“Content is king, but marketing is its queen and runs the household” 

Even after a decade – Gary Vaynerchuk’s famous line continues to ring true in the digital marketing sector.

Why?

Because content marketing is proven to be the most effective way to promote a business in our search and social media-driven world. Compared to traditional approaches such as TV ads and sales pitches, content marketing is more cost-efficient. It also delivers fast and reliable results.

A study by the CMI shows 91% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers consider content marketing a core strategy.

The strategy results have also been well documented with various research showing content marketing to generate more leads than other forms of marketing.

How do they do it? Let’s find out in the guide below!

Let’s Start With The Basics…

Budding entrepreneurs often confuse content marketing with the term ‘content.’ However, content is basically information. In contrast, content marketing serves an educational purpose.

The prime focus of content marketing remains on the audience, and every piece of content – blogs, videos, webinars, etc. is derived with them in mind.

Michael Brenner of Content Marketing Institute helps distinguish between both forms by saying, “Content is produced because someone asked for it while content paired with marketing is what the audience wants.”

Take the example of a fund investing company that regularly includes the latest financial market trends in their blog. The posts are not directly related to the company – but providing the readers with valuable information makes them an authoritative resource. Ultimately, this helps them earn the consumer’s trust and loyalty.

To assist you in reaching similar success, here are our seven top tips for a winning content marketing strategy.

1 Document Your Goals

The best place to start with your marketing strategy is to create a clear outline of your goals.

Ask yourself: Why are you building this website? What is the outcome you expect from this endeavor – more sales, better relationships, or to improve your consumer’s experience?

Write down around 3 – 5 goals you expect from the marketing strategy. Include anticipated figures you wish to achieve from these goals. For example, the number of new email subscribers or a specified revenue target within a month.

However, make sure your goals are sustainable for the long-term and not created just for the sake of ‘creating.’

2 Research Your Audience

As mentioned above, the content marketing strategy relies on understanding the requirements of your customers rather than focusing on the product/service you are trying to sell.

Let’s suppose you are selling baby products through your website. Your consumer’s database would be likely to comprise of parents and grandparents. Think like them and establish a content plan according to their needs. For example, young parents certainly want to know how to juggle work and family. Additionally, tips on potty training, handling ailments, and choosing the right baby gear can also cater well to the parental community. 

Simply put, get in your customer’s head and then develop content.

3 Understand Your Competition

Regardless of your niche, make sure to take the time out and understand your rival companies.

Analyze their content. Take a look at how often they publish? The platforms they use? Which type of content is most shared by the audience? What about their engagement through comments, likes, and emoticons?

Having a better idea of their content marketing strategy will help you enhance yours. This will also give an insight into the type of content that is appreciated by your target demographic.

4 Consider other forms of conten

For the most part, marketers rely on blogs as the core part of their marketing strategy. They are among the best ways to share valuable content, improve search engine ranking of the website, and build a more robust relationship with the readers.

But besides blogs, make sure to include some visually appealing formats to your strategy as well. For example, today’s audience prefers images, videos, podcasts, and infographics rather than lengthy blocks of texts. These modes of content also add an attractive touch to blogs and social media posts.

5 Draw up a content calendar

Consistency remains to be one of the critical factors when it comes to an effective content marketing strategy. Unfortunately, this is where most marketers struggle – mainly when the content is distributed via many different channels.

To stay on track of your goals, establish an editorial calendar highlighting the days you plan to publish. You should also review the planner periodically to assess your marketing strategy’s success (and failures).

6 Plan out the Resources

Who will be in charge of the content writing? And marketing? What about graphics? Do you have an in-house team to curate images and videos, or will you seek help from the number of websites offering free stock photos?

Your’ plan of action’ mainly depends on your team’s size and whether you plan to do everything in-house or distribute it to freelancers.

7 Keyword Research

You may already have drafted the topics you will be covering in your content.

But before you start the actual writing, make sure to identify the keywords using SEO planners for better visibility in search engines. You can also access the SEMrush free trial to test out their tools and plan out the search terms of your content. 

Bonus Tip: Measure Results

Keep an eye on your content well after you hit the ‘publish’ button. Set aside a scheduled time each week or month to analyze your content marketing efforts. Check tools such as SEMrush and Google Analytics to see how your content is performing. Emphasis on the methods that work and alter the protocols that don’t seem useful.

Final Thoughts

“Without a strategy, content is just stuff, and the world has enough of it” – Arjun Basu

In today’s digital world, you can easily create a website or an online store without financial investment and even technical skills. However, the lack of strategy behind your content will not get the results you need or attract the right audience.

With the help of these tips, we are sure you will have no trouble creating a winning strategy. Try them out!