It’s no secret that content marketing is changing the game for businesses of all sizes. Content is king, and no matter your business, brand or product – crafting a successful content marketing strategy can make or break the effectiveness of your campaigns. As a result, content marketing is an important component of any marketing plan.
Below we divulge top insider tips to get you started with content marketing so that in no time, you'll be well on your way to boosting audience reach and engagement. Come along for the ride as we take a closer look at how to achieve content creation success!
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing focuses on creating, publishing and distributing content to attract and retain customers. This particular form of marketing leverages various content forms, such as blogs, articles, online videos and images, to encourage audiences to engage with products and services.
Why Content Marketing?
Content marketing is an invaluable tool to connect your business with your target customers if used properly –which is why it deserves to be at the top of any viable business marketing strategy.
Here are just a few benefits of marketing your content:
● Connect with potential customers: By creating valuable, high-quality content in the form of blogs, infographics, videos, podcasts and other formats, you increase brand visibility and gain new customers.
● Become an industry thought leader: Content marketing can position you as an industry leader through thought-provoking pieces that attract attention from consumers and media outlets.
● Improve ROI – and earn loyalty: When done correctly and consistently, content marketing can pay dividends in terms of customer satisfaction, leads and sales.
15 Steps to Get Started With Content Marketing
Marketing is about more than making sales; it's about engaging with your community, building relationships and earning trust. However, it can be frustrating to know where to begin.
If you’re still trying to figure out how to get started with content marketing, don’t worry! Here are 15 essential steps you should take to get your content marketing campaign up and running quickly.
1. Know Your Target Audience
You must know who your target audience is before you start creating content. By understanding your target audience well, you can create content that speaks directly to them and resonates with their wants and needs.
Here are a few tips to help you start investigating your target audience:
● Conduct surveys. Conduct surveys to gather data on your audience, such as demographic information and interests.
● Leverage sales and product insight. Sales and product teams can provide valuable insights and data on customers and prospects based on their relationships.
● Check social media. Monitor social media channels and content-sharing platforms like Instagram, Reddit and YouTube to get an idea of what content resonates with your audience.
● Read industry publications. Industry publications can help you use relevant language to craft copy for your audience.
In the end, it’s all about creating tailored content for the people who will be seeing it – and knowing more about them is key to this effort!
2. Develop a Content Strategy
Before you begin creating content, it’s crucial to establish a clear game plan. Developing a content strategy is the cornerstone of any successful content marketing campaign.
This content planning stage should include the following:
● Setting goals and objectives
● Analyzing competitors
● Deciding content topics and formats
● Identifying content promotion channels
● Crafting a budget and timeline
3. Research Content Ideas
Once you have your strategy in place, it’s time to start researching topics. So how do you dive into the best topics?
Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that youalways have timely, relevant content:
● Research the competition: Look around at how other successful brands in the industry are marketing their products or, explore popular blog posts and social media conversations to gain inspiration.
● Analyze the data: Consider what topics resonate with your target audiences and which formats are the most effective for delivering that message to them.
● Brainstorm ideas: Brainstorm ideas with your team or colleagues – list all potential topics, no matter how crazy. Consider involving other departments such as sales, business development and product. They will be able to provide alternative insights and perspectives into your target audience.
No matter what format you choose, the key to success is ensuring your content is interesting and engaging for your audience. nclude images, videos and other visuals in your content to capture their attention.
4. Determine What Kind of Content To Create
Developing quality content for your audience is critical to demonstrating your expertise, building relationships and expanding recognition for your brand. But how do you know what type of content to create?
Below are a few content marketing best practices:
● Use evergreen content: Create evergreen content that you can repurpose across blogs, email newsletters and press releases. Some examples include witty blog posts thatdemonstrate your industry knowledge while sparking conversation among readers and educational books that provide readers with a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
● Create thought leadership: Use thought leadership content to display an element of authority in a particular field. Incorporate videos as an easy-to-consume format.
● Highlight industry news: Opt for news pieces to help your audience stay on top of rapidly changing industry news while showing that you areahead of the gamet. Journalism is a great tool for content marketers since news articles provide objective information that customers find valuable. Additionally, your team can consider curating news articles from leading global publications. This can help clients stay up to date on important industry information, while allowing your content team to prioritize other initiatives.
● Remain copyright compliant: Leverage copyright-licensed content to avoid violating laws or facing legal repercussions.
