Content marketing is a highly effective strategy for reaching markets and targets. Marketers should prioritize producing timely, relevant, and useful information in various formats. This approach is fundamental for creating content that resonates with an audience.
As the importance of content marketing increases, it is critical to refrain from common mistakes which can be made when approaching this seemingly straightforward field. One of the main activities is creating content without a plan or content strategy.
A structured and well-thought-out approach is necessary to ensure the content created is effective and cost-efficient.
This powerful mechanism for driving engagement and increasing brand awareness is built upon a simple formula of the three Ps Of Marketing:
- Plan
- Produce
- Promote
Here is a guide on understanding this tried-and-true formula- what it means and how to best utilize it.
Plan
Developing an effective P requires careful consideration of the audience, goal, plan of attack, and budget. It is important to spend time forming a strategy before beginning execution to ensure success.
Before creating any marketing content, it is important to create a plan. It is essential to consider various aspects prior to starting the writing process.
Audience
Think about who you’re targeting, what you want your content to achieve (for example, more leads or website visits), how you’ll get there (blogging? Social media? Video?), and how much you can afford to spend on creating content.
Researching the competition is also important here – getting an idea of what other companies are doing in this space can help you understand where opportunities lie.
It is important to understand the salient characteristics of your target audience, such as geographical location, age range, preferred communication methods, and potential digital locations.
Objectives
Establishing objectives with clear criteria, such as SMART goals, is essential for assessing progress and achieving success.
Audit
Content creation can come at a cost, and it is important to ensure that you are aware of what content you already possess. Align this with the appropriate target audience and align it according to the stages of the sales funnel/waterfall.
Format
An effective sales funnel requires short and manageable pieces of content for initial engagement. Consider the format and depth of the content you create based on what your audience would be most likely to consume and engage with.
Produce
Once you have your plan in place, it’s time to put it into action! Depending on the goals of your content marketing strategy and the channels that form part of your plan of attack, production might involve blogging (creating written content or optimizing existing posts), creating visuals such as charts or stock images, video editing, podcast recording, or launching social media campaigns.
Taking a moment to consider the benefits of making a quick entrance onto a stage can help us understand the impact it will have. The goal here is to create compelling content that resonates with its target audience.
Skills
Considering both outsourcing and in-house options, you should assess whether you have available writers. Additionally, you could draw upon subject-matter experts to provide content ideas that require further development.
Reuse and Recycle
The audit process helps ensure that important content is not forgotten. Consider ways to update or rework existing materials by breaking up larger reports and presentations into smaller pieces.
Resources
A copywriter and creative resources are necessary for converting words into formats like infographics, videos, and animation.
It is recommended that content editors-in-chief develop schedules and deadlines in order to ensure people will adhere to them in a timely manner.
Timing
It is important to be conscious of wider business priorities such as key products and markets when determining your key messages and areas of focus, but also be flexible enough to react to current events.
Incorporating a form of proactive response referred to as “new jack” into some portions of your content allows you to remain up-to-date and act quickly.
Tone
Having a tone of voice document is essential. Avoiding technical language and jargon is important as it makes content more inclusive. Plain language should be used to ensure clarity.
Promote
Now that you’ve created quality content that speaks directly to its intended market segment, the last step is promotion. Here’s where SEO comes into play – optimizing page titles and descriptions for better search engine rankings – as well as boosting content via social media marketing and influencer partnerships. You should have fully optimized content for search engines before you published this content for promotion.
Tracking performance metrics such as visibility on Google Trends or the number of views/shares/likes will enable marketers to review their strategies for continual improvement moving forward.
The publishing industry has seen an increasing emphasis on content promotion, exemplified by publishers like BuzzFeed. This reflects a growing understanding of the importance of balancing production and promotion for successful outcomes, although traditional publishers still seem to be struggling in this regard.
Maximize the reach of your content by sharing it with a wide audience.
Email Marketing
It is argued that email marketing is obsolete, however, the response to such an approach may be varied depending on one’s demographics. For example, a 50+ female and a 20+ male would likely generate varying reactions.
It is important to understand your potential customer’s preferences and the platforms they are familiar with. Constant Contact and aWeber are both reliable services, with aWeber providing both the newsletter and automated message capabilities.
50/50 Rule
Intelligent resource management and distribution of content are essential for a successful outcome; creating the content without sharing it with the interested parties would be nonproductive.
Channels
Many people default to social media for their content, but it’s important to consider all the other outlets available that could be suitable for specific content. This decision should correspond with the audience assessment you conducted during the planning stage.
Social Promotion
Social networks are free, which is why they are popular. Many platforms now have revenue-generating features that can assist with business growth at an affordable cost. It is recommended to take advantage of these options while they are still new.
With Facebook’s Promoted Posts, you can share specific content with your friends and their networks, potentially increasing likes.
Timing
When promoting content, it is important to consider the day and time with regard to one’s audience. For example, if a company primarily caters to a USA audience but is based in the UK, they should take this into account when scheduling their promotions.
Google Tools
Google offers a range of free resources that can assist with building your business, such as the URL Builder. This tool provides the ability to segment traffic within Google Analytics.
Utilizing statistics and monitoring tools helps to evaluate performance levels. Google Analytics displays website traffic details such as source, volume, and interactions.
WordPress plugins that measure internal statistics can be used to find out what people enjoy reading on your website and how they navigate from one post to another.
Reporting or Analysis
In the planning stage, time was set aside for setting objectives, metrics, and Key Performance Indicators(KPIs).
Metrics allow for tactical updates to be made, while KPIs provide a concise overview of progress that can be frequently communicated to managers and stakeholders.
Influencers vs. Direct Marketing
When it comes to content marketing, there are two main strategies: influencers and direct marketing. Both strategies have their pros and cons, so understanding the differences between the two is key to achieving success with your content marketing plan.
Influencer marketing involves leveraging the power of social media influencers—people who have a large following on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter—to promote content. It is effective in generating awareness, however, it is more time-consuming than direct marketing.
While direct marketing takes the form of sponsored content or ads on websites, blog posts, and social media platforms. This approach can be effective if you have a specific target market in mind; it is also less time-consuming than influencer marketing.
Co-workers can often be overlooked as influencers, yet their involvement is key for successful groundswell and buy-in. It is recommended to provide co-workers with a policy regarding what they can or cannot share to ensure the effective utilization of their influence.
Evaluating Actual Performance Against Set Targets
Once the analysis and reporting have been established, objectives should be formulated to support business development and track performance. Factors such as follows, reads, and shares are pertinent, but so too are leads, sales, and inbound inquiries.
Accurate tracking through email and marketing automation systems can demonstrate the Return on Investment (ROI) of a given effort, enabling an organization to make better decisions about its activities.
Conclusion
Many businesses have not implemented a content strategy, which can lead to unfavorable outcomes.
The rapid expansion of content marketing has increased the demand on companies, creating an environment where shortcuts are often taken. Oftentimes, the strategies used have not delivered their anticipated outcomes as they lacked clarity and direction to achieve the desired objectives.
By substituting content strategy with brand development and specific objectives, the effectiveness of content marketing can be improved.
Content marketing based around these three Ps can be highly effective if done correctly. Make sure your plans are research-driven; double-check if your material follows industry guidelines; steer clear from clickbait headlines, track performance metrics, evaluate results, make changes where needed, repeat until success!