A Guide to Improving Your Content Marketing Strategy

October 19, 2021

We’ll just come out and say it, content marketing might be one of the most underutilised opportunities out there for businesses.

The right content plan has the potential to attract qualified website traffic, retain your current customers and ultimately grow your business.

Is your content marketing strategy in need of a little TLC?

In this blog we’ll share our recommendations on what to look for in your current content plan and how you can bridge the gaps.

Whether you do content marketing yourself or engage a content marketing agency, these improvements will help to increase your ROI.

But first, let’s go back to basics and ask, why is content marketing important?

Content marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy. It brings in a significant volume of website visitors and leads. As your website traffic increases, so will your conversions. Different elements of content marketing will be relevant at different stages of the funnel, but the goal stays the same; keep your product or service front and centre.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a useful method to increase engagement at each stage of the customer journey. You can use content marketing to attract new audiences, engage and support prospects through blogs, original content and SEO writing.

The best content marketing provides insightful, interesting or entertaining information that helps your customers make the decision to purchase.

Content marketing also has many other benefits that indirectly help sales, such as increasing customer trust, brand reputation and boosting your website’s position higher up in Google search results.

Checklist: types of content marketing

Website & assets

When you think about content marketing for websites, most people think blogs, case studies and downloadable content, which is true.

However a functional, fast-loading website with relevant information is also essential to your content marketing strategy. Your website is often the first place a potential customer will land, so optimising this experience is crucial. Ensure that your website is well structured and easy to navigate, otherwise prospects might never reach your content.

Blogs

Blogging is one of the most cost-effective ways you can engage your audience and increase your ranking on Google.

On-page blogs are posted to your website and let you share informative and interesting articles about your product or industry.

Off-page blogs are where you guest-post on someone else’s website. This lets you reach a wider audience and generate clicks back to your website, in turn boosting your position on Google.

User generated content

Social media is a great way to share content such as blogs and articles. It’s also increasingly becoming a place ruled by immersive, native content like what you find on Instagram Stories or Snapchat.

User generated content is when your audience creates their own content that engages with your brand, such as competition entries or reviews. This kind of social proof is critical for building trust and influencing decision-making.

And much more

The types of content marketing are limited only by your imagination, but some tried and true forms include brochures, case studies, ebooks, videos, infographics, and email newsletters.

How to improve your content marketing strategy

Step back to strategy

A recent survey revealed that the biggest content marketing challenge faced by brands is a lack of data and strategy. If you’re not seeing the results you want from your content marketing, chances are your strategy is ‘set and forget’ or not driven by data.

1. Run an audit

One of the best ways to identify the gaps in your content marketing strategy is through a content audit.

You can do the audit yourself using a handy checklist like this one or recruit an experienced results-driven content marketing agency to help you analyse your existing content and how it could better engage your audience.

2. Create audience personas

If your content marketing strategy is falling short of its goals, you might need to return to the source: your audience. Do a deep dive on their motivations and see if their online behaviours have changed.

Creating audience personas is a great way to understand and group insights about your customers, giving them a name and a face to help your team see them as a real person on a unique buying journey.

3. Solve a problem

Reconsider what problem your product or service solves and why you do this better than the competition. Your unique selling points should be at the centre of your content marketing plan.

Great content should also address the common objections, considerations and questions that inform a prospects decision at each stage of the purchase cycle. If you’re not sure what these are, it might be time to conduct a focus group and speak to the people who do know; your customers.

4. Stick to a schedule

Content marketing must be regular and evolving if it is to be effective. Creating an achievable content marketing schedule helps you share content in a regular rhythm that your audience looks forward to engaging with. A consistent approach to content means a bigger audience and better engagement. Planning is key here; technology and automation tools can help a lot.

5. Be mobile-first

In 2021, users have twice as many interactions with brands on mobile than anywhere else. This means that your content should be created for mobile first with a clear content structure and design to work across different devices.

6. Work with a content marketing agency

While content marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of reaching new customers and keeping the old ones loyal, it’s also hard to do well. If content marketing is the weak link in your overall marketing strategy, recruiting an experienced content marketing agency is worth the investment.

Our content marketing agency has years of experience delivering content marketing strategies that are data-driven. This improves your customer’s experience and increases your ROI, making everyone a winner.