publish content in a variety of formats (e.g., text, images, video, etc.).
- Scalability: The CMS should be able to handle an increasing volume of content as your organization grows.
- Integration: The CMS should integrate seamlessly with other software applications used by your organization (e.g., CRM, ERP, etc.).
- Support: Make sure that adequate support is available for the CMS you choose.
Identifying what form your content should take
After you’ve decided on the topics your content should cover and the audience you’re targeting, it’s time to start thinking about what form your content should take. There are many different options when it comes to content formats, and the right choice for your business will depend on your goals, audience, and resources.
Some common content formats include:
Articles
If you’re looking to attract new readers or establish yourself as an expert in your field, writing articles is a great option. You can submit them to publications or post them on your own website or blog. Just make sure that your articles are well-written and informative.
Videos
Videos are a great way to engage potential customers and capture their attention. You can create product demonstration videos, how-to guides, or simply tell your brand story in an engaging way. If you have the resources, creating high-quality videos is worth the investment.
Images
Whether you’re posting pictures of your products on social media or creating infographics to accompany blog posts, images are a powerful way to communicate information and grab people’s attention. Make sure that any images you use are high-quality and relevant to your topic.
Create a schedule and editorial calendar
The last step is to decide the velocity of your posting. That means. you’ll have to prepare a organized schedule with details for every post date, of every content type and on which platform the respective piece of content will be published.
Once you have an understanding of your goals and audience, it’s time to start planning out your content. An editorial calendar will help keep you organized and on track with publishing new pieces on a regular basis. It’s also a good idea to batch create content so that you have a backlog of material to work with in case anything comes up that prevents you from writing new articles on certain days or weeks.