How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy

The term content marketing may seem abstract to some, but it’s really about creating valuable and relevant information that ultimately drives customer action. Writing an effective content marketing strategy can be quite daunting. This article will go into detail about how to craft your strategy and explain why each step is important and how it contributes to your larger goal.

Content Marketing Strategy Tips

1. Create a strategy and list your goals

The first step in creating a content marketing strategy is to define what you want to accomplish through it. Note that this process should involve researching your target market, their interests, and how they behave when consuming information. Once complete, you can use the information to better understand where you stand now, where you’d like to be and how much work it will take to get there.

2. Prioritize key functions within your business or industry

Determining which areas of your company rely on outside sources of information is important when identifying the tone and voice a content marketing strategy should employ. The idea is not to ensure quality across all forms of media but instead to provide the right message in the right medium. For example, a social media marketing strategy should use different tones and voice than an e-book or white paper; email marketing is not the place to blog creation agency (unless you’re asking for subscriber input).

3. Establish your editorial schedule

Your editorial schedule should be built around what you know about your target audience and the value of the content they receive. While certain topics may get more traffic than others, it’s important to mix things up so that your current subscribers don’t get bored with your brand. This balance can take some time to perfect, but you’ll learn which topics are most beneficial for your business while also helping you pinpoint any areas where demand isn’t being met.

4. Collaborate with your employees

No strategy stands a chance without your employees on board. This means creating goals everyone can get behind and assigning roles that fit their skill sets best. Of course, this requires a high level of trust from management, but it’s also an area where content marketing provides immediate value: Instead of answering questions or addressing common issues one-by-one, you can use email updates to cut back on customer inquiries while sharing helpful information with existing customers as well as those who will soon become part of the conversation.

5. Develop templates and assets for easier distribution

Whether you’re creating virtual tours or video testimonials, these kinds of assets should be made available so your team members can distribute them across all promotional channels at their convenience. When an urgent need arises, these assets can be easily snapped together in a hurry.

6. Track everything you do with analytics and A/B testing tools

It’s difficult to know if any of this is working without proper tracking in place. You’ll want to make use of social media analytics tools, measure the effectiveness of each piece of content and update your strategy accordingly. This could mean implementing better calls-to-action or optimizing lead generation opportunities for higher conversions down the road.