8 Steps to Develop and Implement a Winning Content Marketing Strategy

The customer’s habits have changed. When they are in search of something, they don’t wait for an ad to appear on television or flip through the classifieds in the newspaper.

Instead, they grab their smartphone or laptop and merely search for their desired location via social media or search engines. Why? Because digital media promises faster and more reliable results.

However, to retain the customer’s attention towards online medium, business owners need to create useful content that not only engages the internet users but makes them come back for more as well. Of course, generating consistent quality content is not easy for many B2B owners who are already juggling several business-related tasks single-handedly.

But the lack of time shouldn’t prevent you from doing something that works efficiently in attracting new and existing consumers. Instead, develop a clear marketing strategy that helps you create valuable content and increases sales, traffic, and leads.

To help you achieve success, here are eight simple steps to plan out a winning content marketing strategy.

Business websites of today provide more than necessary information about a product and the company. In fact, they serve as a valuable resource that creates brand awareness, solves consumer’s queries, and encourages them to purchase your offerings.

As a business owner, you can’t deny the importance of clear goals. Without them, you can’t go anywhere. The same goes for content marketing and if you are planning to implement a strategy, then make sure that all your content has a substantial objective.

If your objective is to convert more leads, create long-form blog content. Your well-researched article will convert 9X more leads than if you were writing shorter content.

Here are the most used content marketing tactics;

A smart content marketing strategy relies on understanding the requirements of your customers rather than focusing on what you are offering. According to a survey, 174% of consumers get frustrated if the content on a specific website has nothing to do with their interest or requirements.

To attract customers towards your content, you have to gather as much information as possible about them. Let’s suppose your company sells baby products; then the likelihood is that most of your customer’s database would comprise of parents and grandparents.

Think like them and curate your content according to their needs. For example, young parents certainly want to know how to juggle work and family. Additionally, tips on potty training, handling ailments, and choosing the right baby gear are always welcomed by parents.

Simply put, get in your customer’s head and then develop content.

Regardless of your niche, make sure you take the time out to understand your competing companies. How often do they publish? Which platforms do they use? Once you know their content marketing strategy, you will have a better idea why your audience is engaging more effectively with them.

Being consistent is a significant factor when determining the success of your content marketing strategy. Since content is distributed on many different channels, it’s sometimes hard for the marketers to keep track of their schedule.

A content calendar can help in this regard which serves as a guideline to help you plan your publications and its progress. The planner should also be reviewed periodically to assess the success (and failure) of your content marketing strategy.

This guide will teach you step by step how to create a content calendar like a pro. You can also use one of their calendar templates to get started.

Simply creating content and publishing it on your website is not enough to ensure the success of your business. To make the content more useful for the audience, seek help from the many free content creation tools available on the internet.

These tools not only make your marketing strategy more efficient but also take many responsibilities from your shoulder. For example, you have trouble creating grammar free articles. Instead of hiring a proofreader to do the job, just download one of the many free grammar-correcting editors to improve the quality of your final copy.  Grammarly is one of them.

There is no denying the importance of visual content. In fact, a human brain processes information 60,000 times faster when provided with visual information. Pictures, videos, infographics, and even GIF images. Add a variety of the medium to keep your audience engaged with your brand.

Social media usage is used as a norm nowadays. Did you know that 22% of the world’s population uses Facebook while two million businesses utilize the platform for advertising?

Additionally, users of Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have also grown tremendously in the past few years leading to more possibilities of interacting with consumers.

Once your content is created, analyze your social media profiles to see which channels are more relevant to your industry. For instance, Facebook is the most popular social media platform but if your niche caters to the young millennials, then maybe you should distribute your visual content on Snapchat as well.

Those interested in fashion wear, retail items, or venue décor usually browse images on Pinterest or Instagram while an audience looking for a nearby restaurant will log in to Yelp for their culinary needs. As mentioned above, go into your visitor’s head and then distribute content accordingly on the different social media channels.

According to the Social Media Examiner, more than 81% of marketers feel that with as little as investing 6 hours a week in social media marketing, they could see increased traffic.

Here are the top paid advertising methods for the content promotion that marketers use.

Do you go for annual medical checkups? Or take your car for services regularly? Then why not your website. Having a ‘web friendly’ website is important for the success of any content marketing strategy.

An SEO audit ensures that your website and the content included is accurately optimized for search engine.

Additionally, the website analysis is essential to confirm whether your website is compliant with the webmaster’s guidelines, is free from errors, and provides the best user experiences.

Developing content may be easy, but a useful content marketing strategy takes time to develop. The most important points to remember is to know your audience and the industry, be consistent and always be willing to improve.

With these tips, we are sure you will have no trouble creating a winning strategy. Good luck and do let us know how they worked for you?

About the Author – Erica Silva is a blogger who loves to discover and explore the world around her. She writes on everything from marketing to technology, science and brain health. She enjoys sharing her discoveries and experiences with readers and believes her blogs can make the world a better place.