Succeeding with content marketing doesn’t come from a moment of inspiration or sublime creativity; for the most part it comes from strategic planning and implementing a process designed to achieve maximum results.
For businesses new to online content marketing developing this process and taking appropriate action is not always easy; however, there are a number of key stages to work through to ensure you continually improve your marketing.
Know Where You’re At
At the start of any new content marketing campaign in the cycle of your business, it is ESSENTIAL that you have an excellent understanding of:
- your product,
- the market in which it will be sold,
- your key value proposition,
- and what what sets it apart from everything else on the market.
Without going through this stage it’s very unlikely you’ll develop and implement a successful campaign.
Define Your Strategy
For your content marketing to succeed you MUST establish a clear strategy.
Think about:
- What are your goals?
- Who are your target audience?
- Where will you find them online?
- How will your product or service benefit them?
Be Buyer-Centric
If your online content marketing is to succeed the material you create must connect directly with your target audience. To take your strategic thinking to the next level try developing brand personas that reflect the diversity of your target audience; however, bear in mind that it’s unlikely that you’re targeting just one type of person. Buyers in the B2B cycle, for example, can be administrative staff who must then convince managers to okay a purchase. Your content marketing will need to speak to both.
Also, identify where your potential buyers are in the purchase cycle. One message alone will not speak to everyone. For example, look at the way Apple targets both potential converts to the Mac platform and those who are already sold on Mac.
At this stage, before you’ve even created a piece of content, focus on your intended customer: think through the messages you need to reach and engage with your target audience(s).
I personally do this by creating a spreadsheet and keep track of the messages I’m looking to communicate to different brand personas. This way I can return to the spreadsheet to make sure I’m still on target with the content I create.
These messages can also be noted in the editorial calendar to ensure they are equally spread across the content that’s to be created.
Strategic Planning
It is at this point in the cycle of an online content marketing campaign that you should plan what you’re actually going to create.
Some refer to this as creating an “editorial calendar” but I think that this term tends to put businesses new to content marketing off because it sounds like the world of proper publishing.
Perhaps the best way to think of this stage is that you’re outlining the content, your tactics, that will be produced for the campaign.
Personally I prefer to use a spreadsheet to ensure that I’m creating a variety of different forms of content that will be distributed on the web. I also try to incorporate the knowledge I’ve garnered about search engine optimization (SEO) and social media. For example, when planning blog posts I will note the keywords that will form the URL, and write a provisional one line description of the post.
Creating the content
Having planned the content this is the time to get creative and write, film and record the content that will be distributed and communicate with your target audience.
If you run a small business it’s very unlikely that you’ll have time to create content on a daily basis but similarly you probably won’t’ have time or willing to create stacks of content at once.
One of the best things you can do at this point is to identify the times when you will put things aside to create content. Literally put them in your planner. Stick to these times.
The in-depth work that went into your strategic planning in the previous step will serve you well.
Preparing for Data
Remember to put in place the systems that will allow you to measure your success BEFORE you start publishing content. I’ve seen clients panic when they’ve realized they forgot to set up a Google Analytics account when launching their website.
Monitoring your success and performance in social media is tough. Avinash Kaushik Best Social Media Metrics: Conversation, Amplification, Applause, Economic Value is a great starting point if you’re looking to improve your understanding of data measurement and social media.
After Publishing
Once you’ve published your content you need to ensure that it’s seen by your target audience. This is where you can use the social media connections that you’ve built and continue to build.
Each time you go through a content marketing cycle your number of contacts online should improve; more followers on Twitter, more Facebook and Google+ friends, more subscribers to your email newsletter; more regular readers of your blog.
If you are new to online marketing and have limited reach – few followers, few Likes, or so-called friends, etc – you may need to use Pay Per Click advertising in tandem with more organic content marketing efforts. You should, however, see this as an initial starting point; a useful tactic to drive people to your website.
If your content marketing really addresses what your target audience need, you’ll soon build connections and an audience online.
Documenting & Analyzing Performance
With your metrics and data collection in place it’s essential that during your campaign you document and record the success (or failure) of your content marketing.
Although this can be demoralizing if it’s not gone well, it’s essential you document things so you can analyze and learn from how things have gone.
For example, one of the best things I discovered with my own documentation has been that blog post URLS with three keywords, i.e. jontusmedia.com/landing-page-conversions, perform better in Google than URLS with more words.
Continual Improvement
This process is something that you should repeat as you seek to be more effective and get better results with your content.
My own approach is to go through this cycle every 60 days. That way, I am able to set goals, plan and create content, analyze the effect of the 60-day campaign cycle, and assess what works and what doesn’t.
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