Content Marketing Basics

The most successful content marketers are those who have a well defined content marketing strategy. With the right approach, it’s easier for your voice to resonate with audiences that matter the most to your brand.

A content marketing strategy is a high level plan that streamlines your goals, target audience, content types, distribution channels and metrics. It aims to create, curate and deliver valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and ultimately to drive profitable customer action.

Creating a content marketing strategy is about going beyond the production of material. It’s a deliberate and systematic approach designed to align your content efforts with your business objectives.

Why Do You Need a Content Marketing Strategy?

The online space is inundated with noise and competing messages. To really stand out, you must show you are different. Go the extra mile for your audience and carefully construct a content marketing strategy to give you the edge. It’s the groundwork from which you launch your content efforts and will give your marketing campaigns a greater chance of success.

Establish Direction

Without a strategy, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. A clear content strategy helps to pinpoint your end objectives and establishes a clearly defined route to achieve them. Your goals could be to increase brand awareness, generate leads or boost customer retention. The strategy you build will dictate the path you take.

Create Consistency

People like routines and consistency. This is essential when delivering content. Your strategy will set out what you will publish and when. In time, your audience will come to expect and welcome content you publish. Regardless of the content type or platform, your strategy will ensure it is aligned with your brand voice, values and mission. This coherence builds trust with your audience over time.

Measure Success

Content campaigns must be created using data. A well defined content marketing strategy defines Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you need to measure the effectiveness of your content. Metrics such as engagement rates, conversion rates and ROI provide insights into what’s working and what isn’t.

Elements of a Content Marketing Strategy

An effective content strategy will include several core components. They all work in harmony to deliver results for your online campaign.

Target Audience

Understanding your audience is critical.

Who are they?

What are their pain points, aspirations and online habits?

Crafting customer profiles or personas (semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer) serve as a guide when tailoring your content. You can write directly to them, using their language and appealing to their needs and aspirations.

Brand Voice and Message

Consistency in communication is paramount. Define your brand’s voice — is it informative, authoritative, or perhaps light-hearted? Your brand message should be clear and aligned with your audience’s interests. Once you have articulated your brand voice, content across all platforms should reflect the same voice for greater consistency.

Content Planning

Map out which content types you want to publish and promote. This could include blog articles, thought leadership content, infographics, videos, podcasts or a combination. Plot content distribution channels – your website, social media or email campaigns. Most importantly, tie these tactics to your business goals

Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar is the scaffolding that holds your content strategy upright. It keeps your content efforts organised, ensures consistent publishing, and helps in planning for seasonal or promotional content. It will set out what you will post, when and to which platform over a 30, 60 or 90 day period.

Content Creation and Curation

Producing original content is only one part of the equation. Curating content from other sources adds value and variety to your offerings. Collaborations and user-generated content can also be part of this mix.

Search and Content Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is key to content discoverability. Identify relevant keywords and incorporate them into your content while ensuring that quality and user experience are not compromised.

Content Distribution

Where and how your content is distributed greatly impacts its reach. Explore various channels, from social media platforms to outreach, to increase visibility.

Performance Measurement

A strategy is only as good as its outcomes. Regularly measure the performance of your content against established KPIs and be ready to pivot based on the data.

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy

It might seem like an overwhelming task to create a strategy, but it can be broken down into manageable steps.

Step 1 – Set Goals and Objectives

Start by defining what you hope to achieve with your content marketing efforts. Brand awareness, lead nurturing, or sales, ensure your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Step 2 – Audience

Conduct comprehensive research to understand your audience. Use demographics, psychographics, and online behaviour data to craft detailed buyer personas that represent your customers’ profiles and preferences.

Step 3 – Brand Voice and Content Guidelines

Your content should always reflect your brand. Clearly define your brand’s voice, values, and the type of content you will (or won’t) produce. Set guidelines for consistency that all content creators must follow.

Step 4 – Audit Current Content Assets

Assess your existing content against the strategies and objectives. Identify what’s working well and needs to stay and what’s underperforming and should be revised or removed. Skip this step if you are starting afresh.

Step 5 – Choose Content Types and Channels

Based on your analysis and objectives, select the content types — blogs, e-books, case studies, videos, etc. and the channels — social media, emails, your website, etc. through which you’ll distribute your content.

Step 6 – Editorial Calendar

A well-organised editorial calendar keeps you on track. Plan your content topics, creation dates, publishing schedule, and distribution channels to maintain a consistent and timely flow of content. You may decide to batch produce content where you spend some time to create your content assets for a week or a month and schedule for posting, or you may decide to create and publish as you go along. You can also outsource your content creation to a freelancer or agency.

Step 7 – SEO Best Practices

For content posted to your website, optimise for search engines without sacrificing its value to readers. Conduct keyword research to include high-performing search terms naturally within your content.

Step 8 – Content Acquisition Plan

Decide how you’ll create your content. This could be through in-house content teams, freelancers, or content agencies. Similarly, plan for content curation and user-generated content strategies.

Step 9 – Engage and Grow Your Audience

Engaging with your audience is a powerful tool for growing it. Respond to comments, initiate conversations, and foster a community around your content to deepen the connection with your audience.

Step 10 – Measure and Analyse Content Performance

Set up analytics on your website and socials to track the performance of your content. Regularly review and adjust your strategies based on the data-driven insights you gather.

How to Perform a Content SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis — which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats — is a useful tool to assess your content marketing strategy. It provides a framework for analysing both internal and external factors that can affect your content’s success.

Strengths

Start by identifying the inherent strengths of your current content marketing approach. This could include a strong brand presence, high-quality content, or an engaged audience. Leverage these strengths to differentiate your content and gain a competitive edge.

Weaknesses

Recognise the areas where your content marketing strategy falls short. Poorly defined goals, low engagement rates, or a lack of resources resulting in inconsistent posting could be some typical weaknesses. Once identified, work towards addressing or mitigating these weaknesses.

Opportunities

Look for emerging trends and untapped areas within your market. These could be opportunities for new content topics, channels, or campaigns. Seizing these can lead to innovation and growth within your strategy.

Threats

Be mindful of potential threats to your content marketing strategy. This might include changing algorithms on social platforms, emerging competitors, or shifts in audience preferences. By anticipating these threats, you can better prepare to adapt your strategy to mitigate their impact.

It’s recommended that you complete a content SWOT analysis every 90 days at least, reviewing metrics and alignment with goals. Make adjustments and then review in another 90 days.

Optimising Your Content Strategy for Long Term Growth

Although digital marketing is changing rapidly, there is one constant and that’s content. If you dedicate time and resources to content marketing, it will set your business up for long term success.