Quality content is the main tool for attracting and retaining an audience in 2024. Whether you’re developing a website or managing social media, it’s essential to approach content creation smartly on any of your platforms.
To do everything right and not waste time and effort, it’s worth staying informed about content marketing trends. This will not only help you learn about the latest best practices but also enable you to create a comprehensive strategy that will lead you to success.
What Is a Content Marketing Strategy?
A content marketing strategy is a plan for creating and distributing content that resonates with your target audience and attracts a steady flow of new users.
Is creating your content marketing strategy difficult? It requires time and perseverance, but the results will undoubtedly be worth it.
Here’s what your strategy should include:
- Specific goals (i.e., what exactly you want to achieve with your content)
- Audience insights (all the nuances about those who consume your content)
- Types of content (these could be blog articles or, for example, videos on YouTube)
- And — most importantly —- the promotion plan
Here’s an example. Suppose you’re developing a content marketing strategy for a website dedicated to fashionable bags and accessories.
Your goal may be to increase the number of visitors and buyers interested in stylish bags and accessories, actively seeking trendy solutions for their outfits. Your audience could be young women and men, fashion-conscious individuals keeping up with trends in the fashion industry.
Types of content could include reviews of bag models, articles about the latest trends in the world of fashionable bags, and tips for choosing bags for different styles and occasions.
To promote this content, you can distribute it through your email newsletter, your social media channels, and your website to attract visitors using SEO.
So, how do you create a strategy that will lead you to success? Let’s take a closer look at each step.
9 Steps to Creating a Successful Content Marketing Strategy
Below, we’ll discuss how to create a content marketing strategy for your business.
- Set a Goal
To achieve something, you need to understand what exactly you want to achieve. It seems like a simple question, but a clear definition of your goal will help you create a path to it more easily. So ask yourself: “What do you want to achieve with your content?”
Your goal will determine your entire strategy, so make sure it’s clear and specific.
Here are some examples of goals:
- Become a thought leader in your niche.
- Increase traffic from search engines by 50%.
- Increase sales by 20% in a year.
- Acquire 30 new high-ticket clients.
- Grow email subscribers by 50% in the next quarter.
- Increase social media engagement by 50% within the next three months.
- Get to Know Your Audience Better
You can create expertly crafted content, but it may be practically useless if it doesn’t resonate with the right people.
To understand your audience, consider the following questions:
- Who are the people interested in your content? Here, you can think not only about their gender, age, and location, but also about their career, fears, desires, and ambitions.
- What are their biggest pain points, difficulties, and problems that you can offer a solution to?
- Where do they spend their time on the internet? Perhaps they prefer to consume content through Shorts on YouTube or prefer long-form articles on websites?
- What types of content capture their attention and prompt action?
- Determine the Type of Content
What exactly do you want to offer users? It could be:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Ebooks
- Infographics
Your choice should be determined by both your goals and your understanding of your audience.
- Find Content Ideas
Don’t rely solely on your instincts, and don’t rush to create content without a solid foundation. Otherwise, you risk wasting your efforts. The best way to determine whether an idea for content is good is to thoroughly research the topic’s relevance and interest.
For example, if you’re growing your blog through search engines, consider conducting keyword research.
Keyword research involves searching for various keywords (queries) that users use to find specific information. The main goal of research is to find all combinations of keywords related to the topics of interest, select those that suit you, and prepare content based on them.
Keywords should be searched using specialized tools, such as Ahrefs. In this service, for each keyword, you’ll see detailed information, such as how popular the topic is (search volume) and how difficult it is to rank for it in Google (keyword difficulty).
The same advice applies to YouTube content. Like for a blog, conducting keyword research for YouTube will help you understand which topics are in demand among your audience. Use tools like Ahrefs or YouTube Keyword Tool to find keywords with high search volume and low competition.
- Set Priorities
After gathering numerous content ideas, you can begin to create it. But where do you start?
A key tip, especially if you’re just starting your content production journey, is to choose topics with low competition. It’s worth noting that small channels or recently created websites won’t be able to compete immediately with industry giants that have long been established in the market. While keywords with low competition may not always have impressive volumes, you’ll definitely be able to attract your first users who are interested in what you’re doing.
- Plan Regular Content Publication
Be consistent and clear in your content publication. To consistently post content, it’s best to create a content calendar.
A content calendar is a document that helps you plan, coordinate, and implement your content strategy. It records all the details of your upcoming content, such as:
- Topic and titles
- Author
- Content type
- Status (writing, recording, editing, etc.)
- Publication deadline
You can use something simple like Google Sheets to create a content calendar. Or you can use tools like Trello, Asana, or Basecamp if you need something more complex.
- Create Content!
So, when you’ve determined what you’ll cover — an in-demand and relevant topic that will definitely interest your target audience — it’s time to create content.
Prepare scripts for videos, articles, or other useful materials. This is an important step that requires a good understanding of the topic. You should also be able to present it easily and interestingly, and convince the user to stay until the very end — whether it’s a YouTube video or a long expert article on your website.
At this stage, it’s impossible to do without the help of professionals. The best thing you can do to streamline content production is to delegate some tasks to people who are knowledgeable about the topic and know how to write pieces of content that are easy to read.
For example, if you’re preparing content for a blog, you can turn to copywriting services from professional writers who can excellently realize your idea and make the content SEO-friendly.
If you’re creating video content, you can also use script writing services for your videos.
And don’t forget about the presentation. In articles, if appropriate, add useful images, diagrams, and videos that will keep readers engaged.
Videos on your YouTube channel should have good sound and pleasant visuals.
- Promote Your Content
Ensure your content strategy includes a well-defined approach to distributing and amplifying your content to connect with your intended audience.
Consider these various strategies for promoting your content:
- Email marketing: Utilize your email subscriber list to inform them about your latest content and encourage their engagement.
- Social media: Leverage your social media channels to share your content with your followers and stimulate interaction.
- Paid advertising: If your budget allows, consider investing in Google ads or Meta advertising solutions to enhance the visibility of your content and expand its reach.
- Content syndication: Extend your content’s reach by sharing it on third-party platforms such as Medium to access new audiences.
- Public relations (PR): Employ PR strategies to secure features for your content in reputable media outlets and publications that your target audience trusts.
- Influencer marketing: Collaborate with influencers, including prominent bloggers and social media personalities, to amplify the reach of your content.
- Search engine optimization (SEO): Optimize your content to improve its search engine ranking and visibility in search results.
Remember, not every tactic will be suitable for every business. Your choice of promotion channels should align with your objectives, audience preferences (considering where they typically consume content), and budget.
For instance, our audience analysis revealed that for a health and fitness website, the primary audience frequently engages with content on YouTube and other social media platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram. Additionally, they actively read blog posts from online publications.
Therefore, our main focus for content distribution should include social media, paid advertising, SEO, influencer marketing, and PR efforts.
- Monitor the Results
A good content marketing strategy goes beyond creating and promoting content. It’s also important to continuously monitor how users react to it and analyze their behavior to take it into account in the future.
For example, you can use Google Analytics to measure the effectiveness of your traffic. It’s the most widely used tool for tracking traffic data.
Regularly review performance data to determine what works well and what needs improvement. And make adjustments based on your findings.
So, Are You Ready Now?
As with any endeavor, to achieve success, you need to create a clear plan of action. Building a content strategy is an essential step, where it’s crucial to rely not on your own feelings, but on detailed research that will give you a clear understanding of your target audience’s interests. Perhaps something won’t work immediately, and the content you had high hopes for won’t resonate. But it’s important to not stop and to follow the planned strategy — regular publication and good presentation will definitely help achieve your goals.