Content marketing, if done right, is capable
of producing dramatic results for your business. That’s why a staggering 91{c87e2df4b343d0515d304e127afe4653a549475791ab451641a18e09bd64e760} of companies and marketers have
reported that they rely on content marketing strategies.
It’s critical to the success of your business
that you start incorporating content marketing into your overall growth
strategy. You do, however, need to be wary of the fact that this is a constantly
evolving landscape. Where conversations previously revolved around ROI, today
they’re dominated by talks of how to stay ahead of the curve.
That’s easier said than done with more
companies relying on the same content marketing tactics as their competition. Blindly following your
industry rivals won’t cut it anymore. You need to shift your focus towards
being unique with your content marketing tactics.
The situation may call for a revamp of your
entire marketing strategy altogether as we progress further into 2019. But what
does that entail?
Let’s take a look at how you can revamp your content marketing strategy in 2019. But first, let’s try to understand why your content strategy might need a revamp.
Why You Need to Revamp Your Content Strategy
There are multiple reasons why companies use
content marketing for their growth. The primary ones are:
- To increase lead generation,
conversions, and sales - To reduce marketing related
expenses - To serve customers better and
enhance brand loyalty
I’m sure you’re aware that content marketing
is all about building brand value by delivering content and information not
directly related to your brand. It’s about establishing your thought leadership
in the industry and becoming an acknowledged expert in your niche. It helps
fosters deeper, more meaningful connections with consumers.
However, to get the most out of your content
marketing efforts, you need to stay relevant in the market. It’s extremely
likely that the content marketing tactics that worked for you last year,
might not be as effective this year owing to the changing tastes and
preferences of your audience.
So, you need to be on top of your game in this
constantly evolving marketing landscape. You need to make sure that your
content continues to provide value to your target audience and also helps you
achieve your marketing goals. And that’s the reason why a revamp of your
content strategy might be a great idea.
But in order to achieve that, regardless of whether you’re starting afresh or overhauling your content strategy, you need to take the following key steps:
1. Re-Evaluate Your Goals
Every content marketing strategy needs to
start with an understanding of what you’re setting out to achieve. If you don’t
have a clear objective in mind, you will simply end up shooting in the dark. As
a result, your effort and resources will be wasted.
And that’s why goals are so important. Not
only do they provide direction, but they also help you to measure your success.
So, a revamp of your content strategy needs to
start with a re-evaluation of your content marketing goals from last year.
Think about whether those goals are still relevant for you this year or if you
want to aim for something else entirely.
For example, you may have focused on
increasing your brand awareness and building a connection with your potential
buyers last year. So, perhaps this might be a good time to focus on increasing conversions and sales.
Or maybe you focused on Facebook and Instagram last year. This year, you may
want to focus on building a stronger presence on Pinterest.
Once you have identified a set of goals you want to aim for in 2019, you need to define your key performance indicators (KPIs)to measure them. These will ultimately help you calculate your content marketing ROI.
2. Conduct a Content Audit
The next thing you need to do is to perform an
audit of the content you created last year. Take a moment to step back and
reflect on the work you’ve previously done. Sit down with your team and analyze
what worked for you in 2018 and what needs improvement.
Analyze how your content performed last year.
Did it help you achieve your goals? If you published blog posts, go through
your Google Analytics account and identify your top-performing posts and their
top traffic sources. Ask yourself if these topics might still be relevant given
the new goals you have set for yourself.
A content audit will help you identify the topics, content types, and distribution channels that worked well for you last year. This will help you realize which of your strategies are still relevant and which upcoming trends you should experiment with.
3. Target the Right Audience
You can’t create content that appeals to
everyone. That’s because all of us are wired very differently and have
different needs, wants, desires, preferences, and interests.
So, you really need to narrow down on the
specific segment of people you want to attract and engage with your content.
Even if you’re looking to launch a large-scale brand awareness campaign, you
need to have a target audience in mind.
Shouting your message to anyone who will or
won’t listen is no longer an effective way to generate leads. If you want your
dollar’s worth, then you need to focus on generating qualified leads. And that
begins by identifying and targeting a specific audience.
The question is, how can you do that? The
answer, unsurprising, lies in data analytics. You should collect as much data
as you can about the people your products or services are designed for.
CRM tools like Salesmate,
for instance, provide you with the kind of customer insights that drive better
content marketing decision making. Google Analytics will also help you
understand more about your readers – their demographics and more. You should
also consider monitoring the comments on your social media posts to understand
how people are reacting to your content.
Then you can use that information to ensure that you target the right audience and that your content is relevant and useful for them.
4. Identify the Best Performing Channels
There’s no denying that there are a plethora
of content distribution channels out there. But it may no longer be effective
to use all of them. Today, it’s more effective to optimize your strategy around
the channels which are performing the best for you.
So, analyze your data from 2018 to find the best channels for your
brand. Also, keep in mind that it may be a channel that you haven’t even tried
yet. Be cognizant of the fact that just because your competition is using a
particular channel, doesn’t mean you should too.
Instead, figure out which channels are most
likely to be used by your target audience. To do so, you should also ask
yourself these pertinent questions:
- Which of your current distribution
channels is performing the best? - Which devices are your audiences consuming
your content on? - When is the best time to reach out
to your audience?
Answering these questions will help you get a better understanding of how you can revamp your strategy.
5. Experiment a Little
While it’s always good to keep doing what’s
working for you, never shy away from experimentation. You should allocate a
fraction of your resources to trying out new channels and ideas.
Finding an emerging channel and promotion
tactic that works for the next part of your strategy is always advisable. Also,
content marketing is a constant learning process. You’ll never know what works
or what doesn’t till you actually try something new like voice search
optimization.
In fact, comScore has predicted that 50{c87e2df4b343d0515d304e127afe4653a549475791ab451641a18e09bd64e760} of all searches will be voice
searches by 2020. This marks a drastic change in consumer behavior. Especially
with the increasing popularity of digital assistants and smart speakers like
Alexa and Siri.
What can you do to prepare for this? A good
place to start is to modify
your SEO strategy for voice search queries. Research
relevant keywords and rework your content strategy to accommodate for this.
You might also want to experiment with different content types – the ones you didn’t try last year. Focus on creating content that provides your audience with valuable insights. Customer testimonials, influencer reviews, how-tos, and explainer video content will help them make better purchase decisions. So, strive to create such purposeful content.
Final Thoughts
The key to a successful content marketing
campaign is focusing on the content needs of your target audience. You need to
keep your ear to the ground and listen to what they expect from you. And data
plays a big part in this.
Try building customer maps and buyer personas
for your audience to help with this. And you should constantly seek feedback
from your customers and sales team to understand what is expected from you,
content-wise.
Revamping your content marketing strategy can
be a very cumbersome task, but it’s one that needs to be done. These steps and
tips will certainly make things easier for you.
What are your thoughts on revamping your content marketing plan?
Originally published April 08, 2019 – Updated January 06, 2022
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Authors
Shane Barker
Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO.