The word ‘content’ is thrown around a lot these days, especially in the marketing world. But content without direction or ‘strategy’ is just words, and unfocused words can sometimes do more harm than good.
The idea of casting a wide net may catch a lot of fish, but when you’re only looking for whales, you need a more targeted approach. Recognizing who your audience is, what they are searching for, as well as why and how is key to an effective content strategy.
Good marketing should focus your message toward the people that want to hear it. Getting your product or service in front of your ideal consumer should be your ultimate goal. What’s the best way to do that? Create messaging that resonates with a particular audience (your clients) that is optimized for search and distribute on channels that make sense for your business. In other words, talk to the people that need you. Forget everybody else.
What is Strategy?
Let’s start with the basics–what do we mean by strategy? It’s pretty simple. Content strategy is creating a cohesive plan for all of the messaging that comes from your brand.
This could include:
- Social media posts
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Press releases or advertorials
- White papers and case studies
That means that you’ll keep all outgoing information working toward the same goal, whether that’s brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention.
Just like a game of chess, content strategy involves thinking three steps ahead. It’s more than just planning posts on a weekly or monthly basis. It evaluates your assets–the content you currently have, what you’re planning to create, and how to deploy both in a way that furthers your business. Think you can only use content once? Think again. You can even repurpose content into new formats to reach new audiences. Think of it as an outline for the content arm of your marketing strategy.
Who needs Strategy?
Here’s the short answer–everybody! If you’re a business with any marketing presence, you need to think about how you’ll connect with your clients. Maybe your demographic still reads the newspaper. Perhaps 30 seconds on TikTok is more powerful. Either way, your strategy will assess where your prime clients live and then deliver messaging that resonates with them.
It’s a misconception that only big companies with big budgets need a content strategy. Small businesses may need it even more to scale their businesses. When your goal is growth, your best shot at gaining brand awareness and loyalty is quality content in the right place at the right time.
Why Develop A Strategy?
Your company may be united in your goals and discuss ways to promote your business through your content, but without a defined and dedicated strategy, it’s harder to stick to your plan.
According to the most recent B2B research from the Content Marketing Institute, 65% of the most successful content marketers have a defined and documented content strategy. Why? Because it keeps their team focused on their priorities. When you have a narrow plan, it’s easy to see what content fits within that groove and what doesn’t.
There are also cost savings with developing a content strategy. Once you know what channels work for your business and where your audience consumes content, you can focus your dollars in the right places. If you know that your audience prefers to watch their content, you can focus your budget on video creation. If they prefer to listen, maybe podcasts are a better use of your content dollars. Either way, without knowing your goals and where the clients support them, you can easily waste money on empty wells.
Content strategy is a simple concept with a nuanced execution. Knowing your audience, correctly valuing the reach of the various channels available to you, and understanding the best platform for your unique content takes skill and experience. Still, your ROI will exceed your expectations with a brilliant strategy.
Do you have a content strategy or need one? Robot Logic can help. Let’s set up a call and chat about your content strategy needs today.
