Why a Content Strategy Matters for Any Business

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A well-defined content strategy is necessary for every business as marketing becomes increasingly digital.

These days, your business has to work harder than ever to capture your customers’ most valuable resource: their attention.

In order to do that, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the creation of a solid content marketing strategy that is comprehensive and takes into account the type of business that you run.

You also need to think about the time commitment for creating content. Time and time again we’ve seen people eager to start creating content. They start by posting something every day, then it slips to every week, then every month. Ultimately whatever they were working on just dies out.

Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Just like anything else in life, creating content is hard work. You can set yourself up for a better chance of success, however, with a good content strategy.

What Is Content Marketing?

The term “content marketing” refers to creating high-quality content that can be easily shared online and on social media to help improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).

When done right, content creation will make it easier for individuals to find your business and help you expand your presence within your target audience, grow your leads and sales, achieve your business goals, and create more brand awareness. 

Why Does Content Marketing Matter?

Content marketing matters for many reasons.

First, creating high-quality pieces of content can ensure that you are using content that is aligned with your business goals, utilizes relevant KPIs, and incorporates appropriate metrics. This ensures that your content strategy is individualized and adds value for your existing customers and new leads.

Second, you can use it to create an appropriate branding strategy, thus creating the right marketing personas and templates. This can ensure that the branding of your content marketing strategy fits your overall goals. 

Third, good content allows you to coordinate your efforts with every stakeholder in your business. This ensures that you are creating high-quality content in a variety of content formats. This may include interactive graphics, visual content, case studies, infographics, podcasts, whitepapers, and more. Good content and copywriting incorporate content needs from all areas of your business.

Finally, remember, you often don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Useable content and content ideas can be generated from already existing content, LinkedIn connections, or previously created content marketing efforts.

Your content plan can incorporate all of these facets into your content production and marketing goals, thus saving you and your content strategist invaluable time when it comes to filling your content calendar. 

What Is a Content Strategy?

A content strategy is a comprehensive approach to the content you create, how frequently you create it, and what tools and platforms you use. It should be aligned with your overall business goals and ensure that you are capable of managing both the content creation process and the increased workload that comes with content creation. 

Keep in mind that the right content strategy does more than concentrate on creating great content. It also manages the back-end of your marketing. This means creating a workable editorial calendar and workflow. 

Questions To Think About When Developing a Content Strategy:

  1. Who Is Your Desired Audience? What customers do you want to talk to, and where can you reach them?  
  2. What Problem Does This Content Solve? What are your customer’s pain points, and how do you want the content you create to improve the user experience for your customers? 
  3. Why is Your Content Unique? Do you use a unique branding style? Different personas that stand out from the crowd? Have an approach that is different than others out there? Share unique backlinks that others don’t?
  4. What Content-Format Do you Want to Focus On? Do you want to concentrate on visuals? Audio? Written word? Make sure that the format you focus on aligns with your business goals. 
  5. What Channels Will You Publish Your Content On? Remember, it is better to be strong on one network than barely present on several. Pick a social media platform to dominate, then slowly expand. 

The Five-Step Framework for Creating a Content Strategy

  1. Explain Your Content Goal in One Sentence: “We are looking to highlight our customer journey” or “Effective content that shows the buyer’s journey and can be replicated by other customers” are great examples of a content goal. At the same time, content goals should be connected to business goals, such as building brand awareness or selling a specific product. 
  2. Pick Your Personas: Whose voice will the content come from, and how do you want the voice to sound?
  3. Pick Channels: What channels work best for your brand and your content strategy?
  4. Create a Content Calendar: Create a calendar that fits your content production schedule. Make sure to include evaluation tools, like a content audit, to ensure that your content is staying on message and accomplishing your correct business goals. 
  5. Stay Disciplined: It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint. It is better to have one piece of content a week — and update that content on a regular basis — than to update for two weeks straight and then drop off completely.

What Are Some Services To Help Brainstorm Content Ideas?

There are many potential sources. This includes:

Content creation and a content strategy can be long-term, complicated processes. It involves creating a content team, following a step-by-step process, and using the above step-by-step guide to ensure that you are appropriately creating good content that reaches your content demographic.

However, good content management, high-quality content production, and the creation of a solid content management strategy can make a huge difference for your digital marketing and overall bottom line.