With the rising competition in the digital space, the crowned position of SEO-content has been reaffirmed. However, there still exist fundamental faults in creating, managing and optimising content. Only a streamlined content strategy can do justice to the content, as well as bring desired results. With over 16 years in B2B digital marketing, I have experienced that developing an expert content strategy should be the first step in marketing.
So how can a content strategy be formulated? What are the right steps? How to ensure that your content is not only creating awareness and generating leads,but is also increasing conversion? Here I have put together a consolidated list of five to-dos to strengthen your content strategy.
Understand the user purchase journey
A thorough understanding of your audience’s purchase journey is key to your success. If your content strategy begins with a focused research on your target audience, the probability of leading your audience to conversion increases multifold. We successfully implemented such a content strategy for one of our clients in the EdTech sector by tapping into the purchase journey of their users at all levels of the funnel. This content strategy not only reaped excellent results for our client, but benefitted the end-users equally.
Choose TG-specific themes
The target audience for B2B companies comprises a limited bunch, hence it’s important for them to know exactly what their clients are after. Digital marketing agencies can assist brands in choosing the right themes that their client’s are after and help them strategise their content accordingly. We helped one of our clients in the publishing sector focus on the content needs of their TG. Our content strategy was unique and reaped exponential growth for our client.
Understand your content channels and their formats
SEO-content is likely to be a huge resource in this front that can help you identify suitable publishing channels for your content. Knowledge of suitable formats will also go a long way. For example, videos may have better reach on certain channels, while articles or long form posts may do well on others. Being able to identify what to publish where and in what format can help with marketing your content organically without focusing too much on advertising.
Systemise the process
Content planning, production, optimisation, marketing and scaling are all important when it comes to developing a comprehensive and effective content strategy. However, since there are so many elements to manage, without systemic planning it’s not possible to deliver the right content. To simplify your tasks it's important that you plan your content calendar and systemise the process as much as possible. Make a content calendar and stick to it. The more the discipline, the better the results. Of course, keep it customisable.
Analyse the metrics
No content strategy is complete without analysing the metrics as they testify and quantify the value of your labour. An experienced digital marketing agency with expertise in strategising content can help you with this, too, while optimising the content to suit your targeted audience, thereby ensuring lead generation and conversion.