A foolproof guide to content marketing

Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of your organization’s strategy when making connections is your primary goal. No matter what platform you’re using for messaging, content is key when establishing and maintaining your audience’s loyalty. Though this type of marketing has become a growing trend, many organizations tend to complicate the process. The good news is that content marketing is a relatively simple strategy that could be aided by following these tips:

1. 1.    Create goals worth pursuing.

Before you can start creating content, make sure you know where your organization currently stands and where it hopes to go. All of your content efforts, including blogs, newsletters and social media, must work toward a bigger picture. Whether you hope to increase sales, attract new customers or build trust with current audiences, goals will define the role of your content beforehand.

2.    Do your research.

Once you’ve established your goals, conduct primary and secondary research to determine the best ways to achieve them. Research consumer preferences, such as platforms, colors and messaging, as well as search engine keywords and social media preferences. If you answer these questions before launching your campaign, you’ll help ensure better results.

3.    Determine an effective strategy.

After you’ve answered your research questions and determined your target audiences, you can determine how to best achieve your goals. Whether you’re using social media to target Millennials or industry-specific publications to reach a smaller audience, it’s important to keep your overarching strategy in mind to guide to your content creation.

4.    Develop themes.

An easy way to plan out your content marketing strategy is to establish industry-specific themes to guide your organization’s conversation. Develop a list of topics related to your business that represent important search engine optimization terms. Choose one of those topics to focus on each month.

5.    Evaluate your progress.

The most important aspect of your strategy is evaluating its success. Use analytic tools to determine whether your message is reaching its target audience or if your strategy needs to be adjusted. Ultimately, evaluation will save you time, money and effort down the road.

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