What's more, content marketing does not come cheaply. So, if you are pouring time, money and resources into creating and publishing original digital content, you better be certain you are doing so based on the kind of content marketing strategy that is guaranteed to result in leads and customers.
1. It is about helping, not selling - The age of the hard sell is long gone. These days, consumers make buying decisions based on independent online research, so the best content marketing strategies produce the kind of helpful, educational content that modern, web-savvy consumers are looking for.
2. It makes use of a range of different content formats - If you want your content marketing programme to pack a punch, keep things interesting by including various forms of content, from blogs, to podcasts, to case studies, to video content, to social media conversations. Different audiences are drawn to different types of content, so experiment with different formats and see which ones have the best results.
3. It is aligned to the customer lifecycle - The best content marketing strategies include highly targeted content that is mapped against the customer lifecycle or buyer journey. Content aimed at prospects near the top of the sales funnel should not be product-centric, because it will come across as too salesy. As a prospect moves further down the funnel and becomes more educated about and interested in your product, they will become more interested in reading product-focused content.
4. It is backed up by marketing data - If you are not using marketing analytics in 2015, you are a relic. Basing your marketing tactics on hard data is the best way to ensure that your content marketing strategy is as cost-effective and targeted as possible. Use marketing analytics to determine which pieces of content resulted in the most views, conversions, leads and sales - then optimise your strategy based on these insights.
5. It is ROI-driven - The success of your content marketing strategy should be measured based on concrete return on investment (ROI). Do not only look at metrics relating to things such as page views, click-throughs, likes and follows; you should measure content marketing success based on nothing less than actual revenue generated.
This article barely scrapes the surface of what it takes to put together a killer content marketing strategy. If you want to get into the juicy stuff, do not miss the upcoming HubSpot User Group events this December. Content strategy and inbound marketing guru Chris Englund will be sharing his knowledge at both the Cape Town and Johannesburg HUG events.
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