How to Develop a Content Strategy
The first step to delivering effective marketing is creating a detailed content strategy.
As a small business, content brings connections. From customers to partnerships, content can aid you in meeting your business goals, improving your online presence and putting you one step closer raising the bottom line of your business.
In this article, we will be detailing how you can build your own content strategy from start to finish.
What is a Content Strategy?
At it’s center, a content marketing strategy details the “why”.
Why are you delivering content? Who to? How will it help you meet your business objectives and goals? Your content strategy helps you keep on track and helps you create your social media content calendar, which we’ll discuss a little later.
It’s the piece of your marketing plan that highlights who you are, who your audience is and what your business is looking to get out of distributing content.
While your content calendar should be personalised to suit the needs of your business, there’s key elements that you must include.
1. Who’s Your Target Audience?
Who are you creating the content for? You might have more than one ideal customer, so you need to plan your content to cater for the different segments.
You’ll find our blog, “Who is Your Business Avatar?” really handy.
2. Audit Your Content
If you already share content, what’s working for you now? Does a certain style of content generate results? Perhaps your audience react more to polls or press releases, you need to ensure you embed their preferred style in your new strategy.
3. What Platforms Are You Going to Use?
Where are your audience? Are they on Instagram? Facebook? Twitter? Or, are they scattered across different platforms?
If you have a blog, for example, how are you going to distribute the content? What channels will be most effective?
Using a variety of channels will ensure maximum exposure and it will allow you to share different styles of content to different segments of your audience.
4. What’s Your Goal?
You’re going to be spending a lot of time planning, implementing and reviewing your content calendar, but what’s the point?
What are you hoping to achieve? Deciding on a set of objectives and goals in your content strategy will help you keep on track and focused when you come to building your calendar:
- – Generate more engagement
- – Increase website traffic
- – Lead generation
- – Customer acquisition
- – Brand awareness
5. How You’re Going to be Different
It’s likely your competitors have a similar content calendar; the same target audience and they post to the same channels as you.
Your audience need to know why you’re the brand they should do business with – which is where your content plays a key part. For you to show why you’re the best choice, your content needs to highlight that.
What Your Next Steps Are
Creating a content strategy is the first step to delivering engaging, effective content to your target audience.
No content strategy is the same and they usually vary from industry to industry. Our guide is simply a framework to get you started on building your own. Give it a go yourself and make amendments to our basic strategy as you see fit.
Next, you need to build a content calendar and you’re all set. Keep an eye out for our post where we detail how.
Why not check out our Digital Marketing Terms Glossary?
About the author:
Marie Harwood is a Digital Marketing Assistant at Different Gravy Digital, Hale, Cheshire.
Different Gravy Digital are a full service Digital Marketing Agency operating in the Hospitality & Leisure, Financial Services, Legal & Property sectors. Products and services range from; 3D & 360° Tours, Website Design & Build, Social Media, Video Production, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Content Creation, Email Marketing, Online Feedback / Review Systems and Paid Advertising (Google, Bing and Social Media).
Contact Details:
marie@differentgravydigital.co.uk
0161 706 000
120a Ashley Road, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 2UN