HOW TO DEVELOP A CONTENT STRATEGY FOR YOUR BRAND

HOW TO DEVELOP A CONTENT STRATEGY FOR YOUR BRAND

A content strategy is the ongoing process of transforming business objectives and goals into a plan that uses content as a primary means of achieving those goals.

Whether you’re just starting out with content marketing or you’ve been using the same approach for a while, it never hurts to revisit your content strategy plan and make sure it’s up to date. Your content strategy should strive to be innovative, and engaging for your prospects and customers, no matter how or what they want to buy.

If you need fresh ideas to include in your plan, read on.

In this article, we’ll be talking on how you can develop a content strategy for your business.

Here are some important tips:

1.DEFINE YOUR GOAL.

What’s your aim for developing a content marketing plan? Why do you want to produce content and create a content marketing plan?

It may seem obvious, but these questions are the core of a useful content strategy. Look at your high level business goals, notes from meetings, and notes from your team, then do some solo research to make sure your goals have staying power.

You need to organize your goals by priority, rank them from most to least important. This can help you decide which parts of your strategy are an immediate need and which are for long-term action. You can as well use the SMART framework to help you make broad goals more specific and actionable.

2.CONDUCT PERSONA RESEARCH.

To develop a successful plan, you need to clearly define your content’s target audience, also known as your buyer persona. This is an important part of the planning phase of content strategy especially if you are nurturing a new brand and do not have previous marketing data about your customers.

You should collect data and analyze it to find who you want to create content for and the types of content they enjoy. Also use your research to refine buyers’ personas. Revisiting your audience characteristics 

 by conducting market research each year is crucial to growing your audience. If you’re already an established business, taking a closer look at your current customer segment can also help refine your personas.

3.RUN A CONTENT AUDIT.

You can run a content audit to help you review your content marketing efforts to identify your  top performing and lowest performing content.

If you have been in business for a while, take a look at last year’s content marketing results. As you review your content, be sure to record page titles, content formats, word counts, and a summary of what your content covers. This can help you find areas for improvement. 

You should also analyze content quality and whether your content reflects what is most important to your audience. Then use that information to inform which direction you take next. Look for repurposing opportunities, this strategy can help you optimize  your content on multiple channels. You should consider creating a content workflow, it’s another way to audit your team’s content creation process. Your content workflow impacts how you come up with ideas, what you publish, and the quality of your work.

4.CHOOSE A CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

Content marketing involves a number of vital aspects including content creation, content publication, and content analytics. You want to invest in a content management system that can help you create, manage, and track your content in an easy and sustainable way.
Figure out what your specific content management needs are, then choose the right content management system to meet them. As your content presence grows, it can also be very helpful to adopt a content governance model  that puts in place a process that guides how your team updates or removes outdated content. 

5. DETERMINE WHICH TYPE OF CONTENT YOU WANT TO CREATE.

There are a variety of options out there for content you can create, from written content like ebooks and blog posts to audio content like podcasts. Great content strategy is a balance of decision making, data analysis, and risk taking. Take a careful look at your end goals and the actions you want each persona to take. Then, work backward to choose the right kind of content for each goal and user.

6.BRAINSTORM CONTENT IDEA.

Use your content audit, persona research, and goals to make the best content decisions for your business. Brainstorming is an essential part of the creative process and can be used to generate content ideas that stand out. The first step is to define the purpose of the content and identify the target audience. While brainstorming, it’s important to avoid judgment and criticism and while placing focus on quality rather than quantity.

7.PUBLISH AND MANAGE YOUR CONTENT. 

Your marketing plan should go beyond the types of content you’ll create. It should also cover how you’ll organize your content. Developing an editorial content calendar will help you maintain a well balanced and diverse content library on your website. You should also track and analyze your content performance and use such data insights to optimize your content.

By following these seven steps, you can develop the essentials of a content strategy and should be well on your way to producing great material that resonates with your customers and sets you apart from your competitors.

To learn more, contact us on: www.gigalagosdigital.com or call us on: 07084395487