A content strategy provides a roadmap for how content, such as written copy, graphics, videos, and other media, will be used to further your business goals. No matter how big or small your company, having a content strategy is crucial to ensuring your business is able to compete.
Without a strategy, you run the risk of churning out low-quality content with poorly defined parameters and no long-term plan. This is a sure way to waste not just your time, but also that of your potential customers. The internet is already full to the brim with content that really doesn’t need to be there, making it harder for people to find the relevant information that they’re after, and even more difficult for businesses offering this valuable information, to be seen.
It’s time to focus on creating content that drives sales and gives people what they actually want, not generic content that just talks about your keywords. In this article, we set out the key steps to developing a content strategy that will benefit your business and your customers.
Step 1: Set Your Goals and Objectives
The first step to creating a viable content strategy is to set your key goals and objectives. Increasing sales is likely to be an overarching goal, but you need to be specific about the smaller goals you will use to get there. Do you want to grow your social media audience? Boost brand awareness? Are you hoping to attract new customers or encourage existing ones to return? Do you want to improve your search ranking? You also need to consider whether your goals and objectives are realistic, and if content is in fact the best way to achieve them.
Step 2: Define Your Audience
One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is failing to understand their audience. Without having put some serious thought and research into this, you could easily wind up marketing to an audience that doesn’t exist or even turning potential customers away by misunderstanding their wants, needs, and values.
Google Analytics is a great place to start, it will tell you what content your customers are viewing and engaging with. This will give you some hard data to help you understand the kind of content that will bring the target customer to your page and keep them there for longer.
Step 3: Decide on Your Content Formats and Channels
Once you have identified your target audience, you will be in a better position to decide which content formats and platforms you will use to reach them. Are your customers more likely to read a blog or watch a video? How much time will they spend on each of these? Do they use Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube?
Step 4: Develop a Content Calendar
It’s much easier to map out your content strategy visually on a content calendar. You can create this on a shared document like Google docs that different team members can edit and comment on. It also means it can quickly be updated. Monthly or quarterly reviews of the calendar can make room for ad hoc opportunities or highlight any omissions.
The content calendar can map content across your website, blog, social media accounts and e-news. Customer engagement always improves when communication is consistent across different marketing channels, so customers see the same message wherever they come into contact with your brand.
Step 5: Create Expert Content
Use informed experts to create your content. An experienced content marketer familiar with SEO strategy and your business objectives will write content that answers your customers’ questions and pain points. The content should include keywords in a natural way which will help your content be found by search engines. Try to conclude a clear call to action which provides a solution and next step for your customers. If you have related content, link to it. Check out Google Snippets to see what questions people are asking around your topic.
Step 6: Publishing and Managing Your Content
Next, you will need to choose a content management system. There are a number of good systems out there, like Hootsuite or ContentCal, to name just a couple. Not only do these systems allow you to schedule your posts across multiple channels, weeks or months in advance, but they also give you helpful analytical feedback on how and where your brand is getting mentioned.
The Bottom Line
A good content strategy helps you focus your energies where they will produce the greatest results, driving sales and engagement whilst eliminating unnecessary work. The internet is full of unhelpful, ill-conceived content, all vying for the attention of potential customers. Your business can stand out by providing content with real value.