We are in a digital era. All of us use the internet to find answers, products, and recommendations. For better product visibility you need to have a content marketing plan to attract your target audience. Content marketing brings the right audience to your website based on the indent.
A well designed and planned content marketing campaign can be crucial for a successful search engine optimization on your website. A good content strategy will help your website rank high and attract more customers to your business. Unfortunately, it is one of the most ignored parts of online marketing by most business owners today.
It is neglected not because these businesses do not understand it’s potential but are unaware of the planning and execution process. There are a few key steps of creation for a performing content marketing strategy, understanding this will make it much easier to craft one.
These steps are:
+ Creating an objective for the activity
A well-outlined objective gives you a clear idea of what is to be achieved as a result of implementing the content marketing plan.
+ Building a seed list of keywords
To achieve an objective, you need to identify the audience and their search intent. This gives insights into the stage at which they are in the buying cycle.
Creating a plan for prospects at each stage of the funnel or buying cycle will give you an advantage. This can be done using keywords that they might search for your brand.
+ Planning the content formats and depth
Content formats and layouts are important as prospects are looking for information for different reasons and are at different stages and platforms. Audiences might have preferences over the formats they consume content over like Video, Audio, or articles.
+ Budgeting and Resource allocation for the content production
With the right content formats and volume identified, you can proceed to plan the budget. Creating quality content takes time and effort. It is an investment for life but requires resources either in time or money. The content produced should be able to answers the prospect’s queries in mind and encourage them to take action which moves them one step closer to their desired result with your product or service.
Creating a plan is not easy but it doesn’t end there. You need to implement it to be successful in content marketing. You also amplify the results buy content reuse and adapting it for multiple platforms.
For example. You could create a written piece of content and
- Submit a variation of the same article to article directories for backlinks
- Create Youtube videos to reach audiences who prefer video over written content
- Create a podcast to attract users who prefer audio
- Share on Facebook groups and other communities where you have permission to do so.
Once you have identified each of these, you will be able to create a robust and effective content marketing plan . This would build authority for your brand. Over time, this authority will create credibility and generate leads for the business on auto-pilot once set up and executed.