A strategy helps you to be more focused on accomplishing your objectives with minimal resources. If you do not have a content strategy, you will be gambling in your marketing campaign. You will have less control over uncertainty and will not know what to expect.
The American writer, speaker, and entrepreneur Kristina Halvorson defines content strategy as, “Planning for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” Content strategy is not just about creating new content. It also focuses on publishing content to reach the audience effectively. Managing and optimizing published content is also part of content strategy.
How do you pick a topic?
Choosing topics is an essential part of content strategy. A deep understanding of the company’s values and objectives is necessary to pick the right topics. In addition to that, you need to understand what your audience wants from you.
Jason Miller recommends focussing on three areas when choosing a topic. All three aspects are essential in their own right. But you should focus on achieving the perfect harmony of the three:
- Competitive Landscape: Focus on gathering intelligence about your competitors in the niche.
- Audience Interest: Do a detailed survey on your audience and find the topic that will resonate with them.
- Content Landscape: Check whether the topic already has much content and look for the areas that need improvement.
Challenges of Content Marketing
Marketers face a lot of challenges in content marketing. One challenge to overcome is monotony. When publishing thousands of content pieces, the pressure to create creative content that challenges assumptions and piques curiosity is prominent. Lack of resources is a hindrance to an effective campaign. Tight deadlines and strict quality checks force writers to trade quality for quantity. Clients want immediate results, and the expectations are unrealistic. Content creators also burn themselves out in the process of working hard to meet their client’s needs. Therefore, marketers should consider these challenges when devising a strategy. If you want help with content, you can consider purchasing the digital marketing services India package from a content marketing agency in India.
Things To Consider Before Content Creation
Understanding Audience
Your customers come from different backgrounds and might be at different levels in the sales funnel. Your content strategy should cover all the stages of a buyer’s journey. You have to know your audience to bring them to engage with your brand. Understanding their motivations, needs, preferences, challenges, and pain points are essential for determining the type of content that speaks to their hearts.
A customer will be in one of the three stages. They include the Awareness Stage, Consideration Stage, and Decision Stage. Understanding where your customer is essential to determine the type of content that will appeal to them.
Your content should aim to do one of these three things
- Attract: This stage is about creating content to attract strangers to your brand.
- Engage: This stage focuses on persuading the leads to trust your solutions to their problems.
- Delight: This stage focuses on providing value to your customer consistently so that they move from purchasers to promoters of your brand.
Type of Content
Your customers will have different tastes and interests. A type of content that is popular today might not be popular in the next few years. Effective content marketing is figuring out how to deliver the right content most persuasively to the right people. Choose the right distribution platforms for your content.
- Blog Posts educate the audience. It is a low-cost option.
- Infographics are visually pleasing, but require expertise in design.
- Videos boost engagement rates and appeal to mobile users.
- Case studies boost your reputation.
- Social media posts help you to target a wide audience and are a cost-friendly option.
- Newsletters help you to nurture leads.
Content Production
You might have the best plans and strategies for your content. Resources like time, creators, and time are limited. So you need to leverage your resources and make the most of them. Based on who produces the content, you should choose between the three options:
In-house: You have a dedicated content team in your organization. Make sure that your company has access to infrastructure and tools for content production. Training your team members with the necessary knowledge is essential. They also need the passion and dedication to produce content.
Content Agency: Agencies have professional content writers to produce content in different niches. But you should prepare for spending a good portion of your budget on quality content. If you want creators, you can consider purchasing the digital marketing services in India package from a content marketing agency in India.
Freelancer: A freelancer might lack expertise in the niche. But once you start building the relationship and communicating your needs, the partnership produces remarkable results.