A content marketing strategy requires, well – a strategy. But, what exactly does this mean? A content strategy is essentially the planning phase before you write useful content for your target audience. Seems simple enough, right? Not quite. Before you jump right in, you should know the overall importance of a content strategy for the success of your marketing campaign.
If you fail to plan out your strategy and head straight to the content delivery phase, your content could fail to reach your intended audience or confuse them with unnecessary information. The struggle many have with a content strategy is not knowing how to create a strategy that complements their business goals. Whether you’re creating a marketing campaign or auditing the content on your websites, I encourage you to sit down and think about the story you want your content to share with your customers. Never underestimate the value of a strategic plan and how beneficial it can be in achieving your content marketing goals.
The term “strategic content marketing plan” can seem overwhelming at first, but here is a simple guide to help you get started defining your content strategy.
Identify an Audience
Content creation without strategy often leads to content without a direct purpose. You must define your audience before you can write for them. It is nearly impossible to write audience-specific, entertaining, and informative content for an unknown audience. Once you pinpoint the type of audience that you will be creating content for, then you can clearly define your content goals that communicate to this audience in a way that caters to their specific needs.
Create Audience-Specific Goals
Having a defined content strategy that aligns with your audience’s needs is incredibly important to meet the overall goals of your campaign. Do you want to drive organic traffic, attract leads, increase sales, increase brand recognition, or simply just inform or persuade your consumers to buy your products or services? Your content goals should be specific to your business and the audience you are trying to reach; not only does this give your content focus, it also makes it easier to determine if your content was successful in driving sales or engagement.
Write Content for Different Platforms
Content is shared on so many platforms and social channels that it can get overwhelming for your target users. After discovering your audience and your content goals, always remember to tailor your overall message to individual audiences on different platforms so you can connect with those users effectively.
When you create a content strategy for your website, it is important to consider the content on your mobile site as well. Both sets of content are going to be streamlined towards your audience and goals. Adjusting your writing strategy for mobile is important to allow your users to have a good experience when browsing on their mobile devices.
When it comes to mobile users, remember that content typically is more concise, straightforward, and has an easy to navigate menu; however just because you are condensing your content for an improved user experience doesn’t mean you should abandon your goals. This also goes to say that you shouldn’t be writing content for your desktop site that doesn’t have a purpose. Each and every piece of content should have one direct purpose that aligns with your audience and your goals. Ditch the fluff, and remember to write meaningful content that speaks to your users.
Begin Building Your Content Strategy
Content exists everywhere; blogs, social media, emails, photos, infographics, videos, and more. With each platform, it is important to have a strategy in mind that accomplishes your specific goals. Always make sure to create content that your target audience will respond to. If none of your users read blogs, why waste your time writing them? Each different platform is going to have specific goals that speak to specific audiences. No matter the platform, content strategy is the answer to achieve success with your marketing strategy. Get started building your strategy today, and your users will thank you later.
Ready to start building your content marketing strategy? Let us know what questions you have in the comments!
