Creating a content strategy from scratch can seem daunting. We get it.
We’ve helped brands of all sizes, across all industries, craft the content strategies they need to connect with their audiences and move people along the path to purchase.
Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide to create a content strategy in 6 easy steps.
What is a content strategy?
Content Strategy is the ongoing process for satisfying business requirements through content creation and distribution.
A good content strategy should be tailored to your goals, comprehensive and flexible.
Why do you need a content strategy?
A content strategy is important because it can help you improve your marketing results and ROI by
- Making better decisions
- Staying accountable
- Improving resources and budget allocation.
What does a content strategy include?
Your strategic roadmap should include the following:
Phase #1. Discovery. Review your current strategy.
Phase #2. Planning. Define your goals and infrastructure.
Phase #3. Creative. Identify your storytelling.
Easy Steps to Creating Your Content Strategy:
STEP #1 Define Your Goals and Objectives
Before you get started, identify goals and objectives.
What do you want to achieve?
Where will content marketing take your company in a year?
A few goals that a content strategy may address include:
- Building brand awareness.
- Generating a high volume of qualified leads.
- Establishing thought leadership.
- Nurturing leads into conversions
- Attributing marketing activities to revenue generation.
- Increasing brand engagement.
| Goals and objectives are not the same. Goals are general guidelines that explain what you want to achieve. Objectives define strategies or implementation steps to attain the identified goals. Unlike goals, objectives are specific, measurable, and have a defined completion date. |
An example of objective is to attract 100 new leads every month till the end of the year, for instance.
Once you’ve clearly identified the purpose of your content creation, identify the metrics that you’ll use to gauge success.
Your KPIs might look like:
• Keyword page rank for that article
• Email addresses captured
• Number of times shared
• Number of clicks through to your website
• If reader takes a revenue-generating action
STEP #2 Know your audience and conduct a current content Audit
Knowing your audience is critical to a successful content strategy.
To create a compelling content, you need to understand who your audience is, what they are interested in, and how you can serve their needs.
- Who do you want to reach?
- What do they care about?
- What problems do they need solved?
- How and where do you like to consume information?
Start with 1-3 distinct and detailed personas.
| A buyer persona is a fictional person who embodies the characteristics of your best potential customers. |
The answers to these questions will point to which media types to use, what topics to address, the stage of the sales process your audience is in, and the delivery channels.
If you’ve already been publishing content, conduct a current content audit. Dig into your analytics.
STEP #3 Examine your competition
Do your research on your biggest competitive advantage.
- What type of offers, sales, products, and services your competition is sharing?
- What their interaction or engagement level is?
- What’s their style?
STEP #4 Look for your unique position and resources
What do you do better than anyone else in your industry? Do you have a unique point of view?
Think about what content you’ve already created and what you still need to create. Check out the 5 types of social media content to create.
Then consider the monthly and annually events that are important to your company and customer.
Remember to create quality content.
Then, build an editorial calendar. Publishing consistency is one of the keys to a successful content strategy.
STEP #5 Estimate your investment
Start by estimating the cost of your strategy. Where do you need to ramp up internally? Which parts might you need to outsource?
Consider what resources you will have at your disposal before you finalize your strategy, to make sure you will have the budget.
STEP #6 Identify Processes, Systems and Tools
There are dozens of tools that can help you earn back in your day.
Check out the 5 best social media scheduling tools and 5 free tools to create awesome infographics
Be Creative | Be Social