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By Marissa Kasarov
The majority of marketers today will tell you that content marketing is nothing without a plan. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but the underlying concept really hits home. Creating a solid plan for your marketing initiatives gives you a much better shot at success, and a detailed content marketing strategy should be a part of that plan.
Clearly-Stated Objectives and Division of Responsibilities
The objectives for any given content marketing strategy will be as diverse as the businesses and marketer creating them. Whether you’re interested in promoting a particular product or service, increasing your blog’s readership, or something else, make sure that you’ve outlined those goals clearly.
You’ll need to define leadership in your content marketing efforts, as well as ownership over particular tasks or areas of focus. The point is to make sure that everyone knows their role and what part they will play in the achievement of the goals you have outlined.
A Detailed Outline of Risks and Rewards
Before you jump into content marketing, it’s important to understand the risks and rewards of doing so. More than anything, this gives you a set of metrics (which are likely to be loosely defined) by which you can measure your success.
It also gives you something to look out for. If you are well-acquainted with the possible risks, you may be able to see potentially negative outcomes before they’ve made much of an impact on your business.
Audience Personas
One of the first and most important things you need to accomplish as business owner is to define your audience personas. This is an outline of your ideal customer’s overall makeup, and it includes such information as age, gender, spending habits, and more. The idea here is that you need to understand everything that you can about your audience so that your message can be tailored to their individual needs. Defining your audience personas is a must for every marketer.
Your Marketing Message
It may take time for you to craft your marketing message, and you can count on a good bit of trial and error. The great thing here, though, is that as your brand evolves, so does your story. You should remain flexible and responsive to your audience, updating and building upon your brand’s story as you go.
Fortunately, if you’re just starting out, creating an effective marketing message is easy, as long as you already have the ground work out the way. Refer back to your audience personas, mission, vision, and core values, and your message will come naturally.
Your Chosen Channels
There are so many content marketing outlets available today that it can really be a challenge to decide where you should begin. Again, this all depends on your audience personas; you want to tailor your strategy to meet the needs of your audience. This means marketing through the channels that they use most, whether that means social media, email, blogging, or something else.
You’ll not only want to state which channels you plan to use, but also how you plan to use them.
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Image courtesy of Hubspot. Used with permission.
