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Are you planning a content marketing strategy? Awesome! Statistics suggest that content marketing leaders get 7.8 times more traffic than entities that still don’t have a leadership position. It’s also very important to point out that content marketing is 62 percent less expensive than outbound campaigns but it brings in three times as many leads.
All of this sounds great and you’re probably eager to get started but hold up! A successful content marketing strategy needs to have a number of elements.
The most important one is intimate understanding of the audience you’re about to be addressing. If you don’t know what your audience is looking for and you simply produce generic content, chances are that you’ll see mediocre results from the campaign.
Forget about Creating Content for Advertising Purposes
The first and most important thing you have to do in order to build a successful content marketing strategy is to stop thinking about texts as advertising tools.
People have had enough of straightforward promotion. This is the main reason why it no longer works. In other words, you have to give your audience something without expecting immediate returns.
This way, you build up a relationship and you learn more about your audience. The knowledge can be used to create even more targeted campaigns in the future.
If you think that you’re going to start immediately through text creation, you’re wrong. Focus on useful and niche topics that you have a lot of knowledge about. Sharing this knowledge with the world is the only way to build your reputation and lay the foundations of a successful long-term strategy.
Answer the Questions Your Readers Have
One of the easiest ways to ensure the relevance of your content is answering questions your audience has.
Pay attention to your social media profiles and the comments left on the texts that you’ve already written. Very often, people will tell you what they want to learn more about and which topics they’re interested in.
You may even ask specific questions through your website or your Facebook profile. There’s nothing wrong about requesting feedback from the people who are already interacting with your brand. Such interactions can be highly enlightening.
You may think that people want to read about something but actual feedback from the audience will paint a completely different picture.
Experiment with Formats
Writing exceptional texts is one of the prerequisites of honoring your audience and making people come back for more. This, however, isn’t the only aspect of putting together a unique content marketing strategy.
It’s a good idea to experiment with different styles and formats. Some of the commonly used options include how-to guides, interviews with industry experts, lists, in-depth reports, humorous texts and personal stories. Creating series that take a deeper look at a complex issue is also a good idea.
Once you experiment with all of these writing formats, take a look at the traffic results. Which types of content seem to generate the most interest? Is the trend a consistent one? If the answer is positive, you can rest assured that you know which formats to utilize in the future.
When it comes to content, you can also experiment with text, images, videos, infographics, diagrams and slideshows. Content in today’s world isn’t limited to solely text. The more diversity you offer your audience, the more willing will people be to come back and engage with you.
Promote to Reach Your Audience
Even if you have an excellent idea about your target audience and you’ve created the perfect texts, you’ll still see poor results without content promotion.
Content promotion is the strategy used to reach the right crowd and let these people know about the new publication. The good news is that you can employ multiple promotional methods to reach people of interest.
Social media are an obvious answer when it comes to connecting with the right crowd. It’s a good idea to start building your social media presence while carrying out a content marketing campaign. You will see the best results when the two strategies work alongside each other.
Email newsletters are a little bit old-school but they can also deliver excellent results. For the purpose, you have to build a mailing list. Don’t be afraid to offer people perks if they join the mailing list. You can create a free ebook, a discount or any other bonus for such people.
Refine Your Approach
Topics are not created equal and you’ll have to refine your approach every now and then to make sure it’s still in line with what your audience wants.
You have all of the tools that you may ever need to figure out how your content is doing and whether people are content with what you have to offer. Content marketing is an ongoing process. You can’t just stick to a couple of topics and expect them to deliver results time and time again through the years.
As your business changes, so will your audience. This is why you have to evolve. Experiment with new content and assess the response of your audience. Giving people something fresh and new every once in a while will keep the interest high.
Knowing who your audience is happens to be a challenging task but it ranks among the most important prerequisites for successful content marketing.
Get in the habit of interacting with your readers often. Ask questions and employ analysis tools. A systemic approach to content creation and performance tracking will lead to better targeting, a higher level of engagement and an approach that the respective audience will respond to.
This article has been a guest post from Alice Clarke is a content marketer and a professional writer. You can find her on website or Facebook
