Content makes the world go round – especially when it comes to the web. With so much content saturating the digital space, quality content is more important than ever. But before you can start producing value-added content for your business and your marketing campaigns, you have to have a solid content strategy in place. These quick tips can help you to be smarter in your communications, in order to reach your immediate, as well as your big picture goals.
- Do an audit of your own business. The only way to craft a really good strategy is to clearly define your sales objectives, and know every part of the sales cycle. You need to know how much it costs to acquire a customer and at what point customers are dropping off in your sales cycle. You also need to know what your unique selling proposition (USP) is and how your business is differentiated from your competitors.
- Research your audience and where they are. It’s definitely important to know the demographics of your audience, but more importantly, you need to know where to reach them. In order to do this, do whatever research is needed prior to launching a campaign strategy. What social networks is your audience on? What type of mobile devices are they using? What email programs are they receiving email on? Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start developing tactics that will help you build relationships with your customers.
- Evaluate what’s worked and what hasn’t. Before you can start with new marketing initiatives, it’s a good idea to take a look back at what’s been successful in the past. Look at past email campaigns to see what’s been opened the most, look at landing pages to see what’s converted, look at social content to see what has the most shares, and look at blogs to see what has the most comments. Then focus your efforts on materials that have proven to be a hit in the past.
- Determine your distribution channels and create a content calendar. Once you know where your audience is and what tactics that have brought you sales in the past, map out a plan with media channels and frequency. For example, if it’s social media, then who will moderate comments, how often will you post and what are your goals in terms of likes, shares, new fans and existing fan engagement?
Sometimes a content strategy can be crafted in-house, and other times, bringing in an outside and expert POV can help to provide insights and recommendations. This critical diligence up front will set you up for campaign success in the future.
