Deliver relevant solutions
In a world where everyone is competing for attention, creating a strong content marketing strategy will help you stand out from the crowd, feed the hungry minds of your audience and help to grow your business.
By delivering relevant solutions to your audience’s online queries, desires and needs, you can become a valuable content resource, while also driving people towards your services and products.
Learn what to keep in mind when building your content marketing strategy:
WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?
Content marketing is more than just creating blogs. It means a strategic approach – mapping out who your audience is, what problems they have that need solving, what content you’ll create to attract them and what benefits it will bring to them. It’s not about just selling your products and services; your content needs to add value for your audience.
That isn’t to say that blogs shouldn’t be part of your plans, but a strong content marketing strategy will also include rich media such as videos, infographics, podcasts, webinars, GIFs and more.
A variety of formats means your content can be shared across a variety of platforms, benefitting your SEO score, and appealing to people who consume media in different ways – generating more avenues for people to find your business!
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY?
Not only will a content marketing strategy drive more leads for your business, but it also provides more valuable long-term benefits and unlike straightforward paid ads-tactic, it won’t require constant expenditure to keep driving customers your way. And who doesn’t love an effective way to market your business without spending any money?
A good content marketing strategy will generate leads and revenue but will also optimise your pages for search and so improve the authority of your website, establish your business as a thought leader, boost your social media reach and engagement, and position your business as a thought leader in the minds of your audience.
People buy from brands they trust, so being there to understand and solve your customer’s problems helps to establish you as a trustworthy and valuable resource, and the go-to brand for their needs.
FIVE TOP TIPS FOR CREATING A STRONG CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY FOR YOUR BUSINESS
1. Establish your goals:
Are you trying to drive newsletter sign-ups, position your brand, generate leads? Link your content marketing goals to your wider business goals and vision, to keep your business growth on track.
2. Understand who your target audience is:
You are likely to have not one, but many different audiences, and they are not necessarily all buyers (yet). Take the time to analyse their mindset and what their needs are, to provide value for them. You might want to try an empathy map to achieve this. (Not as corny as it sounds!)
3. Research your keywords:
Once you’re thinking like your audience thinks, establish the key words and phrases (or long tail keywords) that are going to be relevant to them. If you want your business to be found, you’re going to need to rank for these keywords, if that’s what your customers are searching for.
4. Find your niche:
Look at your competition. Are there hundreds of other businesses posting content about ‘hairdressers in Manchester’? You’re likely to come against some stiff competition. So, instead of going for a catch-all approach, think about what it is you do differently – what’s your unique selling point (USP)? You might reach a smaller audience by focusing on keywords like ‘vegan friendly hairdresser in Chorlton’, but you’ll be reaching a more relevant audience, that is looking for exactly what you’re selling.
5. Repurpose and re-energise your content:
Revisit old content and update it with new information, statistics and rich media. If it’s still a relevant topic, dig it out and freshen it up, or think about chopping content into bite sized chunks to use across different channels.
If you think your brand could benefit from a content marketing strategy to help grow your business, get in touch at influentialmarketingteam@thisisinfluential.com
