Content is King – the one phrase you know is 100% true when it comes to Digital Marketing for your brand. An average internet user is nothing but an aggressive consumer of online content – be it text, images or videos. Hence, content marketing would be an ideal way to open the doors of interaction with your potential customers.
At All Stars Digital, we have been firm believers that content can not only influence existing customers but generate a whole new pool of potential customers if you communicate in the right way. We decided to give you a brief idea of how a Content Marketing Strategy can be created so that you can leverage its unlimited benefits in 2019:
1. What is Your Goal?
The first and foremost step is to ask yourself the question: Why am I creating this Content Marketing Plan? What do I wish to achieve with this?
The goal of a Content Marketing Strategy can be single or multifold and include:
- Creating awareness about your company
- Bringing in revenue for the company
- Building a Customer Community
- Re-Branding
- Or any other goals that align with your company’s long term and short term vision
2. Who Is Your Target Audience?
Now that you know why you are creating a Content Marketing Plan, you also need to be very clear about who it is that is going to be consuming your content? What kind of audience do you have to create your content for?
In order to prepare for this, it would be ideal to prepare buyer personas – different avatars that outline the different kinds of individuals who you want to target. This includes detailing age, gender, locations, profession etc. In order to get more information about your target audience you can also use social media tools such as Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics
3. What Kind of Content Should You Create for That Audience? And Where to Publish It?
Once you have identified your target audience and clearly defined it, the next step is to list the different kinds of content that you want to create for them.
There are innumerable content formats you can create in today’s digital age, a few of which include:
- Blogs
- Videos
- GIFs
- Graphics
- Infographics
- Tutorials
- Presentations
- Interviews
- Case Studies
- E-Books
These are only a few of the wide variety of content you can actually create. Brands today are getting super creative with the latest technologies such as AR and VR.
While shortlisting the formats, you must also find answers to questions such as:
- What kind of content is trending in the current year?
- What kind of content is particularly working for my target audience?
- How much time and effort will go into the content that I want to create and what is the ROI against the same?
Deciding on what content you want to publish is one of the most crucial steps in your strategy. You don’t want to be wrong about this, because the content you create is a reflection of your brand and will be your identity amongst your consumers.
In addition, you also need to determine what channels you will use to publish that content? Social Media? Your Website? Celebrities and Influencers?
Create a list of your shortlisted formats and map them to the channels you want to use to publish them.
4. What Will Your KPIs be?
Given that you will produce X, Y or Z content, you also need to know how to determine whether that piece was a hit or a flop.
In fact, you will need to measure the overall success or failure of your strategy and for that reason, you will need to have some Key Performance Indicators in place.
Your strategy will be a success if it manages to achieve the goal you set for your brand as part of step 1. Hence, your KPIs can be one or more of the following:
- Getting Subscribers, Sign Ups, Registrations, Downloads
- Increasing Sales / Revenue
- Getting Engagement
- Generating Leads
- Getting Traffic
5. Set a Budget and Allocate Resources
Now that you know what you want to produce, for whom you want to produce and where you want to publish it, you will have a fair idea of what the cost of implementing this strategy will be. You need to fine tune this with your internal budget and come to a number that you would be investing as part of this entire Content Marketing Plan.
6. Create a Calendar and Start Producing Content
Creating a calendar for all your content is a fine way to keep your content strategy streamlined. What content needs to be produced when, at what frequency and covering what topic – if all these questions are answered beforehand, then the production process will go smoothly and without any delay. In addition, you also need to ensure that you have delegated the right tasks to the right people. If your strategy involves creating videos or e-books or case studies, it is important that you employ people who have experience in generating that kind of content.
Also, if your plan includes generating massive engagement, you might want to think of getting a growth hacker or social media specialist on board to make the best out of the content you create.
7. Audit, Measure, and Fine Tune
Not everything always goes according to plan. Hence, it is imperative to ensure that you do a regular check on how your content campaigns are performing.
Is your plan on track? Are your KPI targets being hit? Is it in-turn generating the kind of conversions you are expecting? Keep auditing the content you create, there is always room for improvement. And take your customer feedback into real consideration. No-one will tell you the truth as honestly as your customer will.
A well-made, as well as a well-executed, Content Marketing Strategy can do wonders for your brand. At All Stars Digital, our experts also stay up-to-date with the latest content marketing trends, check what’s trending, what’s new and how can we leverage the same to capture our client’s target audience and help you with your Content Marketing Strategy.
So let’s repeat our motto for 2019 – Content is King!
