Build your audience and increase revenue while delivering valuable content to users. It’s easy to see why content marketing offers an incredible opportunity for your business. Creating an effective content marketing strategy is a long term project, focused on building a relationship with your target audience by creating relevant content for them on a consistent basis.

Why Do You Need a Content Marketing Strategy?

If you want:

• more traffic
• more leads
• higher ROI
• lower costs

Then you need an effective content marketing strategy.

In a crowded marketplace content marketing helps keep your business top of mind with customers, building a community of followers. Think of it as the foundation of your marketing efforts, focused on attracting and delighting prospective buyers. That way, when a customer is ready to make a purchase decision, their relationship with your business will entice them to purchase your product or service over your competitors.

However, it’s important to remember that content marketing is more than simply creating content, it’s a strategic approach. Your content marketing strategy takes your business goals and then uses the content you create to achieve those goals.   

Four Steps to Create a Content Marketing Strategy

As you develop your content marketing strategy, start by asking yourself these questions:

• What are your content marketing goals?
• Who is the target audience for your content?
• What problem will you be helping them solve?
• How will you deliver content to them? What channels will you publish on and format will your content take?

Step 1: Establish Your Goals

Starting your content marketing strategy by establishing your goals will help you focus on what’s important and make sure you stay on track. Common goals include:

Increasing brand awareness.

Driving more traffic to your website.    

Making more sales and improving revenue

Increasing social media engagement.

Once you know your goals you’ll be able to establish key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs provide milestones and will help you know when you have achieved your goals.

Step 2: Know Your Target Audience

In order for your content marketing strategy to be successful you have to be clear about who your audience is. It’s very likely that you have more than one type of customer, so it’s important that you are also creating content for more than one type of reader. You may be trying to expand your current audience or targeting a new audience. Consider conducting buyer persona research to hone in on your prospective buyers.

Step 3: Identify Your Value Proposition

What value will you provide to your audience with your content? What problem will your product or service be helping them to solve? Beyond that, what makes your business stand out from your competitors? Your content will educate your audience as to how you can help them solve problems that they are facing. It’s also important that they know what sets your solution apart from another company and why they should buy specifically from you.

Step 4: Develop Your Strategic Plan

What kind of content will you create? How will you identify what topics to cover? Will you write blog posts, design infographics, film videos? And where will you publish that content? You might write a weekly blog to post on your website. Or you might create infographics for your Facebook page. You should be creating a variety of different kinds of content pieces for different channels, based on your target audience.

Whether you’ve new to content marketing, or it’s something you’ve done for awhile, it’s important to keep your strategy engaging for your customers. Remember to monitor your progress and make changes to your strategy as needed.

At It’s Simply Digital we know creating an effective content marketing strategy is an important part of your overall marketing strategy and that it takes time. We are here to help you build your content marketing plan and build your brand. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.  

Key Takeaways

• Content marketing is focused on building a relationship with your target audience by creating relevant content for them on a consistent basis.
• Your content marketing strategy takes your business goals and then uses the content you create to achieve those goals.  
• Content marketing helps keep your business top of mind with customers, building a community of followers.
• Creating an effective content marketing strategy is an important part of your overall marketing strategy.  
• It’s Simply Digital is here to help you build your brand and tell your story and create your strategy.