Content marketing is a powerful tool for any business looking to attract, engage and connect with customers. But you’ll need a well-considered content marketing strategy to harness its full potential.
In 2023, 70% of content marketers reported having a strong strategy in place. While a content strategy agency can definitely help you get good results, there’s plenty you can do yourself. A simple content marketing strategy can make a measurable impact on your business – and you don’t have to be an expert.
Why you need a content strategy
A well-crafted content marketing strategy can help cut through the noise and connect with your target audience. It can also help your business:
- Build brand authority and credibility. Position your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Providing valuable, relevant content that builds trust with your audience establishes your business as the place to go for quality information and answers.
- Improve SEO and bring more people to your website. Publishing high quality, relevant content that’s optimised for SEO can help people find your brand online and get you more leads through organic search.
- Turn leads into customers. Content plays a crucial role at every stage of the customer A well-planned content marketing strategy means the right information is there at the right time and guides potential customers from awareness to consideration to decision.
- Enhance customer engagement and retention. Engaging content keeps your audience coming back, builds loyalty and encourages repeat business. It also provides opportunities for interaction and building stronger relationships.
- Helps with brand consistency. Your strategy acts as the backbone of your multichannel marketing efforts. From social media and email marketing to paid advertising and PR, a well thought out content marketing strategy ensures your message is delivered
8 steps to crafting a strong content marketing strategy
Whether you’re working with a content strategy agency or developing your strategy in-house, consider the following to create a plan that meets your needs.
Step 1: Define your goals and KPIs
Start with some clear, measurable objectives. Your goals might include:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Generating qualified leads
- Boosting conversions and sales
- Improving customer engagement, retention and loyalty
- Building trust and starting conversations with thought leadership content.
You can set specific KPIs for each goal to help you track progress. These could include metrics like website traffic, engagement rates, lead quality scores, or conversion rates.
Step 2: Understand your audience
For content that resonates, you need to understand your audience, especially their:
- Values, interests and desires
- Pain points, challenges, and aspirations
- Preferred content formats and platforms
- Questions at each stage of the buyer’s journey
Tools like surveys, interviews, social media listening, and analytics data can help gather these insights.
Step 3: Conduct a content audit
If you have existing content, a comprehensive content audit will:
- Identify your top-performing content
- Spot gaps in your current content offerings
- Find opportunities to update or repurpose old content
- Ensure alignment with your brand voice and messaging
From here you can prioritise your content creation and maximise the value of your existing assets.
Step 4: Develop your content pillars
Based on your goals and audience insights, establish 3-5 core content pillars or groups. These are the main themes or topics that your content will focus on. For example, a financial advice firm might focus on three pillars – market/economic trends, budgeting tips and growing wealth.
Your pillars should:
- Align with your brand’s expertise and values
- Address your audience’s key pain points and interests
- Offer opportunities for ongoing content creation
For each pillar, brainstorm a list of potential subtopics and content ideas.
Step 5: Create a content calendar
If you want to be consistent, you need a content calendar. This also helps you align with business activities and seasonal trends. Your calendar should include:
- Publication dates and frequencies for different content types
- Assigned topics and content pillars
- Target keywords for SEO
- Who will create and approve each content item
- How it will be distributed – such as website, social media, email.
Step 6: Develop a process
Now it’s time to start creating regular content. Create processes that include:
- Ideation and topic selection – it’s a good idea to choose a mix of evergreen topics and trending content.
- Research and outlines
- Writing and editing
- Design and production
- SEO optimisation
- Review and approval workflows
You can create templates and style guides for consistency across different content pieces and creators.
Step 7: Get it out there
Creating great content is the first step – to be effective, you need to get it in front of your target audience. A multi-channel distribution strategy can include:
- Social media platforms relevant to your audience (you don’t have to be present on all platforms)
- Email marketing campaigns
- Paid promotion through native advertising or social media ads
- Influencer partnerships and guest posting opportunities
- Content spots on relevant industry websites
Your approach should be tailored to the specific content type and target audience.
Step 8: Measure, analyse and improve
Review your content performance regularly to make sure it’s working for you. Here’s how:
- Use analytics tools to monitor website traffic and user behaviour
- Track engagement metrics across different platforms
- Analyse conversion rates and ROI for different content types
- Gather qualitative feedback through surveys or comments
Use these insights to continuously refine and adjust your content marketing strategy to make sure it’s performing at its best.
Future-proof your content marketing strategy
As you develop and refine your content marketing strategy, consider harnessing the power of technology and AI – and take your content to a new level.
Personalisation and AI. New tech means we can personalise content more than ever, by creating:
- Dynamic website content that adapts to user behaviour
- Personalised email campaigns based on individual preferences and interactions
- AI-powered content recommendations to keep users engaged.
Interactive and immersive content. Make your content really stand out and increase engagement with innovative content formats.
- Interactive infographics and data visualisations
- Augmented reality (AR) experiences
- Virtual events and webinars
- Gamified content that educates while entertaining
Voice search. You can optimise your content for voice search by:
- Focusing on natural language and conversational keywords
- Creating FAQ-style content that answers common questions
- Optimising your content for featured snippets and position zero in search results.
User-generated content strategies. Incorporate user-generated content (UGC) into your strategy to boost authenticity and engagement:
- Encourage customer reviews and testimonials
- Run social media contests and hashtag campaigns
- Feature customer stories and case studies
A content marketing strategy is not a one-time effort – it’s an ongoing process of creating, measuring results and refining. Your audience’s needs can change over time so you’ll need to adapt your strategy as the market evolves.
If you get stuck, a content strategy agency like Writers can help. By investing in a robust content marketing strategy, you’re not just creating content—you’re laying the foundation for sustainable business growth by establishing your brand as a trusted authority and building lasting relationships with your audience.
Next up: Learn how to build your content marketing strategy on a solid foundation with a content audit.
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