Research shows that over 90 percent of businesses use content marketing as part of their overall digital marketing strategy, and it works. Content marketing is great for generating web traffic and adding leads to sales funnels. It is a powerful strategy for attracting targeted audiences and prompting web visitors to be paying customers.
How can you identify a good content marketing strategy? The following key components are what sets the difference for an effective content marketing strategy:
Identified Target Audience
Brand storytelling can not be effective if you do not know who you are telling your story to. This is why defining your target audience is the first step toward creating any marketing strategy that works. To do this, you will need to identify the personas of your typical prospective customer. If you already have customers, you can take a survey to kickstart this. This would mean identifying your audience demographics, what matters to them, and the best manner of reaching these demographics. A trick to fine-tune this is by identifying the people you are not interested in targeting. This information creates the boundary for every marketing concerned action you will take.
Appropriate Content Types
Now that you have identified your target audience, it is time to consider what content they will find helpful. If your target audience is made of professionals, marketing materials such as white papers, case studies, and such will be more in alignment. Servicing a younger audience would require less formal and more entertaining content. It is essential to identify how the content you publish benefits your audience. What unique value does it provide? What makes your content different and the top choice for your target audience? Answering these questions helps define your strategy.
Communication Styles and Channels
Choosing the right tone and means of distribution for communicating with your audience is as vital as the content choice. It makes all the difference, as you could be publishing the right things but failing at getting them through to your target audience. An excellent example of this is how older people are more inclined toward using an app like Facebook as opposed to TikTok. A winning content marketing strategy focuses on meeting the target audience at their default resting point. Your target audience also determines your choice of tonality with content. A youthful, fashion-forward audience will accept quirky and funny posts, but this may be distasteful for a conservative, older audience.
Defined Marketing Goals and Metrics
The best way to ensure that your content marketing delivers its value is by defining what goals you seek. You can start by identifying your general business goals and how the elements of your content marketing strategy bring you closer to them. A clearly defined marketing goal also helps you utilize your time and resources efficiently. Defining your metrics helps in assessing how effective your strategies are. This would inform you of what works and what to improve on. Keep an eye on your web traffic, what pages and post types attract the most clicks, and your social media impressions. It may take time to see the conversions you desire, but these metrics will help keep you on the right track towards achieving your marketing goals.
A good content marketing strategy is key to overall marketing as it helps improve customer engagement, brand positioning, and conversion rates. If you would like help setting up a high-level content marketing strategy, reach out to Windy City Strategies. We offer marketing to solutions businesses like yours and can help get you ahead of the competition.