When executed correctly, Content Marketing Strategy is the best form of win-win persuasion. Here are the 4 critical steps to implementation:
1. Make Your Content Marketing Unique and Persuasive
To be successful, your customers must understand the benefit to them when they choose you over someone else. Therefore, the most critical element of successful Content Marketing Strategy is developing useful and engaging content that provides appropriate, unique and convincing messages for your target audience. [1]
2. Develop Content that is easily shareable by your target audience
Ideally, this content is present within an inbound content destination (Website, Blog, Facebook Page, YouTube Channel, etc.), which successfully answers your customers’ key questions. It does not directly promote your products, but it invites your visitors to explore your solutions ‘no strings attached’. [2]
Your Content Marketing Strategy must have flexible content delivery options to suit the end users’ preferred format. Kraft is an absolute success story when considering openness to new opportunities and channel preferences. When Pinterest became popular, Kraft noticed users were actively sharing recipes and added a ‘Pin It’ button to the Kraft website to make it easier for users to share recipes, also creating their own ‘boards’ to share their thoughts with the audience. [3] Think electronic Word of Mouth Marketing – are you giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place?
Another great case study is Volvo, whose brand identity wasn’t derived from its logo or product design; rather it was the constant stream of product reviews that published data on crash tests over time that formed the foundation for its brand. What other people subsequently said about Volvo created the meaning for their brand – Safety! [3]
Content Marketing Strategy is most effective when it facilitates ‘user generated content’ that is, having customers talk about your brand in the correct way and constantly engages with customers to contribute to this multi-channel ‘conversation’ to monitor and guide their customers’ perception and understanding.
3. Design Your Organisation to be focused on Helping Your Customers
Successful Content Marketing Strategy requires that your business’ culture has adapted to and embraced its importance, no longer yielding to the deeply held belief that marketing is required to promote your products. Your management team needs to understand why you need a Content Marketing Strategy and start to focus your organization on helping your customers. [2]
4. Define Content Marketing Success Measures
Finally, to know if you are being successful with your Content Marketing Strategy you must be able to define your measures of success, and then apply them! For example;
- How many early stage search terms drive traffic to your site (thus determining if you are answering your customers’ most important questions)?
- How many leads are generated from inbound (vs. outbound) sources?
- How much early stage content are you producing and how well does your target audience connect with this? [2]
Here are 2 tools that can assist you in making sure your Content Marketing Strategy is on track:
- Inbound Marketing Traffic and Leads Calculator
- One Page Online Marketing Action Plan
REFERENCES
[1] “5 Traits All Successful Content Marketers Share – Copyblogger”
[2] “What Is A Content Strategy And Why Do You Need It? – Forbes”
[3] “Successful Content Marketing in Action – Forbes”
