Get an understanding of how the business is performing online today to get a baseline.<\/p>\n You should always align your strategy with business goals. Ask:<\/p>\n Knowing what your competition is up to is very insightful. Ask:<\/p>\n Describe the typical customer.\u00a0If you have a different customer for each topic\/product\/service\/offering, segment them and describe them separately using the following questions:<\/p>\n Know the common questions, challenges, and processes the business faces every day, like:<\/p>\n The key to any great marketing strategy is to understand the brand so it can be communicated\u00a0in everything you do.<\/p>\n Get intimate with the website and you’ll have lots of takeaways for your content marketing strategy.<\/p>\n Another essential way to see how the content is performing on the site is the analytics.<\/p>\n It’s not enough to know how the business is performing on the website. You have to get the big picture of the brand’s visibility online.<\/p>\n Know the products and services you’re creating content for inside and out. Ask:<\/p>\n Understand what’s doable before you create a strategy that is too ambitious or not ambitious enough. Find out:<\/p>\n Setting expectations about what the content can and can’t do upfront is just as important as the project itself. So ask some questions like:<\/p>\n Well I hope you enjoyed this guide … I know it’ll help you formulate that next great content marketing strategy<\/a>! I welcome thoughts\/questions\/comments below!<\/p>\n Ready to work on your content marketing strategy and hit every piece? Talk to us<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Content marketing strategies that work are vital. Generating the correct material at the appropriate time and place is more essential than simply producing it; I specialize in this field and am here to guide your creation of a strategy that drives results.<\/p>\n The foundation of a successful content marketing strategy is a deep understanding of your target audience. Take the time to create detailed buyer personas. Understanding their demographics, interests, and pain points will allow you to tailor content that resonates with them.<\/p>\n Before you start creating content, define clear and measurable goals. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or boosting sales, your goals will shape your strategy.<\/p>\n Keyword research is essential for optimizing your content for search engines. Integrate keywords your audience searches for into your content organically – no one likes keyword stuffing anymore!<\/p>\n Content that stands the test of quality reigns supreme. Your blog posts, videos, infographics or podcasts should engage and inform audiences; prioritize quality over quantity when creating this material.<\/p>\n Consistency is key to maintaining audience engagement. Create a content calendar to plan and schedule your content. This ensures that you maintain a steady flow of fresh, relevant material.<\/p>\n Production is only half the story; successful distribution requires careful consideration, too. Use multiple platforms for distribution, including social media marketing, email marketing, and guest posting, to share your content and reach a wider audience.<\/p>\n Regularly analyze the performance of your content. Utilize tools like Google Analytics and social media insights to track engagement, traffic, and conversions. Use this data to refine your strategy.<\/p>\n Establish yourself as an authority in your niche. This can be achieved through consistent, informative content, backlinks from reputable sources, and guest posting on industry-related websites.<\/p>\n Engage with your target audience via social media, comments, and messages. Engage in meaningful discussions, answer any queries that arise, and create a sense of community around your content production.<\/p>\n Keep up with the constantly evolving digital landscape by staying abreast of industry-specific trends and adapting your strategy accordingly.<\/p>\n Partnering with influential people in your industry can boost credibility and reach. Seek out influencers that share similar interests as your brand and work together towards reaching success.<\/p>\n Encourage your audience to create content related to your brand. Share user-generated content to build trust and authenticity.<\/p>\n Consider paid advertising to boost your content’s visibility, especially when you’re just starting.<\/p>\n Don’t let your great content go to waste. Repurpose it into different formats to reach a wider audience.<\/p>\n Leverage email marketing to nurture leads and keep your audience engaged with your content.<\/p>\n Do not be afraid to experiment. Explore different content formats, posting schedules, and distribution channels before making decisions based solely on them.<\/p>\n Always keep an eye on the return on investment. Adjust your strategy based on what delivers the best results.<\/p>\n If you have a team, ensure everyone is aligned with your content marketing strategy and goals.<\/p>\n Stay informed about content-related legal regulations and ensure your content complies with them.<\/p>\n Regularly revisit your content marketing strategy. Your strategy should change as both your business and audience change over time.<\/p>\n Content marketing is an evolving practice that demands agility and an in-depth knowledge of your target audience.<\/p>\n This article was updated on November 16, 2023.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Content, marketing, SEO — it’s all the same to me. And that’s exactly how you should approach your content marketing strategy. Every good project start has a great exploration phase before the strategy can be put together. The questions you ask upfront, the research you put in, the benchmarks you set and the expectations you define are all part of a great content marketing plan. So today, I’m going to share with you a guide for the content marketing plan outline — a great start to creating a thorough content marketing strategy.<\/p>\n This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but a fantastic start to touching every part of a business so you have the data you need. What comes next is creativity and flexibility — how you will use this data to create a great strategy for the business, and how that will change over time based on performance, new data or new initiatives.<\/p>\n Whether you’re in-house, at an agency or a consultant, and whether you’re brainstorming with your team or discussing these questions with the expert, the research process is key. Use this content marketing questionnaire as a template you can grow and change as time goes on to make it more robust.<\/p>\n![\"business-idea_600x399\"](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/business-idea_600x399.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Content Marketing Strategy Start-Up Guide<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Benchmark Where the Business Is Today<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Get to Know the Business and Its Goals<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Understand the Competitors<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Find Out More About the Audience<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Explore Sales and Customer Service\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Dig into Branding and Positioning<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Dive into the Website with an Audit<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Look at Analytics<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Discover Other Online Channels<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Get to the Bottom of Services and Products\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Define the Capacity for Content Creation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Set Expectations<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>FAQ: How Can I Create an Effective Content Marketing Strategy?<\/h3>\n
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