Content Marketing: 6 Strategy Development Tips

Content marketing success depends on a well thought-out strategy focused on user value.

Your peers have been telling you for years that you need to invest in content marketing. They tell you it’s the highest returning investment you can make and that your internet presence depends on your company’s ability to leverage high-ranking publishing platforms and specific SEO techniques.

Are you ready to listen? If so, you need a plan.  

First, let’s discuss the true value of content marketing

As a business owner or marketer, you probably like numbers. So let’s look at the value of content marketing from a quantifiable standpoint. According to the content marketing institute:

• 90% of consumers feel like custom content is valuable.
• 82% of consumers feel better about a company after reading custom content.
• 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that publishes custom content.

Interesting content is one of the primary reasons social media users follow brands on popular networking sites.

If you want to tap into the power of content marketing, you can’t afford to take a shotgun approach. You need to spend time carefully crafting a strategy and developing rich, insightful campaigns that leverage existing resources and target new customers. While there are many ideas about how to create the best content marketing strategy, let’s take a look at a simple and streamlined six-step process.

Step 1: Drive Brand Activism by Developing Rich Reader Personas

Most companies with ineffective content marketing strategies mess up this critical step. If you want to experience success on the backend, you must spend time diligently crafting reader personas.

It’s easy to solely focus on what type of readers will see your content and want to buy. It’s more important to focus on reaching readers that will see your content and share it.

The critical element is to identify the influencers. These are the 5-10 percent of social users who are responsible for 60-80 percent of all influence. Content marketing is all about sharing and you need readers who aren’t just consumers, but are also brand activists.

Step 2: Gather the Right Tools and Resources

You can’t forget about the tools. You’ll need sophisticated content creation tools. These are the tools that help you produce high quality content that reaches your readers and piques the interest of influencers.

Some of the top content creation tools allow you to see what people are talking about, what pain points they have, and which questions remain unanswered.  

You’ll have to do your research and determine which types of resources you need. There are literally thousands of different content marketing apps, software, and services on the market. Be selective in the resources you choose and ask around to find out which solutions are the best. The last thing you want to do is get stuck with an expensive tool that doesn’t meet your specific needs.

Step 3: Create a Brand Story

You need a brand story that identifies with your audience. The number one mistake people make when developing brand stories is that they confuse storytelling with selling; these are two distinct things.

Storytelling is a method for building strong relationships with customers. You’re trying to identify with your readers and cultivate trust. You’re not trying to cram some loud sales pitch down their throats. Eventually, once your brand story is developed enough and has had time to soak in with your readers, you’ll be able to incorporate specific calls-to-action. Keep these in mind when crafting a brand story, but don’t build the story around these calls.

Your brand story must be clear and conversational. There shouldn’t be confusing marketing talk – just real, honest content that clearly conveys who your company is and what it stands for.

Step 4: Identify Publishing and Sharing Channels

Your first channel will be an on-site company blog. While this likely won’t represent your largest readership, you can’t leave it out of the mix. People expect to see a blog on a company website and you need to populate it with quality content.

In addition to your blog, you should start building relationships with other industry blogs, websites, and publications. Leverage existing contacts and reach out to new ones. Attempt to gain as many guest blogging opportunities as you can and use these privileges to reach new readers.

Third, you’ll want to hone in on social media and select a manageable number of platforms that resonate with your audience.  Avoid using more social media outlets than you can honestly manage two-ways conversations within.  You’ll be able to identify the right social networking sites by looking at your reader personas.

Step 5: Hire Professional Writers and Editors

Unless you happen to have some excellent marketing writers on your team, you’re going to need to hire writers and editors to handle the bulk of your content. This can come in the form of full-time employees or freelancers. Ideally, you should hire ghostwriters, as they’ll allow you to publish the content under your brand’s name.

While it can be easy to skimp on editing, don’t do it. You’re almost done and there’s no sense in ruining your brand’s image by ignoring editing. It’s always good to have a couple sets of eyes review content before clicking the publish button – it’ll save you a lot of risk and embarrassment. Both editors and writers can be found at fairly cost-effective prices, but remember – you get what you pay for.

Step 6: Analyze the Right Metrics

Finally, it all comes down to analytics and metrics. After launching your content marketing strategy, you can’t just sit back and watch. You need to study the numbers and gather results. Using the right tools, you can uncover useful insights about who’s reading your content, who’s sharing it, whether it’s resonating with the right consumers, and how effective each of your publishing partners are. With this information, you can make tweaks to your strategy and optimize your efforts for long-term success.

Putting it All Together

Using this simple six-step process, you can build, launch, and reap the rewards of your first content marketing strategy. Take it slow, tackle each issue as it comes up, and don’t be afraid to invest time, money, and resources. Content marketing isn’t going anywhere, and you’ll be glad you jumped onboard.

Feeling like you need a expert help to fully develop your content strategy?  We're here to help.

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Chris Lowers is a frequent contributor helping us better understand the technology that drives our ever-evolving world of marketing communication. 
He is the founder and president of Grey Partners, a full-service advertising firm.  

When he isn’t building strong brands, you’re most likely to find him alongside his girlfriend Julie training for their next triathlon, relaxing on a mountain trail or traveling someplace warm and sunny.