Content marketing is a powerful tool for awareness, interest and action. With the right strategy, it can become an essential sales and marketing resource, drawing customers to your website and driving repeat engagement with your brand. Content marketing has become more accessible than ever thanks to the rise of influencer marketing and the free content resources available online. But having an online presence isn’t enough; you need a solid strategy to ensure that your content consistently delivers valuable information that people want to read and share.
However, as a small business or non-profit organization, you may face challenges when trying to develop a comprehensive content strategy. You may not have access to the in-house talent or resources that other organizations have. So how do you develop a content strategy with a small team and a small budget?
Define your audience and who you’ll be writing for
First of all, you need to define your audience and the people you’ll be writing for. We’ve already talked about the importance of audience research in creating quality content (notably with the creation of personas). As part of a content strategy, you need to know who your audience is, and why they’re interested in what you have to offer. In this way, you can write content that meets their specific needs and interests, while tapping into general themes and industries that are relevant to your brand.
While you’ll want to keep an eye on the age and gender breakdown of your audience, you can also use market research to identify other audiences your content might appeal to. For example, a grocery store might sell a variety of healthy foods, but also cater to customers with gluten or dairy intolerances. Once you understand your audience, you can determine who you’ll be writing for.
Decide which content will generate traffic as part of your content strategy
Next, you need to decide on the type of content that will drive traffic to your website and increase conversions. One of the easiest ways to generate traffic is through guest blogging. If you have relationships with bloggers in your industry or relevant related sectors, offering to publish articles on their sites can be a great way to showcase your brand and attract new readers to your website. Here are some other types of content you can use to generate traffic:
- How-to content. Videos, blog posts and articles explaining practical steps and providing step-by-step instructions.
- Product reviews. In-depth reviews of products and services, as well as comparisons with similar offerings.
- Interviews. One-on-one interviews with decision-makers and influencers.
- Columns. Extended form of guest blogging, where you contribute to a regular series on a topic and develop a relationship with your audience.
- Infographics. Visual representations of data sets to help explain topics in depth.
- Promotions. Discounts, free offers and other incentives to encourage your audience to buy.
Identify the keywords people use to find you online
Next, you need to identify the keywords with which your content generates traffic. This can be a little harder than it sounds, especially if you have a large number of articles you’re trying to track. One way to do this is to use keyword analysis tools, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, to track your top keywords and their monthly traffic.
By tracking monthly traffic rather than daily traffic, you give yourself a bit of wiggle room if some months you do better with certain terms. You can also use tools such as Keyword Tool and SEO Toolbox to help you identify which keywords are driving traffic to your content. This can help you visualize which topics and keywords are generating the most traffic and make adjustments if necessary.
Develop a list of content ideas that add value for your audience.
Once you’ve determined the types of content that generate traffic, you need to develop a list of content ideas that add value for your audience. Each of these pieces of content should be on a different topic of interest to your audience. This will help you create a variety of content types around a variety of topics, without repeating yourself too much. This way, you can create a variety of long, practical articles, as well as shorter, more digestible ones.
You can also segment your audience into groups based on their interests. This way, you’ll create content around topics that are more relevant to each group. For example, if you own a pet-food store, you could create a list of high-value content ideas around topics such as dog or cat food.
Create your editorial calendar and plan your content before it goes online.
Now that you have a list of high value-added ideas, you can create an editorial calendar and schedule articles before they go online. This gives you a framework for determining how often and when to publish your content. You’ll also want to publish your content before it goes live so that you have time to create appropriate links back to your site. This will help improve your authority and increase your search engine rankings by giving your content more authority and weight.
To publish your content before it goes live, you’ll need to use a publishing tool like WordPress, Medium or Buffer. To create a calendar, you can use these tools to schedule publications for a certain time, such as when your team is available to publish conte
Leverage video and audio to increase engagement and visibility.
If you’re looking to create more engaging and visually rich content, you can also leverage video and audio to accompany your articles. This gives you another way to increase your visibility and authority, while adding another dimension to help your audience engage. For example, the grocery store owner we spoke with decided to create a series of explainer videos for his product and recipe articles. This helped him create more engaging, visual content that also served as SEO content.
Conclusion
Fresh, engaging content will help you establish a strong online presence and drive traffic to your website. To achieve this, you’ll need to regularly publish high-value content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience, while tapping into the topics and keywords that web users use to find you online. These strategies can help you implement a content strategy with a small team and budget, while helping you leverage video and audio to increase engagement and visibility.
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