How to Build a Content Marketing Strategy for Your Business
Content marketing is a channel that can bring you new customers and expand your reach. It can also help you separate your business from the competition. After all, how can you stand out from your competitors when you don’t even know what makes them different? If you’ve never worked on a content marketing strategy for your small business, you may be at a loss for what to even begin. Luckily, not every aspect of creating a strategy is difficult. In this article, you will learn how to build a content marketing strategy for your small business.
Define Your Audience
The first step in creating a content marketing strategy is to define your audience. Who are you trying to reach? What are their interests? What do they need? Once you figure out who your audience is, it will be easier for you to create content that is relevant and valuable to them. You’ll also be able to tailor your content marketing messages so that they speak more directly to the needs of your customers.
For example, let’s say you run a dog training business and want to target pet owners in the local area. Your blog posts should talk about pet care tips, what dogs are like at different stages of their life, and other information that will be helpful for those in the pet industry.
If you don’t know who your audience is, it’ll be difficult for you to get started with a content marketing strategy.
Research Your Market
Before you do anything, you need to find out who your audience is and what they want. You can use Google Adwords to research your market, but the best way is through social media and analytics.
First, you’ll want to set up a Facebook page for your business and then start posting content regularly. You can also look at how people respond to different posts, which will give you an idea of what type of content they enjoy consuming. This can help you create a more successful content strategy.
Next, take a look at your competitors – different websites in your niche as well as companies that are in the same industry as yours. For example, if you work with home builders and contractors, you may want to look at HGTV or Remodeling Magazine for inspiration.
Develop Your Content Marketing Strategy
One of the first things you will need to do is develop your content marketing strategy. This might sound overwhelming, but it’s easier than you think! To get started, write down the following:
- What do you want your audience to do after reading your content?
- What are their pain points?
- What topics should you cover in order to attract the attention of your ideal customer or prospect?
- Who are your competitors and how can you differentiate yourself from them?
Once you have these four questions answered, it will be much easier for you to move forward with developing a content marketing strategy.
Create Useful Content
The first step in your content marketing strategy is to create useful content. This will include blogs, videos, infographics, and other types of media. The goal is to have engaging and informative content that will help your target audience solve a problem they have or increase their knowledge on a certain topic.
What type of content should you create? That depends on your industry and what problems your target audience has. For example, if you work with computers or are in the tech industry, you might offer short videos about how to use a certain piece of software or what accessories you recommend for someone’s laptop. If you’re in the financial industry, you might offer tips for managing finances online – like how to protect your identity and how to find the best rates for personal loans.
If you’re not sure what kind of content you should be creating, it might be easiest to start with blog posts. You can write about various topics related to your business that are interesting or relevant to your target audience. You can do this by interviewing experts in the field (or people who work at your company), by giving helpful information related to a certain topic (like “how-to articles”), by talking about current events related to that subject matter (if it aligns with your business), etc. Whether it’s blog posts or something else, providing helpful content that solves problems is key!
Always Test and Track
The first thing you need to do is test and track. This means creating a strategy, following it for a certain period of time, and then measuring how well it works. You could create content around a certain topic or theme, test different types of content and then see which one was more effective in terms of engagement, shares, and traffic.
For example – let’s say you want to create content about brownies. You could try out different styles such as videos vs articles vs photos, or you could try putting the same type of content on blogs vs Facebook vs Instagram. You could even track what type of brownies get the most views so that your next post is tailored to those results.
Oftentimes, this method can help uncover what type of content resonates with your audience the best which will provide valuable information for future posts.
Content Marketing Strategy 101
In this guide, we’ve discussed how to build a content marketing strategy for your business.
To recap:
- Define your audience
- Research your market
- Develop a strategy
- Create useful content
- Always test and track
Now that you know the steps to take to create a content marketing strategy for your small business, it’s time to get started!
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