Not getting results from your existing content strategy, or whether you are just starting your content writing then this blog will be helpful to you. There is no problem to change or update your content strategy planning if it is not giving you your desired results.
This blog will dive you into what is content strategy and how it is useful from a marketing perspective. What are the proper steps to create an effective content strategy plan? You should first be clear with what exactly is content strategy is, so let’s start with what is content strategy means, and later what are the steps to make a fruitful content strategy planning.
What is content strategy?
Content strategy means creating content and distributing it to your targeted audience to reach your business goal. Content strategy planning must be uncomplicated and should be relevant to your targeted audience, and if your content strategy is missing this element then it’s ok that your content strategy has not been properly defined. Successful content is that which will cover all the needs of your audience they want to read, understanding your audience requirements and writing content according to that gives you the chance to make a viewer to a loyal customer.
Content strategy planning by business point of view
While developing a content strategy you must take care the who will be reading your content. Just as your business might have more than one type of customer, your content strategy can cater to more than one type of user. Using a variety of content types and channels will help you deliver content that’s tailored to each persona. Your content should be the solution to your customer’s problem. The content strategy must be both of them for the people you are knowing this topic but wanted to know more about it and also for those who are not aware of this topic.
While making content your competitors might have the same content on their websites so make sure that how your content will be unique from them. If you have a unique brand that keeps you different from your competitors, to prove why you’re worth buying from, you need to prove why you’re worth listening to. Once you figure that out, pervade that message in your content.
To meet your audience you should know where they live most of the time means on which digital platform. Otherwise, you may waste time creating content that either won’t reach your audience or capture their attention. The way you can create content in different formats, you’ll also have various channels you can publish to, from your website to social media. Once you complete all these points then figuring out how you’ll create and publish all your content can be a challenging task.
Why Content Strategy is Useful from a Marketing Perspective
Content writing is the heart of digital marketing it helps businesses prepare and plan for reliable and cost-effective sources of website traffic and new leads. The reliable source of traffic and leads from your evergreen content will give you the flexibility to experiment. With other marketing tactics to generate revenue, such as sponsored content, social media advertising, and distributed content.
creating content without purpose, simply for the sake of putting something out there, can be a costly and time-consuming mistake.” Knowing your strategy before you start producing content will allow your brand to create more relevant content, which converts to greater trust and a better ROI for content marketing efforts. Having a documented content strategy can help you to define exactly who you are and what you do while keeping that message the same across every channel you use. A content strategy helps you to build creditability and also allows you to maintain the consistency required to achieve results.
Here are the 10 steps which will help you to make a fruitful content strategy planning:
1. Set your goals:
Set a proper goal for your content strategy that why are you making a content strategy plan? and what you are going to create. Having a clear aim in your mind for what you are doing helps you a lot to achieve your result, think properly before you execute.
2. Identify your targeted audience:
According to your content select your audience for eg if your content is education-related then your audience should be students. So, depending on your content try to find out where your audience spends their time online, what they spend their money on, and how you can solve their problems. Developing content that attracts your target audience and leads them every step of the way to purchase, effective content can give loyal customers.
3. Do a content audit:
A content audit describes the process of collecting and analyzing assets on a website, such as landing pages or blog posts. Content audits keep an inventory of a website and provide insight into which content to create, update, re-write, or delete. The content audit gives data-driven insight into the performance of your content, helping you make informed decisions based on factual information rather than just assumptions. Identify areas for content repurposing or updating where numbers are lower than desired and also identify pieces of content that perform best that you can leverage in marketing materials. It understands more about what your audience likes and dislikes and content maintenance becomes easier when you have an understanding of what you’re offering.
4. Choose your suitable content channels:
Content distribution channels are the channels through which you share and promote the content you create to your targeted audience. There are three types of content distribution channels: owned, earned, and paid.
Owned content distribution channels are the content properties your company owns. In this, You can control when and how content is published on your owned channels. These include your website and blog, your social media profiles, your email newsletter, or a mobile publishing app.
Earned content distribution channels which are also known as shared channels are the third parties that promote or share your content. These third parties can be your customers, journalists, bloggers, or anyone who shares your content for free. It also includes public relations, social shares and mentions, guest articles and roundups, and product reviews.
Paid content distribution channels are where your company pays to distribute your content on certain channels. It includes Pay-Per-Click (PPC), paid social media advertisements, and paid influencers.
5. Think about the content you have to write:
Depending on your website or objective you have to choose the content on which you have to write. First, visualize your topic and then draft it and make a proper content strategy planning for your content. No doubt, many writers are multitaskers and they can write on anything from healthcare to marketing. But, when you are just starting, picking a specific area of interest is best.
If you know digital marketing through and through, that means you already have half-knowledge of how to start content writing in that area. It is easier to start this way and then expand your arena.
6. Choose a content-type:
There are vast options to create content it can be in written content like blogs, ebooks, or audio content like podcasts. There are three types of digital content, Textual content, Multimedia content, and Other content.
Textual content is that type of content that requires no audio or video material. For eg, blog posts, articles, guides, checklists, etc.
Multimedia content includes a mixture of different materials such as video, audio, pictures, or a combination of all content. For eg, photography, podcasts, audiobooks, vlog, etc.
Other contents include plugins, templates, browser extensions, etc.
7. Pile up essential tools for writing and editing content:
Even you are an expert in your content writing you required those tools for writing content to editing procedure. There are many tools available that will take care of your content that is SEO friendly and readable to your targeted audience. Choose suitable tools for your content writing and editing take care that your content is having relevant keywords. Many tools can help with keyword research like Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner. You can create content around these keywords that drives traffic and higher SEO rankings for your website and brand.
8. Build a content calendar:
An editorial calendar is a visual tool that allows bloggers, writers, content marketers, editors, and managers to collaborate, organize, and track editorial content. It will help to keep track of your content and ensure you’re publishing consistently. There’s no such thing as a perfect editorial calendar, but some formats will be better than others at helping you solve your team’s goals. The content calendar can be your traditional calendar or spreadsheets etc.
9. Publish your content:
After making proper content by keeping all these content marketing strategies in mind you can publish your content on your selected distribution channels and also with the help of an editorial calander. If there are niche holidays that might appeal to your audience, it could be worth publishing your content on that day.
10. Measure results:
Content marketing can drive results so marketers need to measure content marketing. Measurement reveals how your content fits into the customer’s buying cycle. It can identify the best formats, topics, and strategies to use, and it supports requests for more investment. You can measure results by ensuring that search engines can find your content, keywords are properly used, etc.
