How to Create a Successful Content Marketing Strategy

How many hours have you spent producing great content only to get little traffic and engagement in return?

Having a successful content marketing strategy in place allows you to produce, plan, promote, and measure content thereby boosting engagement and generating leads. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 80% of B2B marketers already have a strategy in place. In this blog, we tell you how you can create a successful content marketing strategy.

Step 1: Determine goals

What exactly do you wish to achieve with content marketing? Is it to increase engagement, generate leads, increase retention rates, or improve overall brand loyalty? Before making a content marketing plan, it is necessary that you have answers to all the above questions and establish clear organizational goals. Your content marketing strategy should be in sync with what you want to achieve as an organization.

Step 2: Establish the target audience

The next step is to know the audience you are targeting your content to. Depending on the goals established, you will need to create an audience/buyer persona that will guide your content.This is important for both beginners and professionals alike.

Step 3: Run a content audit

While blogposts are ubiquitous in B2B marketing, it is a good idea to set sail to the unknown. Try to come up with other content pieces, such as e-books, infographics, templates, videos, and podcasts. A content audit is the crux of content marketing with the aim being to perform a thorough qualitative analysis of the content on your site. Therefore, it is imperative that you review your content marketing efforts and results yielded in the last year, and establish new goals.

Step 4: Create a content execution plan

Once you’ve decided the kind of content you want to create and the audience you wish to target, you need to put in place the entire process to create it. Your execution plan should be a detailed and stepwise process to help turn your idea into a finished product.

Step 5: Publish and Promote

Now that you have successfully created great content, it’s time to publish your content to the right market. The key to success for marketers is to not only increase the number of distribution channels but also grow the reach. Promotion is a critical part of the strategy and you should draft a promotion strategy before you begin. According to a survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute, social promotion is the most used method marketers use to promote their content.Have questions, comments or tips about making a successful content marketing plan? Let us know in the comments section below!

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