A Simple Content Marketing Strategy
If you aren’t using a content marketing strategy for your blog, you will love this post. I am going to break down exactly how you can implement a content strategy so you can plan, produce and promote your content like a boss.
When I first started blogging, I NEVER planned my content or topic ahead of time which meant I would be frantically trying to write a post the night before I wanted it to go live. Then, I would randomly share it on a few of my social platforms and call it good.
No wonder I was struggling with my content.
It was such an overwhelming process that I used to dread doing it. I would literally push back writing new content on my calendar until months would go by and I wouldn’t be creating anything new because it felt like such a huge undertaking to me.
Have you ever felt like that?
We all know that it isn’t just creating a new blog post or video, but it’s also creating the content for our email newsletters, our social media platforms, our Facebook groups and everywhere else we feel the need to show up online.
It took me a while to realize that I desperately NEEDED to plan ahead and change not only how I was creating content, but also how I was promoting it.
Implementing a content marketing strategy for my blog has been one of the biggest changes I have made for my business which has led me to be more organized, create content faster and overall feel more confident in what I am doing.
Why You Need a Content Marketing Strategy
Having a content marketing strategy has so many benefits that will greatly impact your blog or business:
It’s been proven to be one of the most effective ways to grow your prospects, buyers and audience
Establish authority in your industry
Drive sales
Build a relationship with your target audience
Generate leads
Build trust
Increase website traffic
This list can go on and on.
The point is, a content marketing strategy is at the heart of your digital business and can help you to hit your business goals.
How Content Marketing Works
Your blog or business can use content marketing to attract the right leads to your business. These people would fit into your buyer persona. This means your content directly relates to the product and services you have to offer.
This means you create and deliver the right kind of content at different stages in your business. I know it sounds like a lot, but it isn't when you break it up.
Most marketers think about content in these different stages:
Awareness
Consideration
Decision
The content you create for each stage is different. For example, in the awareness stage, you wouldn't be selling your audience your offer or solution. You would be making them aware of the problem that they are having.
In the consideration stage, they are now aware of the problem and understand that it needs to be fixed. See how your content would be tailored for the different stages your audience would be at?
What Is Content Marketing?
By definition, a content marketing strategy is:
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. “
When you implement a content marketing strategy it is much easier to keep your overall vision and messaging consistent. Plus, it gives you so much clarity because you have a plan to follow for content creation and content promotion.
As a blogger or online business owner, your content marketing strategy will guide you each day for when/what you will share for your content
Download a copy of my Consistent Content Roadmap!
Search Engine Optimization
Otherwise known as SEO. SEO plays an important role in your content marketing strategy because it makes it easier for you to find prospects and buyers for your blog or business.
Identifying the right keywords will help you to to attract more people to your content because they will be able to easily find it in Google and other search engines.
Make sure your keywords are relevant to your content topic, specific and in plain language. This means a term you know your audience would be searching for.
A Simple Content Marketing Strategy - Basics
I am going to walk you through how to create an effective content marketing strategy in this template.
#1 - Foundation
Before you create your own content marketing strategy you need to start with some basic information about your content. I like to do a content audit before I do anything.
Who are you creating content for? (get specific)
What problem will you solve with your content?
How have you solved this problem?
How can you share your personal experience and knowledge?
What is the goal of your content?
Each of these questions will help you to lay a good foundation for your content.
Your goal is to make sure that your content stays on point with the products and services you offer for purchase. This will help to ensure that your messaging stays consistent throughout your brand.
You can also take some time to look at what your competitors are doing. You definitely don't want to copy them but it may help you to focus on your goals for your content.
#2 - Type of Content
Decide on the type of content you will create.
Blog post
Video
Podcast
Livestream
What will be your main form of content? This is your starting point and will be the source of all the other content you share. If you are unsure, think about how your target audience likes to consume content. Or, consider what is the easiest form for you to create.
If you absolutely hate doing video content, then do not choose that as your main source. You will end up procrastinating because it will feel like a hard task to complete.
Related: 3 Steps to Create Consistent Content
#3 - Content Outlets
Most people make the mistake of trying to show up everywhere online. This leads to burning out.
Put a strategy in place for where you are going to show up and how often.
Which platforms will you use to promote your content?
How often will you post on each platform?
How often will you email your list?
Consider tracking the progress you make with your content on the platforms you choose so that you can see how effective they are to the growth of your business.
What metrics can you track?
Related: 4 Content Creation Mistakes to Avoid
#4 - Create a Weekly Content Calendar
Once you know where you are showing up you want to take the time to create a weekly content calendar. I like to have an aerial view of the content I am posting for the month, but I like to take it a step further and have a detailed view of it for my upcoming week.
This guides me each day to see what content I need to share and when. It will help you to start to build an editorial calendar.
For example:
Monday - Blog post, Insta story: share 3 tips from the post, Pin new post
Tuesday - Email blog post to list with a link to read full article
Wednesday - Instagram feed: new blog post, Insta story: poll ask who has read the post
Thursday - Fresh pin images for the blog post
Friday - Insta story: mini-training recapping new blog post
#5 - Repurposing
This is one of the MOST important parts of the content marketing strategy. I showed you a little bit of it in the previous example, but repurposing is when you reuse pieces of content you have already created.
So in the example above, you're not creating new content every day that week. You are using the 1 new piece of content you created and repurposing it to promote it all week. This is a great way to revive your existing content and drive more traffic to the topic.
It helps you save a ton of time and will lengthen the lifespan of your content.
There are so many different ways that you can repurpose your content but what you need to do to get started is to MAKE IT YOUR OWN.
What I like to do is follow a specific workflow for my content. You can read all about creating a blog post template to save time here.
For example, repurposing could look like this:
Post new YouTube video
Transcribe video to create a blog post
Summarize it in the email newsletter
Pull quotes from video to share on Instagram Feed
Share 3 tips from video in Instagram story
You start with one top piece of content and multiply it by repurposing pieces of it on your social platforms. You can also consider creating infographics, ebooks, or other social media channel graphics when you are repurposing your content.
Think about how you share content right now. What works well? What doesn’t work well? Start drafting out a repurposing plan to help you save time when you create new content.
When you add repurposing into your marketing plan your consistency plan will be much easier to follow. Especially when you spend your time repurposing your high-quality content.
Doing this can drastically decrease the amount of new content you need to produce on a monthly basis.
You want to also consider SEO, your google analytics, content engagement and insights, organic traffic, top keywords and other parts of your marketing tactics to see what is performing the best.
I always focus on creating useful content so to do this I dive into my past blogs and see what worked well with my audience and what didn't. Looking at all of these resources will help you to come up with a content marketing plan that will help you to grow your audience.
Read more about: How to Repurpose Content here.
If you need help coming up with popular content ideas take some time to check out BuzzSumo.
Stop making the content creation process harder than it needs to be. Your content marketing efforts can do a long way when you have a plan in place.
Take the time to implement a content marketing strategy so you have a system to follow each time you create new content for your blog or business.
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Stop making content creation harder than it needs to be.
Take the time to implement a content marketing strategy so you have a system to follow each time you create new content for your blog or business.