5 Things Every Content Marketing Strategy Needs
No matter what industry your business is in, content marketing is essential for driving website traffic, increasing online awareness, and giving your customers valuable information. Content marketing encompasses every type of content imaginable, from blog posts to email newsletters to social media posts. When it comes to creating content, businesses must consider internal marketing goals while also considering keeping the content desires of the customers in mind.
There are five vital components to a successful content marketing strategy. Below, explore how your business can utilize each of these pieces to create the content your business needs to achieve the next level of success.
1. Buyer Personas
A buyer persona presents your brand’s “ideal customer” to help you target your content marketing efforts effectively. Your buyer persona may include demographics, intentions, goals, values, and other important components of your target audience. To create a buyer persona, you’ll first need to identify the specific target audience your content marketing seeks to attract.
While this may sound easy, identifying a specific target audience requires time and research of industry trends.
2. Brand Identity
Creating a detailed brand identity is another important component of your content marketing strategy. Your brand’s identity tells your “story,” including your brand’s background, values, purpose, and overall mission.
Once you’ve determined your brand’s voice and personality, it is easier to ensure all pieces of content marketing produced are consistent with that same voice. As you consider how to craft your brand’s identity, consider your competitors as you think about what makes your brand unique and better than other companies offering similar products or services.
3. Content Marketing Goals
Before creating a business case, it’s essential to establish clear goals for your content marketing efforts. Developing a mission statement will help you to think about who you’re creating content for, what types of information you’ll offer, and how the information will match the audience’s needs or help them to solve a problem.
Developing clearly defined goals is more challenging than it may sound. View our content marketing pillar page for an in-depth guide to what you need to develop an effective strategy.
4. Business Case
A written business case is a document that discusses the purpose and intent of a specific project or task. Creating a business case as part of your content marketing strategy will ensure your entire team is on the same page with all marketing efforts.
Furthermore, your business case will help your team understand the costs and risks of the proposed content marketing strategies. The document will also cover how each content marketing strategy should be completed and how your content marketing strategy plan fits into your overall budget.
5. Action Plan
Developing and brainstorming your content marketing ideas is only half the battle. Lastly, your brand must create a written action plan that encompasses every part of your content marketing efforts. When developing your action plan, consider what types of content you plan to produce and the proposed frequency of creation. You’ll also want to consider the different channels you’ll use to distribute the content you’ve created.
Creating a detailed action plan not only organizes your company’s efforts but also makes it easy to adjust as you go. Even the best content marketing plans require maintenance and adjustments to optimize success. At Madison Taylor Marketing, we work directly with brands to help analyze data collected from content marketing efforts and make necessary adjustments. Continual improvement is always important.
Final Thoughts
Creating and implementing a successful content marketing strategy requires time and effort. While it can be tempting to dive right into developing content, considering your brand’s buyer persona and identity can be a helpful first step. Next, take the time to create clearly defined goals, a written business case, and an action plan for your content marketing strategy.
Need help developing or implementing your brand’s content marketing plan? Working with an experienced marketing agency like Madison Taylor Marketing can help set you up for success. Contact us today to schedule a conversation to discuss your brand’s content marketing goals.
