Adopting a Solid Content Strategy
So, rather than studying the economics of content marketing and content strategy, let’s get to the basis of it. Let us understand and observe what kind of content do we like to read as an audience? Do we like to read monotonous and boring content which is everywhere on the internet? Do we like to read the same things again and again? Do we like to read a lot of technical content with difficult words that we do not even understand and have to check Google for meaning time and again? If your answer is “No” to the above questions, there is a possibility that your audience would also not like to read such content if you publish it. As simple as that! Provide your audience with content that they would like to read and also that you would be interested in, at the same time.
A good content strategy is not rocket science! It is just an understanding of what people like to read, making dynamic, fresh, and innovative content, and reaching it out to the targeted audience. When your powerful content reaches the audience who are interested to read that type of matter, they are immediately interested in your webpage, brand, and business as a whole.
RK Media provides you a step by step guide on how you can create a good content strategy, given as follows:
- Defining your objective:
Firstly, before undertaking any strategy, the prime step is always to define your goal. You should be clear and have a precise vision of what exactly you want out of your business and your marketing strategy. A person or business that is not clear with its objectives will go stranded and haywire while making any business decisions. But, if you are lucid on what your aims are, you will not shake for a second and take appropriate choices.
So, why are you developing a content marketing plan? Why do you want to curate content and what is your purpose in making this content strategy? Whatever be your reasons, you need to be clear before you begin to plan and it will be crystal clear for you to develop a suitable strategy. There are various appropriate content goals available online that you can go through to make sure that you are on the right track. The content strategy must comprise of the following, at the least:
When you create the perfect type of content that your audience likes to see, delivers the objectives of your business, speaks up for your brand, covers relevant topics, articulates the present problems of the society, and uses a tone of voice that the people are interested in, the possibility of your content going viral and attracting traffic becomes high.
2. Conducting Persona Research:
This is simple — Know what your audience wants! For example, if Suresh has a computer business and is looking out for the perfect state in India where people are literate and would want to use computers. He could opt for Kerala which has the highest literacy rate and start off his business from there. However, there is a glitch here; since people in Kerala are already literates they might have computers since before. While some developing state in the country, where people have just started giving importance to education, there people would want computers and the demand would be higher. So, all the factors and counter-factors need to be taken into consideration while understanding your audiences and their demands. A lot of brainstorming is required for understanding what the people want currently. Also, the demand changes from time to time depending on the changes in the external factors. This variability also has to be kept in check.
Before you curate content, you must define and know your target audience well. Who is going to read that content? What is your buyer persona? What are the topics your audience is interested in? If you are new to marketing or just starting out, this is a very crucial aspect.
Therefore, you must know your audience well. You cannot sell anything to anybody. Also, any content cannot be given to read to any particular audience. It should be germane in nature. When you are well-aware of your target audience, you are able to produce more valuable and relevant content that they are willing to read and convert on. Moreover, if you are an experienced marketer, your target might have changed over the time. An audience that is already converted and loyal could be given a backseat and new people could be your target. In such cases, you could ask yourself questions like, do you want to expand your market? Or do you want to target a new group of people? If that is not the case, you could just stick to your regular target audience. Whatever your objective is, one thing must be constant that you should revisit your audience parameters every year by conducting thorough marketing research. This is important to undertake for growing your audience.
3. Running a Content audit:
See, usually people start out content marketing with blog posts. The audience is also most interested to read good, relevant, and fresh topics in blog posts. However, if you want to break the stereotype and try to produce other content pieces, then you can consider the ones that you are interested in making. But make sure, to know what your audience likes. Just because you like a particular type of content does not mean that other people would like it too.
Remember, you are not creating content for yourself. It should serve the people as well as be beneficial to your brand.
If you want to act out of the box, one thing that could be done is creating an e-book. If you have done enough weekly blog posts for the previous year, you could make one ultimate guide offering the given information in a distinct format. There are other ways too in which you can put forth your content. Well, whatever type of content you are giving your audience, the vital point to consider here are the results you are getting back.
