10 Steps on Creating an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a “marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Content marketing is vital in spreading awareness of your brand, attracting and expanding your customer base, and subsequently increasing your revenue. As such, it is important for every business owner to know how to produce effective content marketing.

What do you need to do?

Effective content marketing strategy can make the difference between business stagnation or advancement to the next level of profitability. The following are 10 steps on creating an effective content marketing strategy:

1) Outline your objectives

The first step in creating an effective content marketing strategy is figuring out the exact reason(s) why you need the strategy. That way, you will have a means of measuring the effectiveness of your strategy according to the goal for which it was created. Clearly define the purpose for which you are creating your content marketing strategy.

2) Take the time to understand your audience

Once you have outlined your objectives, the next step in creating an effective content marketing strategy is understanding your target audience. You need to have deep, accurate insights of their needs, tastes, and preferences. You must also have clear buyer personas to enable you to know what type of strategy will be most effective with them.

3) Conduct intensive market research

Map out your content marketing competitors, what they are doing to draw and expand their audiences, and what works or doesn’t work for them. Use that information to then develop a creative strategy which will give you comparative advantage over them.

4) Clearly define the target topic and relevant keywords

After conducting market research, you will have a clear idea of what the most prevalent topics and keywords that customers are interested in are. So use metrics such as the search volume of the relevant keywords to come up with a content marketing strategy that will be effective in attracting customers.

5) Analyze your current material

Proceed to analyze the content marketing approach you have been using up to the present moment. Is it in line with your objectives? Has it been successful in attracting and engaging your target audience? Depending on your answer, figure out which aspects of that content marketing strategy you will keep and which you will change.

6) Elaborate your action plan

Now that you have acquired an in-depth understanding of where you are and what you need to do, systematically and clearly define a step-by-step action plan for implementing your new content marketing strategy. Will you use infographics, blog posts, videos, or whitepapers? What is your plan for your campaign design? What type of content will be most captivating to your audience? Jot all that down in a cohesive plan.

7) Identify and organize the resources at your disposal

What will you need to successfully implement your new content marketing strategy? Do you have someone to conceptualize and produce content in-house? Or will you have to outsource the work? Do you have adequate time to dedicate to making the content marketing campaign successful? How about assets like print materials? Organize your resources for the task at hand.

8) Come up with a timetable for producing and publishing content

For your content marketing strategy to be successful, you must be consistent in publishing content. That means you should have an organized schedule for creating and publishing your content. So create a schedule you can stick to so you can get the most out of your content marketing campaign.

9) Develop, publish, and promote your content

Once you have created an elaborate action plan, organized available resources, and drawn up a timetable for publishing your content, it is time to actually get the work done. So come up with content that will help you achieve the objectives you outlined in the first step. Publish the content and then use various tools such as social media and google ads to promote the content.

10) Analyze the effectiveness of your work

You have put a lot of work into developing an effective content marketing strategy. As such, it is important to see exactly how effective the strategy is. Is your website traffic higher? Has engagement with your platform and posts increased? Are you witnessing a surge in orders? Investigate all key performance indicators and establish whether you have a winning strategy.

Start winning today!

In an era of increased digitization, content marketing will maintain a central place in business. So waste no time in taking advantage of this. Follow the steps outlined above to create an effective content marketing strategy that will improve your business outcomes tremendously.