Ask any marketer about their biggest challenges, and most will say attracting customers, building brand awareness, and driving sales. It’s a tough digital landscape out there, and standing out can sometimes feel impossible. This is where a strategic content marketing strategy makes all the difference. But what exactly is that? And what makes one approach better than another? Is social media, search engine blog post, or email marketing better?
Think of your content marketing strategy like a roadmap. It outlines what you want to achieve with your content marketing and guides your every action to get you there. Doesn't matter if you are using social media, search engine blog post, email marketing, paid aids. An effective content strategy will ensure you have a full content calendar for the next three or six months out. That way you are not creating content one at a time.
At MarketStra, we view content marketing strategy as far more than just writing blogs or getting you to rank on search engines. A great content marketing strategy aligns with every aspect of your customer’s journey, delivering helpful information and solutions throughout every touch point.
Most importantly, your content strategy will connect with your overall strategy for the next quarter or year.
First and foremost, any good content marketing strategy has a keen understanding of the target audience. That’s why it’s so important to really understand your ideal buyer. What are their challenges? What are their pain points? What are their desires?
What are they searching for online? The better we understand them, the more effectively we can engage them with our content marketing strategies. After defining your audience, focus on your overall content strategy elements and objectives.
Are you hoping to generate more leads with your content marketing strategy? Increase brand awareness? Or perhaps drive more sales directly? It might even be a mixture of all of these things.
Clearly define these objectives from the start to make measuring your return on investment that much easier down the line. This is especially critical if you serve multiple audiences, services, and products.
Content should not be “one size fits all”. Rather, your content marketing strategy should acknowledge the customer’s position within the sales funnel and cater your approach accordingly. For example, content showcasing real examples of automated blogs may not be suitable for every audience right out of the gate.
This strategy might make more sense as you transition to the middle or bottom of the funnel. Consider what content types will be most effective for your buyer persona at each stage.
When MarketStra partners with a business, the first step is to do an AI Market Research. By doing a general or comprehensive market research, we understand the total addressable market, the challenges the market is going through, and any future trends. By doing a market research, we are able to implement it to the overall content marketing strategy of the business.
In the awareness (top of funnel) stage, your content should focus on educating prospects, spreading awareness about your brand and answering their questions. These prospects may be completely new to your brand or even completely unaware of their problem. The content marketing message is different than a buyer who knows how you are, and are ready to buy.
Content strategy in this stage might take the form of educational blog posts, infographics, or engaging social media content. Create content around the problems your target audience is facing and present the services or products as the solution.
Just like you, your competitors are constantly evolving their strategies. By leveraging website audit services regularly, you gain invaluable insights into competitor strategies, identifying areas where they might be outperforming you and capitalizing on search engine optimization opportunities for growth.
For instance, a thorough content audit services might uncover keyword gaps, giving you the chance to optimize your content and steal valuable search engine traffic from under your competitors' noses. Position yourself as the go-to source within your industry by leveraging a website audit.
Top Of Funnel Objective: Provide introductory information about your industry.
Top Of Funnel Objective: Help solve basic pain points in a digestible format.
Top Of Funnel Objective: Help prospects understand where they stand and how you can help.
With
MarketStra's Five Factor Framework, phase 2, the goal is to maximize lead generation opportunities. We have over 30+ lead generation ideas that could be applied to any business, niche, or industry. Our goal in phase 2 is to essentially focus on 'volume' of leads generated.
Once prospects move to the consideration (middle of funnel) stage, they are aware of their pain points, your potential solutions, and are actively searching for ways to address them. The content in this stage needs to provide value to the user as they compare potential products and solutions.
Successfully nurturing leads will make your sales reps' jobs that much easier when it's time to close. Some common types of mid-funnel content include:
Case studies
Webinars
Product demos
Comparison guides
Finally, in the decision (bottom of funnel) stage, your prospects are almost ready to make a purchase. At this stage, focus your content around overcoming last-minute objections. Case studies become even more important here.
Think about how you can leverage email newsletters at this stage. Reviews, testimonials, and free trials will provide prospects with the last “push” they need.
Your efforts are never complete without properly tracking results. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever before to do just that. Regularly monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and then analyze what's working, what's not, and adapt your content strategy accordingly.
You can analyze things like your content marketing strategy's ROI, new organic users, and time spent on page to track important data points. Look at what is resonating with your audience and update your content marketing around those topics. By continuously learning and evolving, your content marketing strategy will consistently deliver impactful results and improve your return on investment.
Want to get the most out of your content marketing budget? The digital marketing experts at MarketStra understand all the latest digital marketing trends - because our livelihoods depend on it. We blend creative thinking, strategic planning and industry best-practices to boost brand awareness and generate leads that convert to sales.
From content creation to email marketing campaigns and SEO optimization, we help clients like you thrive in an increasingly competitive online environment. Ready to stand out and smash your marketing goals using an innovative content strategy?
A powerful content marketing strategy can transform how you interact with consumers online. From building strong connections with your audience to improving conversion rates, we work with you to help scale your company with our five-factor growth framework.
If you are considering hiring a marketing agency for a content marketing strategy - you are on the right path.
But before you decide to hire a specialist, it is always recommended to get a second opinion - I would like to invite to you a 15-minute consultation at no charge or strings attached. We answer any questions your have in regards to your content strategy. Our goal is to maximize the number of leads generated.
Schedule a Free Consultation Call
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