You know, planning is good, really. Sure, there are moments in life, when taking spontaneous decisions may be a good idea. But defining the map that will get you to profit is definitely not something that you should do from the hip. Content strategy is crucial for your business, as you want to achieve that ever-elusive ROI, don’t you? Of course, you do, business is about making money. So, what exactly is content strategy?
Think of it as a kind of blueprint. Your content strategy will help you define your brand’s goals, reach your target audience, and set content rules. It’s a plan that will help your company ideate, create, manage, and publish your content.
Yeah, sounds reasonable so far, but why would you even put some effort into that thing? Well, you can go without a content strategy. Maybe you even get lucky and sell your products or services. You can also get lucky and win the Euro Jackpot lottery. Sure, both options are technically possible.
The content you use in content marketing should attract new customers and help create a bond between your brand and your audience. And if you plan properly ahead (read: craft a successful content strategy), it’s going to work this way.
Here are a few interesting facts – less than 50% of SEMrush’s survey respondents research their audience, perform SEO (search engine optimization), or are publishing more content and publishing more frequently. See, there is still not much competition out there in the digital world. Use that knowledge for your advantage. Content strategy is the answer to these crucial questions:
+What goals are you trying to reach with your content?
+Who is your target audience?
+What topics and formats should you use to win your audience?
+How will your audience find a way to your content?
+How will you create your content (in-house team or outsourced talents)?
+Where and when will you publish your content?
+Who’s going to be responsible for managing your content?
That’s a lot of questions, we know. But the neat part is that with content strategy, all these issues will be already addressed. Like, all of them, before you publish the first content piece. How cool is that? By the way – our Mighty Strategists have forged dozens of tailored-to-needs content strategies. They’re more than happy to craft you one. And our Content Experts will take care of the ‘production part’.
Hey, you know now what content strategy is. You know what the basic questions are. Well, easy there, tiger. That’s just the workable foundation. You still need further research, and it would be best if you had experienced players in your team (yeah, that’s us!).
Why is that game worth the candle? Kind of, you have the basic knowledge and can go and produce content on your own, right? Sure, you can. But you don’t have that guarantee that things will work perfectly. Can you afford to make mistakes?
You can save both time and money and have it done right. When you have a perfect content strategy, your content marketing will result in remarkable effects, and – what’s also important – will cost you 62% less than paid or traditional advertising! Well, if you’re still in doubt, here are a few compelling reasons for you to consider getting a custom content strategy for your business.
If you think that content marketing can be done in spare time, you’re already on the road to becoming a drop in the ocean of digital failure. Seriously, you not only should publish content regularly, but also connect with your audience. Organic traffic is just priceless, but it requires constant commitment. Moreover, keeping your communication channels alive is vital for SEO purposes and for shaping your brand’s awareness.
Without a meticulously forged content strategy, you will end up with poor results (or none). Trust us, we’ve seen it like hundreds of times. It’s usually the following scenario: one or two people from a small team happen to be creative and decide to fire up the company’s blog. They write something from time to time. They’re not sure what topics should be tackled, so they look up their competitors and publish similar things.
Later on, there is no significant effect. They conclude that content marketing is a waste of time. It was – for them. They started it wrong. Content marketing is a full-time activity that should be based on a proper content strategy. Thus, it requires mastery – and that is our natural environment. You know, it’s our bread and butter. You can use our experience and skills.
How can you tell that you are successful? It means that you have achieved a goal, right? You did? Congratulations! But hey, what if you did not set yourself a realistic goal? There’s a high chance (like, really high) that you are going to fail. So, setting a goal that can be achieved is crucial. Otherwise, you can end up with being frustrated.
Content strategy helps set goals. Each piece of content has to have a purpose – may it be generating leads, boosting the number of followers on social media, or increasing conversions. And that purpose determines how this piece of content is written and where and when it is published.
OK, so you have the battle plan and your team is ready to start the actions that will increase your brand awareness, nurturing your audience, skyrocketing the traffic. Cool, but are you confident that everyone is on the same page? Are your team members working hard towards the same goal? Do they fully understand expectations?
Even if you can answer “yes” to all the above questions (great!), there are more coming your way. Does your crew have the necessary tools? And what we mean by that is:
+Content calendar;
+SEO tools;
+Publishing platform;
+Digital collaboration platform;
+Content checkers;
+A plethora of other useful stuff.
Content strategy is also about technologies and processes and how they fit together. Now you see, how many pieces of the puzzle are required to produce successful content.
You have the people ready for action, you have the tools. What else is there? You need the people who know what they're doing and who know how to use those tools to facilitate all stages of work. Content strategy serves as proof that you all know what you're doing. Content strategy is a guide for you and your team.
Content strategy is a rock-solid foundation of your business’ content marketing. It should not be set in stone – you know, the only constant thing in the world is change. What is certain, is that so many companies don’t have a tailored-to-needs content strategy. They stick with ‘quite good’ thing. But ‘quite good’ is not a standard if you aim high and want to stay ahead of the game.
Of course, there is no ‘best content strategy’ – there are too many dependencies along the way. But we know that we can forge the best content strategy for your business. We’re Masters. Drop us a line here: ask4master(at)mofd.eu and let’s talk.
