Having a strategy for your content is imperative to its success. Now I know some folks just toss some content out into the world and get lucky, but that’s not the case for most who are seeing traction and profits from their content marketing. Yes, you are excited to jump in, but look before you leap! Making a content marketing strategy is usually the ticket, and I whipped up a webinar on the very topic. If you don’t have 30 minutes or so, here are five tips to get you started.
1. Set goals
I’m a fan of specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound. You may recognize these as SMART goals. You need to know what you are trying to accomplish, and then you should select content strategies and tactics that may help to satisfy these goals. Don’t just do the things that are popular or easy, as your young business may not have the money to burn.
2. Ditch vanity goals
Yep, a ton of Twitter followers, Facebook likes, or visits to your blog look or feel good, but these aren’t high-level goals. They could look good to an investor, but high click-through rate, a sizable time spent on site, and conversions will be even more impressive, especially if there is revenue that follows.
3. Create personas
You need to know who you are talking to. Having well-developed personas ready to let you narrow your message and create something more relevant and resonant. This also helps you to make sure you are talking to those you want to have as your customers, and not trying to please everyone by being general.
4. Set a budget
When you are launching your startup, expenses can spiral out of control, and the same goes for content. Even though the content is generally more affordable than other marketing methods, it can get pricey if you don’t reign it in. When you create a content marketing strategy, tack on a budget for start-up and month by month.
5. Be logical
Follow initiatives that make sense for your business. If you have a cool product that’s just hit the market, you may want to spend time making image-heavy content for your blog and social media. But hitting Instagram hard for a digital B2B SaaS startup sounds kind of silly. Also, pay attention to the stage it’s in—if you’re trying to build buzz to attract investors before launch, blog posts and heavy promotion could be more valuable than other avenues.
Speaking of content marketing strategy, we have a free Content Story Organizer that can help you map out the hole-free content journey for your all your content themes. Tap the image below to get it now!
