Concepts and Strategies
Know where you’re going, so you know how to get ahead
Content marketing is by its very definition a strategic marketing concept. The goal is to produce high quality, relevant content that is published consistently. This draws in a well-defined audience, one that you will then make profitable interactions with.
Content Strategy Involves the Planning, Creation, Governance, and Maintenance of Content
In order for content marketing to be successful, it is imperative to know what content is needed. Once that is established, it must be well written, adhere to common grammar rules, and get to the relevant matter that you want content about.
What are the different types of digital marketing strategies?
- SEO
- Email Marketing
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising
- Social-Media Marketing
- Lead Magnets
- Affiliate Marketing
Once content is generated, the “how” and “where” it is published must be scheduled, and content should be published frequently. Make sure the content being highlighted on your website or in marketing campaigns is recent and fresh.
Who Needs a Content Marketing Strategy?
A content marketing strategy is vital to success. Just creating content and putting it on the internet without a plan won’t get you very far. Use the content that has been generated strategically to get the most views and the largest customer interaction.
Content Marketing Strategy Begins With the Customer
Content marketing is a way of reaching a very specific group of customers. Tailor the content to highlight and draw in niche groups to your products. It is crucial to know the customer’s wants and needs in order to effectively get them where they want to be.
Craft a Simple Marketing Strategy
A strategy is only useful if it can be followed and is understandable to others. The more moving parts and complications your strategy requires, the more difficult it will be to employ and the less successful it can be for users. Simple, straightforward goals and plans are needed to reach those goals. Let’s go over the basics of a good strategy.
Who are your users?
Who is using your products or services? What do they like, and how are they interacting with the content and marketing that is being generated? What unites your users and makes them a selective customer pool for your business?
Who are your competitors?
Are you competing against mega corporations with endless resources, or is your business in competition with local businesses? More than likely you are competing against both. Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of top competitors and how they are marketing themselves.
What do you bring to the table?
What makes your business stand out above and beyond your competitors? Is there some greater inherent value in what you bring to customers? If you were a customer, what is it about the business that would be attractive?
It is also important to look at the intangibles that your business has. Are the values of your company shared by customers? What beyond products and services do you represent that could be an asset?
What's the word on the street?
How are the marketing campaigns you’ve tried being received? What reputation does your business have and how does that impact those who are seeking to purchase products and services? What do local customers think about you and your competitors, and do they notice a large difference between the two?
What is the purpose of your content?
The best way to have quality content is to make sure it stays relevant to the topics related to your business. That being said, why is this content being created, and what does it have to do with reaching customers? Do you want merely surface interaction, or do you want to display a deeper field of knowledge?
How often do you publish content?
Staying fresh and current is important, but don’t flood your platforms with content. Ensure that content is relevant and draws in clicks but doesn’t resemble a vast sea where content gets lost or falls between the cracks.
It is also more important to deliver high-quality content less often than low quality content more often. Track the analytics of each article or piece of content that you publish so that you know how long it takes to gain traction, and how often they are viewed. Use this information to be better informed.
Who is responsible for your content?
Generating good content is not always easy. Just because you have a great deal of knowledge doesn’t mean that you can write or express it well. If you can, great, but if not, who is going to generate your content?
Content marketing firms or freelance writers are an option. If a freelance writer is brought on to write content, be careful and selective with who handles content generation. Whatever path you choose, make sure to know the chain of custody from start to finish.
What is your core strategy?
Why are you engaging in content marketing? The core strategy of your campaign must be obvious and integrated. Is it to increase customer interaction and thus transition into better sales? Are you wanting to raise the profile of your business and expand its footprint in the digital marketplace?
It is not enough to simply want everything to go right for your business. Have a core strategy with a clearly defined goal. That way you can know how well a marketing campaign is working, and you can better judge how the content marketing is impacting your business.
Strategic Decisions and Content Marketing
When deciding on a content marketing campaign, remember there are two sides to it. White-hat content marketing is the generation of useful content in the pursuit of strategic goals. Black-hat content marketing is flooding the internet with useless, low-quality articles just to get eyes on your site.
The choice here is clear, make sure that you always adhere to best practices and don’t run the risk of falling into an easy, black-hat method. This can get you delisted from Google and cause tremendous harm to your marketing campaigns in the future.
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