Creating content is challenging, but that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult. In fact, with the right strategy and process in place, it can be one of the easiest ways to grow your business. Content marketing is a broad term used to describe any type of marketing that involves creating and sharing written, visual or audio content with the goal of attracting and engaging potential customers. Content marketing isn’t something you just start doing one day; it requires planning, strategy and execution. To ensure your content marketing efforts are successful from the start, we’ve outlined eight simple steps you can take today to make your content better tomorrow. Read on to see how…
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Create a Content Marketing Strategy
Before you dive into creating any type of content, you’ll want to have a content marketing strategy in place. Your strategy will outline everything from your goals to your target audience and what type of content you’ll be creating. For example, let’s say your goal is to generate leads for your business. You’ll want to create content that speaks to your target audience and encourages them to take action. If your business is B2B, your content could include blog posts about the latest trends in your industry, guides teaching others how to use your products and e-books filled with industry statistics. If your business is B2C, your content may include how-to tutorials, special offers, product reviews and more.
Define your target audience
Before you create any content, you’ll want to know exactly who you’re creating it for. The first step in creating any type of content is to define your target audience, or the people you want to attract and engage. If you’re creating content for your website, you’ll want to target those who are searching for your specific products or services. If you’re creating content for social media, you’ll want to target your current followers. This can be tricky, but there are a few things you can do to help you get started. For example, you can review your customer service records to find out where your customers are located, use tools like Facebook Audience Insights and Google Trends to identify trending topics and more.
Find out what your audience cares about
Now that you know who you’re targeting, it’s time to determine what your audience cares about. This means you’ll want to dive a little deeper and find out what your audience’s pain points are, what challenges they’re facing and what their overall goals are. This will help you create content that offers real value to your readers and encourages them to take action (i.e. buy from you). For example, if you’re targeting entrepreneurs, you may want to create content that teaches readers how to grow their businesses and earn more money. If you’re targeting fitness buffs, you may want to create content that teaches readers how to eat healthier and stay fit despite a busy lifestyle.
Come up with a list of potential topics
Now that you know who you’re targeting and what they care about, it’s time to come up with a list of potential topics to write about. You don’t have to write about one single topic. In fact, you’re better off creating a variety of different types of content. This will help you to reach a larger audience and increase your website’s organic search engine optimization (SEO). This is when your website or blog is listed higher in search engine results, which means more people are likely to click on your site. To come up with a list of potential topics to write about, think about the pain points your audience is facing, the products and services you provide and any current trends in your industry.
Decide on the final topic(s) to write about
Now that you’ve come up with a list of potential topics, it’s time to decide on the final topic(s) to write about. You don’t have to write about everything on your list. In fact, it’s best if you don’t. By picking just one or two topics to write about, you’ll be able to create higher quality content that’s easier to write, research, publish and promote. Plus, you’ll be able to focus your energy on creating content that matters most to your audience and drives real results.
Write your content
Now that you know who you’re targeting, what they care about and what you want to write about, it’s time to actually start creating your content. The best way to do this is to pick one topic and start writing. Whether you’re creating a blog post, an e-book or a how-to tutorial, the key to creating great content is to start with the end in mind. What do you want your readers to take away from your content once they’ve finished reading it? What do you want them to do as a result of reading it? These are the questions you should be asking yourself when writing.
Create a promotion plan
Before you publish your content, you’ll want to create a promotion plan. Your promotion plan will outline when you’ll publish your content, where you’ll publish it and how you’ll promote it. For example, let’s say you’re creating a blog post about the latest trends in your industry. You may want to schedule this content to publish on a Wednesday between 8 and 10 a.m. This ensures that your post goes live when your audience is online and ready to consume your content. You can also choose to schedule the promotion of your post by sharing it across your social media channels at the same time.
Summing up
As you can see, creating better content is a process. It requires careful planning and execution from start to finish. To ensure your content marketing efforts are successful from the start, you’ll want to create a content marketing strategy, define your target audience, find out what your audience cares about, come up with a list of potential topics, decide on the final topic(s) to write about, write your content, create a promotion plan and finally, summing up to end on a high note.
