High-Performing Content Marketing Strategies Will Transform Your Business. Here’s How to Write One. – Entrepreneur
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Embarking on a marketing campaign without a solid strategy is like trying to find a destination without directions or a map to guide you. Even though you set off in the right direction, you may soon be lost and in danger of missing your destination.
Successful content marketing is no different. To ensure campaigns perform for a brand, content marketing activity needs to be based on a well-thought-out content marketing strategy.
Related: Here’s How to Improve Your Business’s Content Marketing
What content marketing is and why it matters
Content marketing has been a buzzword in the digital marketing industry for several years. Compared to display advertising, for example, content marketing does not disrupt potential customers. Instead, the content is designed to capture an audience’s attention and draw them to a brand’s website, for example.
Content marketing is a great way of generating inbound traffic and user or consumer interest by solving a problem or providing useful information. As a result, content marketing builds trust and increases a brand’s credibility.
Writing a content marketing strategy
A content marketing strategy is a long-term plan that lays out clearly how you will use your content for the maximum benefit of your brand. Successful strategies include several steps:
- Establishing objectives
- Creating customer personas and buyer journeys
- Setting a budget
- Selecting marketing channels
- Creating, launching, and optimizing content
Establishing objectives
Like business objectives and other marketing objectives, the goals of a content marketing strategy need to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. One example would be to set a goal of increasing the amount of traffic your website receives by 10% over twelve months from now.
SMART goals define your finish line. They clarify where your content marketing strategy needs to take the brand. Without clear goals, your content marketing campaigns cannot possibly be successful.
Creating customer personas and buyer journeys
Who are you trying to reach? Creating customer personas means more than understanding the demographics of your audience. As a content marketer, you need to understand your audience’s pain points, challenges, questions and needs about your product. Answering these questions clarifies what content your audience is looking for.
Apart from grasping your customers’ needs, it is essential to understand their decision-making process or customer journey. Most customers go through different stages when they decide to make a purchase.
They recognize a need or desire and research solutions before buying a service or a product. Understanding those stages allows you to address potential customers with the right content at the right time.
Misjudging customer personas or customer journeys may not be detrimental but minimizes the content’s potential impact. Optimizing content delivery and customer journey stages, on the other hand, …….
