Regarding recent surveys, 86% of B2B marketers use a content marketing strategy. It’s one of the best methods to build a community. Why? Because you’re offering added value to your readers by creating content. Content generates trust among your reader and this can be translated into loyalty. A good content marketing strategy can make you be considered as an expert in your field of expertise, and your clients and potential clients will notice it.

However, content marketing strategies requires time and a lot effort, or money instead. Most companies that use a content marketing strategy spend 25% of their budget on it, but the benefits that they get from it are much higher than the money invested. That is why we have to do it right, otherwise we would be wasting our time and money.

We also have to bear in mind that as we create our own strategy, there are already loads of them out there. Whatever you are thinking right now, it’s already been invented by someone else. That is why we have to stand out. You audience must notice why your content is different from the rest out there. You have to talk to them. You must be present in your content; the soul of your business must be reflected. Being yourself and conveying your thoughts and feeling will make you stand out.

Now let’s see how to create the perfect content marketing strategy. (Keep reading, I also have something for you!)

Objectives

This could be very logical, but it’s not. Actually, it was one of the mistakes I made when I first started writing content. We have to be aware of the fact that we can’t measure everything, unless we have a whole department measuring every single aspect of the analytics of our content.

We need to choose and prioritise. Why do you want to create the perfect content marketing strategy? What do you really want to achieve? Perhaps you want to increase your revenue, the number of sales, the number of visitors of your website, the number of subscribers to your newsletter, the engagement across your social media channels, promote your SEO… You can analyse almost everything, but you have to choose. Probably they all will increase as we develop our strategy, but we need to be focused on one.

Find your soul and give it a voice

As I mentioned before, we need to find THE voice. Your readers must know that it’s you, the person behind your content, not a mere robot that writes content to make money. It won’t work. Explore yourself, think about what you’ve got that can make a difference. Ask yourself: what do I have that the rest don’t? How can I exploit it?

Marketers also talk about the Hedgehog Concept.

They say that the key is where money, your field of expertise and your passion meet. And if you think about it, it makes sense: we can create content if we are experts in a certain field; besides, if we like this field, we can talk about it from a more approachable point of view and provide our own experiences and feelings, and we also need money to make a living out of it.

Measure, compare and measure again

I already explained in this post that data must be put into context. We need to measure the progress of our strategy. And once again, there are loads of aspects that can be measured, so it will depend on the objectives that we have chosen during the first step.

We can’t measure everything, so focus on the data that will tell you if you have achieved your objectives or not. For example, if you want to increase the number of visitor that your website receives, then you will have to analyse the number of sessions/users/visits every day/week/month, if you want to increase your revenue, you will have to measure how your products or services are sold, etc.

Compare the data that you get over the time on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis to see what worked and what didn’t. We can improve what didn’t work to keep progressing with our strategy.

Know your audience and their needs

I already talked about the importance of knowing your audience and their need in this post, so I will keep it simple.

Try to define your Ideal Customer Avatar and analyse their need and what you can do to solve their problems. You can have a look at your analytics, comments on your blog, internal searches or forums to get to know the needs of your audience.

Content execution

First of all you have to bear in mind what type of content you are going to create and how you are going to promote it. You can read this post about different types that can be used within your content marketing strategy.

Once you know what type of content you’re going to create, you need to organise this content on a weekly/monthly basis. Consistency is crucial in content marketing, that is why we need to be very organised with our content. If we post too much during a specific week and then nothing during the following one, our reader will be confused and won’t know what to expect from us.

These are some of the aspects to bear in mind:

• Consistency: how much content are you going to create a week/month? You need to find a balance depending on your time or on the money you want to invest, but consistency is crucial if you want to succeed. Highlight the dates when you want to publish your content and stick to them.
• Channel: where are you going to get your content published? Maybe you have decided to create a blog and post content there, or maybe you want to market it across your social media channels, or get it printed in monthly catalogues. It’s completely up to you. However, bear that in mind and jot down the strategy you are going to follow. If you aren’t consistent, you audience may not know where to find your content.
• Authors: if you are hiring some people to create the content of your business, you need to plan it right. You need to pay attention to the topics that each of them are tackling and make sure that they respect the deadlines. If you are using guest blogging in your strategy, be sure that you know all the requirements.
• ICA & their need: as I explained before, be sure that you cover your targeted audience with your content.
• Objective: what do you want to achieve with each piece of content? Make sure that your objectives are clear from the very beginning. Because…
• Measurement: because you need to know what you have to measure in order to know if you have accomplished or not your previous objectives.

This is the worksheet that I use. I’m not saying that you have to use the same one, but this is the one that works for me.

As you can see, I plan my monthly objectives beforehand as well as a first draft of the content that I plan for that specific month. Then, I focus on my performance each week and asses the analytics to know if I have accomplished my objectives by the end of the month.

And this is my gift for you! I’m sharing the whole worksheet through my newsletter this month. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do it here! You will get an email from me by the end of the month through which you will be able to download it, get it printed and start organising your content strategy!

Content promotion

Creating content is only half of the battle! Now you need to spread the word. And, of course, we need to plan this ahead as well. Bear in mind that this will depend on the type of content that you are creating. For example, if you have created a vertical infographic, you may consider sharing it through Pinterest as it supports vertical. If you are good at taking picture, you may consider instagram, if you prefer microblogging platforms, twitter could be the best option and so on.

Also plan how many times you are going to share your content and how you are doing it to stand out in the crowd. And, obviously, analyse all your progress and the engagement across your social media channels!

 

What about you? Have you already plan your content marketing strategy?

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