Before you start creating your content marketing strategy, let’s talk about theory. What is content? Simply put, it’s the information and experiences directed at your audience, which can be expressed and delivered in a variety of ways. Creating any content is not a big deal – the Internet is full of texts and images, but the quality of many of them is poor. What really matters is creating content that rocks. Research shows that content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. And leads are what you need if you want to make money. This is why you should have a content marketing strategy – a document which sets the steps needed to do the research and create, publish and promote your content.

1. Get to know your audience

Getting to know your audience is crucially important when thinking about your content marketing strategy. Try to gather as much information as possible: find out who they are, how do they find you, what do they like, which social media channels they use, how old are they.

Try to establish whether your audience prefers just one channel of communication (such as Facebook) or whether they are keen to get their information from a variety of different sources (blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn). If your audience is not limited to a very particular group, it may be better if you use many different channels, always remembering that each of them has its own rules and language.

2. Set your goals

Think about your current position on the market. Are you where you want to be? If so, think about how to retain your current clients remembering that competition in the online world is huge. If you are not in the place you would like to be, think about what you would like to achieve and how long do you have. Set your goals, taking into consideration your KPIs.

3. Plan your content

Think about the type of content you would like to create for each channel you would like to use. Start with general thoughts, then go into details, creating a content calendar. Link it to any special events that happen within your company or to public events.

4. Think about your resources

Now establish whether writing all the content you need fits into your schedule. Will you manage to do it on your own or maybe it’s worth employing someone new, asking a team member to take on an additional duty or outsource your content writing to an expert who can do it professionally?

5. Create your content

That’s a very important step: high quality content is what attracts people, retains their attention, makes them come back to you and perceive you as an expert. When creating content, always think about people you are directing it at and their problems. How would you like to help them?

High quality content is not only about what you write, but also about how you write. Your language must be understandable to the group you are writing for and there is no room for mistakes. Re-read what you’ve written several times. Also, take into consideration the length of your texts: they can’t be too short, as they will not give enough information and will not be noticed by Google, but they can’t be too lengthy either, as they may discourage your readers.

6. Publish your content

Once ready, your content should be published so that it can be found by your audience. Publish it on the channels you decided to use and do it according to the calendar you prepared. You may also decide to distribute it via newsletters and promote it on social media. Being regular pays off – when you publish your texts at the same time every week, your audience will know when to expect news from you and will be waiting for them.

7. Measure your results

With good content marketing strategy there is no room for intuition – you need to know whether your strategy is taking you where you want to be. Make use of Google Analytics to see how your content is performing and check out reporting options on social media channels you use. Once you see something is working, it means you are going in the right direction.

Leave your content marketing in our hands

At Growth Makers we are highly experienced in creating effective and successful content and content marketing strategies.

“Content marketing is an extremely effective tool in terms of inbound marketing. It allows us to attract potential clients and generate leads with engaging content that answers questions at the right place and time. Content marketing helps us build relationships through sharing highly valuable expert knowledge: we create a relationship with the recipients (well defined personas) and nurture it until they need one of our services. At that stage, the process of getting to know each other and building trust is being done. It is especially important in customer-engaging industries that use advanced IT services. When working with Growth Makers, we put great emphasis on in-depth research and presenting our own experience. As a result texts answer the needs of readers who want to expand their knowledge and competences, and visit our business blog when looking for inspiration.”

Anna Mleczko
Senior Marketing Specialist
Future Processing

Keen to know more about effective content marketing? Get in touch with us today to speak about your business and its needs!