To attract customers to your business and help them find you online, you need a strong content marketing strategy. You can—and should—use several different channels to build brand awareness, establish trust, grow your engagement, and drive sales. That’s why a content marketing plan should include strategies for blogging, social media posts, newsletters, and more.
Sound complicated? Let us simplify it for you. Here’s how to create a successful content marketing strategy for your business.
Why Your Business Needs a Content Marketing Strategy
Before we dive into our step-by-step plan, let’s take a look at why your business needs a content marketing strategy.
First of all, it allows you to directly address the needs of your target market by delivering fresh content to the platforms they use. That’s why it’s important to branch out and try to reach your audience in several different ways.
Yes, it takes a lot of research, investment, and implementation to create content for several different platforms, but the benefits are exponential. Content marketing is a long-term strategy, and the benefits only accumulate over time.
A successful content marketing strategy can:
- Improve audience retention
- Land higher conversion rates
- Expand brand awareness
- Prompt higher search engine rankings
- Build customer loyalty
How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy in Five Steps
Creating a content marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. Just remember—if something isn’t working, go back, make some adjustments, and try again. Here are five simple steps to get you started.
Step 1: Set Clear Goals
The first step in creating a content marketing strategy is to identify and set clear goals based on your business objectives. Set small goals that will lead you to the business objective the goals are based on, and you want to use the SMART goal method. By setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound, you will start to learn what you can do in a specific time frame.
For example, let’s say your goal is to build brand awareness. Using the SMART goal method, your goal would look something like this: “We want to increase brand awareness by 15% in 3 months using Facebook and Instagram.” With these specific goals in place, you will be able to clearly measure your success and be one step closer to achieving your overall business objectives.
Step 2: Get to Know Your Target Audience
Your target audience is extremely important when it comes to building your content marketing strategy. Once you determine who they are, you need to get to know them so you can personalize your content.
Pinpointing your target audience allows you to:
- Find topics you to write about
- Choose the best format and platforms for your content
- Help you decide which writing style to use
Knowing your target audience will also inform your SEO strategy. You will be able to choose keywords that resonate with your target audience. Knowing that your products or services are aligned with their needs helps customers build trust in your brand. When you deliver useful content to their daily feed or their inbox, they’ll know where to turn when the need arises.
Step 3: Choose Content Types and Platforms for Your Content
Once you know which topics your target audience is interested in, and which social media platforms they use, it’s time to start making content. There are many different kinds of content, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and more, so you want to pick the types that are most shareable on the channels your audience prefers.
Step 4: Create a Content Calendar
Whether you are working on a blogging strategy or social media posts, you’ll want to share new content on a regular schedule. Creating a content calendar will help you stay organized and plan ahead. Whether you prefer an actual calendar, post-it notes, or a task manager program like Asana, use whatever works best for you.
Your content calendar will help you:
- Keep track of ideas
- Set production timelines
- Schedule assignments and tasks
- Plan ads and promotions
- Create a consistent message across all platforms
- Promote sharing ideas and collaboration among different team members
Step 5: Share Your Content
Now, it is time to start publishing all the content you created. Whether you write blog posts, post on social media, make YouTube videos, or all three, make sure you follow your content calendar and check your analytics to see if that schedule is working.
Here are some best practices to consider:
- At least monthly, if not weekly, take a close look at your analytics to find out which content is performing the best. This will help you find out what is working and what needs adjustment.
- Stay up-to-date with SEO and market trends. This will allow you to shift your strategies quickly if you notice any sudden changes.
Create a Custom Content Marketing Strategy with New Wine Digital
If you’re a business owner, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Creating, planning, organizing, and distributing your content is a lot of work, and you might not have the time. Let the content marketing experts at New Wine Digital do the work for you. From blog posts and newsletters to social media ads and SEO, we’ve got you covered.
To learn more about our content marketing services, contact us to schedule a consultation.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (11/13/2024) Image by Diggity Marketing from Pixabay