Over the last several years, content marketing has won the hearts of big brands, small businesses and everything between. But like most aspects of the digital world, investing in a tactic doesn't guarantee success. Success comes from ensuring you're doing the right kind of content marketing.
The good news is great content marketing strategies stick to the same general principles. If you follow a guide or take cues from an existing campaign with great results, you'll have success. For our latest digital marketing video, we perfected A Recipe for Content Marketing Success:
1. Identify and Understand Your Audience
In business, there's nothing more important than understanding your customers. And saying your audience consists of males between the ages of 18-40 isn't good enough. You need to know the likes and dislikes of your customers base. Their problems and the everyday issues they face. And the other products and services they use and enjoy. You need to gather as much information on your customers as you can (without being creepy, of course).
The amount of knowledge you have about your audience will define your content marketing success. When you know what problems your customers are trying to solve and how your products and services can help them, you'll find yourself with more valuable content than you know what to do with.
2. What, Where, How
In addition to understanding your audience, you need to know where they hang out online and what type of content they like to consume. Some audiences prefer long-form blog articles while others like quick videos. In many cases, audiences will show a preference for engaging with a few specific content types - if you can hone in on the content forms your audience prefers, the pieces you create will have a greater chance to make an impact.
3. Quality Matters Most
It's not how much you say, it's what you say. Don't build your content marketing strategy around quantity; instead, let quality dictate the length and frequency of your content creation efforts. If you don't have high quality ideas for content, wait until you have something worth saying. As we mentioned in the opening, you won't gain customers by simply creating content - you need to valuable content that is relevant to your audience.
4. Stay Organized
Content marketing is hard. In some situations - usually when you're passionate about the piece you're creating - the words come easy. But content creation is a single part in a much larger process that begins with ideation and ends many steps beyond publication. If you want your content to achieve its greatest potential, you need to nurture, promote and amplify it in the weeks following its release.
5. Review, Measure, Improve
The great thing about content marketing is that once the wheels of your strategy are in motion, there will be a whole ocean of data at your fingertips. Since most companies struggle to use their analytics and take action to improve and iterate their content, there's a huge competitive advantage to gain if you can do it. Review, measure and improve your way to content marketing success!
If you would like more information on content marketing or professional help developing a content strategy, get in touch with your local WSI Digital Marketing Consultant today.
