How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy That Really Works – Entrepreneur

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Content marketing is the gold mine for driving great business outcomes, as lots of buyers depend on content to make purchases. Statistics show that 60% of customers are inspired to seek out a product after reading about it. A good content marketing strategy can make all the difference for your brand, which is why 82% of marketers actively use content marketing. You, too, can create a good content marketing strategy that works, and in this article, I will show you how.

First, let’s cover the basics. What is a content strategy, exactly? A content strategy is a plan for creating content that facilitates your business goal. It helps you create the right brand awareness content that can influence your buyer’s decision for every stage of the sales funnel to drive leads and conversions.

Out of the various marketing strategies that are available to marketers, content marketing is a cost-effective approach for long-term lead generation. Evergreen content can continue driving organic traffic from searches to your website and generating conversions. For example, an informative blog post that is embedded with product links can keep leading users to your product long after it is published.

Also, content marketing is great for brand awareness and can serve as a channel for other marketing tactics to flourish. While your content can establish your brand as an authority to be referenced in your industry, it can also drive the outcome of sponsored ads, influencer marketing and similar marketing strategies. Now, let’s get into the five steps it takes to create an effective marketing strategy:

Related: What Is a Content Strategy and Why Do I Need It?

1. Know your goal

Starting out any plan means you have a goal waiting to be attained. The goal of your content marketing strategy should be tied to brand awareness, leads, conversions and customer retention.

Whatever you intend to achieve with your content marketing should be well-defined. This will help you determine how to create your content marketing strategy and the key performance indicators (KPIs) to look out for in deciding the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy.

2. Do buyer persona research

Buyers are 48% more likely to consider service providers that have a personalized marketing strategy. Your content is for your target buyers. Therefore, you have to know who your target buyers are so you can decide the best way to sell your content to them.

After identifying your target buyers, tailor your content marketing strategy to accommodate your ideal buyer’s content preferences and behavior. For instance, a corporate manager for a multinational may look for products and service information differently from a small family business owner. Also, a middle-aged user may have different content preferences and responses to a marketing strategy than a Gen Z user.