Are you stuck on content ideas for your company’s blog? Tired of haphazardly posting to your Instagram or Facebook page? You may even be fed up of making a content calendar that you are too busy to update.
If any of these challenges ring true to you then you are definitely in need of a content marketing strategy. Below are 5 reasons why you need one and how you can create one that will help you save time and become more cost effective in the long run.
1. It outlines your digital marketing goals
Your content marketing strategy should always be based on your business goals. Your first step should be to define your business objectives as this will establish what type of content you need to create to accomplish those objectives. An example of an objective could be to increase sales or brand awareness. This in turn outlines your digital marketing goals such as driving more website traffic, improving conversion rates or gaining more social media engagement. What content you need to create will be derived from these marketing goals to make your business objectives achievable.
2. It informs your content plan
Many small businesses assume that having ideas for blog and social posts is their overall content strategy. It’s fantastic that they have ideas; however, these ideas are the content editorial plan, not the strategy. Your content strategy informs your content plan/calendar so you know what types of content you need that will be most effective for your business and marketing goals. If you do not define what content you need to create, you will be posting content unselectively that may not be relevant to your audience, which means time, energy and ultimately money wasted.
3. It ensures you are creating the right content
A content strategy helps you define who your audience is and what their needs are through your customer personas. Through your strategy, you can determine pain points customers or potential customers may have that you can solve and establish why they need your business to help them. It will also help you determine how the content will be structured and where it will be posted that is most applicable for your audience.
4. It will help your content find the right audience
Creating content for an audience that isn’t your target market can take a toll on your resources and business goals. You could spend a long time perfecting a blog post but if the content is not relevant to your audience; you could be losing out on possible revenue. Your strategy will inform what content is useful for you to produce, especially your evergreen content which can help you find new leads and increase brand awareness through multiple channels.
5. It keeps you on track
Your content strategy should outline your key performance indicators and what metrics you will track to analyse the success of your content marketing efforts. This will help you focus on what content you should be creating for your audience. The strategy overall will also keep you on track in terms of achieving your business goals and making sure your resources are being used effectively.
In conclusion
A content marketing strategy is vital to ensure you are creating the right content for the right people at the right time to enable your business objectives and fulfil your customers’ needs. If you are ever in any doubt or do not have the time, then you can always consider outsourcing. It may be more cost-effective having a specialist conduct the strategy for you so you can focus on other aspects of the business. This will give you peace of mind knowing that your content strategy is being handled by a professional.
If you do not have the expenses to fork out for a content strategy specialist, then enlisting the help of a digital marketing student may be beneficial. You will get the strategic help that you need, and the student would be able to gain valuable experience by helping you achieve your business goals through digital marketing.