● Don’t forget about customers: It’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. As a result, be sure to include content geared toward customer engagement in your content calendar.
To keep your content creation engine running smoothly, make sure that regular content creation tailored to your needs is part of your strategy.
5. Establish Goals and Set KPIs
Content marketing is a powerful tool for your business because it helps capture potential customers' attention and keep them engaged. But how do you know it’s really working?
The first step to building your content marketing strategy is to identify what you want to achieve and set measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). This means laying out all your objectives in document form, from describing the role of content marketing in your business to choosing trackable metrics such as website views, customer feedback, etc.
KPIs should be specific, time-bound and measurable– they should include:
● The total traffic generated from content
● The number of leads generated from content
● The percentage of website visitors that convert
● The open rates of emails sent
● The number of new customers acquired
● The total revenue generated as a result of content marketing
Clear goals and KPIs will create direction for your strategy, allowing you to measure success and determine how well individual content performs.
6. Create Customer Personas
Customer personas are a great way to ensure you create strong content that stands out. To do this, you must have a solid understanding of your core audience – identifying any nuances and specific needs that can help you craft a more personalized content experience.
To create effective customer personas, you must start by examining any existing analytics or customer feedback that you have on hand. If your data is limited, it’s time to get creative and start collecting primary research from surveys or focus groups. Use the research to identify any patterns or trends in customer behaviors.
Once you’ve identified your key audience segments, create a detailed ‘persona’ for each one. This can include information such as demographic data, their interests and preferences, the challenges they face or what motivates them. Use this insight to craft specific messaging that will resonate with this part of your target audience.
By understanding the needs and motivations of your customers, you can create more effective content that speaks directly to their interests and resonates on an emotional level. With this insight, you can craft a compelling narrative that will engage more customers, increase conversions and ultimately drive more revenue for your business.
7. Research Your Competitors
Creating a successful marketing strategy starts with researching your competitors. And let's be honest, stalking them online isn't a bad idea either – it can help you stay one step ahead of the game!
Here are a few tips to get you started:
● Review their brand story: Pay attention to how competitors tell their brand story and what approaches they use to create content.
● Review where content is being promoted: Track where competitors are distributing their content across social media so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
● Identify if additional languages are required: While people in many parts of the world speak English, your global content strategy will be more effective if your team can offer additional languages. Consider if you need a multilingual content marketing strategy.
● Monitor content production: Dive into the nitty gritty details as you research – monitor press releases and industry events for further insight.
Competitor research is your biggest asset in crafting your own content marketing strategy, – so leverage it to its full potential.
8. Use an Editorial Calendar
To ensure you’re handling your content creation efficiently, you should include an editorial calendar as part of your workflow. Here are four reasons an editorial content marketing calendar is critical for any content creator.
● Keep your team organized: A clear overview of when different projects will be completed helps maintain organization and improve efficiency. Not only will a calendar help you remember when and where content needs to be published, but it also helps keep your team on the same page. With so many tools such as digital content management calendars at your disposal, keeping track of each piece of content won’t be difficult at!
● Categorize upcoming posts: Using an editorial calendar can also free up mental energy that is better used for tapping into creativity. As with any tool, the key to gaining maximum benefit from it is understanding how to use it properly. It's helpful to categorize upcoming projects by type and/or audience and to decide on target publishing dates for each project.
● Brainstorm new ideas: Blocking off time on your calendar to continually brainstorm ideas ensures you always have something fun in the pipeline!
● Adjust the calendar as needed: Lastly, a calendar gives you a chance to review and adjust the schedule regularly to stay on top of changes. News, events and more can be penciled in as content items as needed, which makes your calendar (and creation cycle) more current and dynamic.
Taking the time to set up an editorial calendar will help ensure that content creation is a smooth and enjoyable process. With proper use, an editorial calendar can help you produce amazing content with less stress.
9. Track Content Performance
Ready to take your content performance to new heights? It's time to get tracking!
Here are a few tips to get you started:
● Be prepared to experiment: Different platforms require different strategies. Get creative and explore various ways to post on Instagram, Facebook and beyond.
● Listen to audience feedback: Not every post will land, but make sure you're learning what works and resonates with followers.
● Finally (and perhaps most importantly), ensure you have a method for measuring your performance. Checking analytics is essential for gauging success and proving your strategy is working.
Remember that tracking is just the tip of the iceberg when producing content and building a presence for your brand. But if you keep these basics in mind, you'll have a strong base to build upon - so get creating!
