What’s A Content Marketing Strategy And How Can You Perfect Yours?

Engagement is the holy grail of marketing – it’s what transforms your business from a brand into a community. And the secret to achieving consistent engagement and long-term client retention? Content marketing.

In the digital age of content creation and oversaturation, the marketing world moves fast. With more competition than ever before, a solid content marketing strategy is like gold dust. But what exactly is content marketing, and why does it matter for your business? Let’s find out.

What exactly is content marketing?

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as: “A marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” In layman’s terms? It’s the art of getting people to engage with your brand.

Despite involving a focussed strategy with a range of different steps, one of the key cornerstones of content marketing is that your content has to engage your audience in a way that feels authentic to them. Unlike traditional marketing that creates catchy ads to stick in people’s minds, your goal is to get people to relate to your brand. You’re not just trying to make a sale, you’re trying to build a connection.

What’s the value of content marketing?

At heart, marketing should always be driven by the people buying your product (or services) rather than the product itself – and this is where content marketing comes in. Whether your operation is B2B or B2C, by considering the needs of your target audience from the very beginning, you’ve got a head-start on engagement. 

The very nature of engagement is that it’s a two-way street. When you make the effort to create content that speaks to your audience, you can then use tools to measure the level of interaction (or conversation, if you will). This gives you a chance to examine what’s working and what needs work. That’s another benefit of content marketing – instead of just throwing mud at the wall and seeing what sticks, you gain the space to learn about your target audience. In essence, where traditional marketing is talking at your clients, content marketing is talking with them.

Effective content marketing in action

• We created a client newsletter that received over 1,300 subscribers in the first 24 hours of publishing – a staggering 15% conversion rate from their 8,600 following. 

• Using website copy, blogs and case studies, a spotlight LinkedIn page, and personal profile content, we helped a client tap into a different market – so far, this has resulted in page-one Google search results, and two new business wins. 

• We developed a fresh tone of voice for a client – delivering engaging copy that achieved more than 40k impressions in the first week of social media management.

How can you get started?

Now that you’re up to speed on the power of content marketing, you’re probably thinking ‘where do I start?’. Fortunately for you, we’ve outlined some steps you can take to craft the perfect strategy:

1. Who’s your audience?
   It can be tempting to begin by outlining your core objectives, but by pinpointing your target audience right off the bat, your strategy goals will soon follow. A straightforward way of doing this is to create marketing personas that encompass your audience – what are their circumstances? Interests? Hopes and dreams? 
2. What are their pain points?
   On to those goals! Remember, you’re not offering a product or service – you’re offering a solution. With this in mind, your aim should be to help your target audience recognise a problem or opportunity, and demonstrate how you can help them overcome or achieve it. 
3. Where will you find them?
   Accessing your target audience isn’t just about how to reach them, but where to reach them. If your prospects are in the 40-60 age bracket, you’re best off opting for out-of-home advertising – like billboards or posters. In terms of social media, you tend to find older generations on Facebook – while millennials and Gen Z are more likely to use Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. 
4. What’s your brand DNA?
   However you choose to engage with your audience, it needs to be in a way that’s true to your brand identity, so decide on the message you want to convey and how you intend to communicate it. It helps to consider your USP – what sets you apart from the competition? How can you do what other brands are doing – but better? 
5. And… action!
   With the pillars of your content marketing strategy in place, it’s time to put them into action. Determine what formats your content will take – blogs, emails, E-books, social media posts, videos, thought leadership articles or case studies – then settle on who’s creating what, and when it’s going live. This allows you to plan out a solid timeline to keep things running smoothly throughout.

Master your content marketing strategy with Making You Content

At Making You Content, we’re experts at delivering content that converts. From helping you come up with topical blog ideas and crafting posts that position your business as a thought leader, right through to devising your content plan – and even publishing posts if you need it – we cover all bases.

Speak to us about reinvigorating your content marketing strategy today.