10. Be Aware of Copyright Laws
When creating and repurposing content, it’s also key to understand relevant copyright law. Whether curating content, highlighting industry news or showcasing pieces published by your team, it’s important to understand the rights associated with each piece.
Generally speaking, it’s fine to share a link to an asset as long as the asset isn’t gated. However, sharing a piece of content, even if it’s available for free online, is typically against copyright law. When in doubt it’s best to consult an attorney or to secure a copyright license.
11. Choose the Right Platforms
There are a variety of different platforms that you can use to distribute your content. Some examples are social media, blogs and email newsletters. How do you know which platforms are right for you?
Here are a few tips to help you decide:
● Consider the type of content you’re creating: Some platforms are better suited for certain types of content. For example: Newsletters will be best suited to mid-funnel leads, lower funnel leads, or customers.
● Create strategies for each platform: Your blog content strategy will likely need content for the entire funnel, while industry publications may cater toward higher funnel or mid-funnel leads.
● Research your promotion plan: Research the platforms that have the most engagement from your target audience. Then, identify which platforms will be most cost-effective for your business.
By taking the time to do research and choose the right platforms, you’ll be able to make sure your content gets to the right people and maximize your reach.
12. Create Compelling Content
Now it’s time to start creating compelling content! This is where many businesses struggle, but it’s important to remember that quality is more important than quantity. Focus on creating helpful, informative and entertaining content that will resonate with your target audience.
How do you create compelling content? Here are a few suggestions:
● Incorporate visuals to make your content more engaging.
● Get creative with storytelling. Use metaphors, analogies and other entertaining writing techniques.
● Use data to back up your claims, adding credibility to your content.
By creating compelling content, you’ll be able to increase engagement and build a loyal following.
While it’s important to create compelling content, it’s also important to ensure your content is delivered at regular intervals, so you can cultivate a relationship with customers. Content licensing is one tool that can help your team supplement your current content calendar with high-quality pieces.
13. Review and Edit
Once you are ready to publish your content, it’s important to review and edit it.
What are the best ways to review and edit your work?
● Re-read your content and check for any typos or grammar mistakes.
● Think like a reader and ask yourself if the content is engaging and understandable.
● Ask for feedback from colleagues and experts who can give an honest opinion on your work.
After your content is published, review it regularly. Review the analytics from your promotion efforts to monitor how well the content is performing and make changes as needed. Regularly reviewing and editing your content will help ensure that you are putting out quality work – which will result in more engagement from your audience!
14. Outsource your content
Content is a great way to reach your target audience and engage them with interesting and relevant content. But managing all those tasks can be overwhelming. That’s why more companies are turning to outsourced content.
Third-party content can free up time in-house that would otherwise be spent on content creation and promotion. You can also access specialized skills and resources that may not be available within the company.
When outsourcing content, it’s important to ensure that you work with an experienced professional. Look for a provider who understands your brand and target audience, as well as someone who has experience in creating compelling content. The right partner can help you create effective, high-quality content that resonates with your audience and drives results.
Ultimately, content marketing outsourcing can help you reach your goals faster and more efficiently by freeing up resources for other projects and allowing you to focus on what’s most important to your business. With the right partner, you can have confidence that your content is in good hands.
15. Promote Your Content
Once you have created great content, it’s time to start promoting it! You can make your content available via social media, email marketing and paid advertising. Experiment with varying promotion methods and see what works best for your business.
Below are our top tips to promote your content:
● Identify influencers in your industry and collaborate with them to reach a larger audience.
● Run contests or giveaways to draw attention to your content.
● Use email marketing campaigns to send out your content to subscribers.
● Take advantage of paid advertising platforms like Facebook Ads or Google Ads.
● Monitor social media conversations and jump in when appropriate.
By promoting your content, you’ll be able to reach a larger audience and increase engagement.
Are You Ready to Start Your Content Marketing Journey?
We've provided you with a roadmap of where to begin in your content creation journey. Whether you’re just starting or looking for ways to add more fresh content to your existing campaigns, we’ve created a general outline of techniques and tips for creating engaging content to make your brand stand out.
With the help of NYTLicensing, you can effortlessly incorporate reliable content into your mix, letting us do the hard work for you. To up the ante in your content marketing game, head to our contact page, and we’ll get you started with high-quality, ready-to-post content designed to attract your target audience!
