7 steps to building an effective content strategy is a comprehensive guide on how to create content effectively—and simply as possible.
Building content, much like running a business, requires an appropriate plan.
Especially if your company is based on content creation or digital marketing as its bread and butter.
Marketers, SEO Content Specialists & Bloggers—this post is dedicated to you.
1/ Choose Your Audience Wisely
From this step begins the whole game of conquering the market—who will be my target audience?
This question can sometimes be a real chore to find the correct answer.
If you are an SEO agency, the task is relatively simple. Technically, any client in the B2B sector can be your customer. An online store selling strollers or a private kindergarten in Miami. There are no limits.
The task becomes more difficult when you create content for a very niche industry. Let’s say you run a blog for moms.
This is undoubtedly an interesting area, but not every form of communication will be appropriate.
Building a persona or ICP (ideal customer profile) takes on basic questions:
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Who is your audience?
- How much do they earn?
- What do they do for a living?
- What role do they play in the organization?
- Do they have a family? If so, how many children do they have?
However, modern persona building requires more precise questions.
You can divide the personalization of questions into 5 groups:
- Psychographics
- Buying Behavior
- Media Consumption
- Goals and Challenges
- Customer Journey
Exemplary questions from each of these groups:
1. Psychographics:
- What are their lifestyle preferences?
- What are their hobbies and interests?
- What values and beliefs are important to them?
2. Buying Behavior:
- What are their typical objections to buying?
- What factors influence their buying decisions?
- How do they prefer to purchase products or services (online, in-store, etc.)?
3. Media Consumption
- What social media platforms do they use?
- What blogs, magazines, or news sources do they read?
- What type of content do they consume and share (videos, articles, podcasts)?
4. Goals and Challenges
- What challenges do they face in achieving these goals?
- What are their primary goals (both personal and professional)?
- How can your product or service help them overcome these challenges or achieve their goals?
5. Customer Journey
- What touchpoints do they have with your brand?
- What are their experiences and expectations at each stage of the customer journey?
- What does their journey look like from becoming aware of a need to making a purchase?
The more precisely you define your target audience, the easier it will be for you to tailor the product to them and sell it.
2/ Research on What & Why People Buy
Having chosen your niche, analyze in detail what they buy and why.
There isn’t one consistent element that decides this. On the contrary, there are 3 factors that have the main influence.
1. Social factors
Family, culture, the specific country, or trend. Each of these elements influences the final purchase. Notice if many people around you started buying a certain thing, you probably were tempted yourself.
Example: Louis Vuitton handbags. They are not necessarily the best, but social influence has led many individuals to buy them.
2. Economic factors
This refers to what your customer can afford. The more affluent the target group you aim for, the more you can sell. Although this is not always applicable. Your customers may take out loans to purchase your product at all cost.
Example: luxury (but not too much) cars or iPhones.
3. Psychological factors
These include personal motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions. For instance, a consumer buys a product for its perceived quality, brand image, or the status it conveys.
Thoroughly research what motivates the niche you’re creating a product for, and figure out how to get them to buy from you instead of the competition.
Good research, understanding the market, and keeping up with its trends—this will lead to the growth of your business at a dynamic rate.
3/ Create a Plan for What You Want to Say to Your Audience
The first and most important step is to define your core message.
When creating a brand, it’s important for it to have recognizable features.
An appropriate color, design, slogan, the face, or object of the brand.
- Nike got the slogan: Just Do It.
- Virgin Group has Richard Branson.
- Apple is known for its minimalism.
- Coca-Cola is recognized by its red color.
What’s your idea for making your brand recognizable?
4/ Decide How You’re Going to Share Your Content with the World
Creating good content is not everything; now you need to show it to the world.
And to be more precise, you need to use the right traffic sources to reach your audience.
Contrary to what it may seem, this choice isn’t the easiest, but let’s start with the basics and the most well-known platforms.
1. Facebook (Meta)
If your target is the B2C sector, then Facebook is the ideal place. There are many recipients, especially those aged 20+ and particularly from Europe, the USA, or South America. The first step is to create a fan page, which is your business profile on Facebook. Then, getting into details, look for inspiration and customers in relevant thematic groups. They are often the solution to many questions and problems.
2. TikTok
A medium that is currently used by brands all over the world. You would laugh that only children use it—not true. 61% of B2B Marketers use TikTok as their main traffic source. That’s a really big percentage. Especially showing the trend in which B2B brand targeting is heading.
3. LinkedIn
This is my favorite place for publishing content (right after this blog!). If you’re targeting the B2B segment, you’re in the right place. Your profile on LinkedIn is acknowledged as your landing page—it shows your experience, expertise, and what can be expected from you. Adequately optimize your profile, and then regularly publish content. In an ideal scenario; 4–7 times a week. This way, you’ll build a suitable network.
4. Quora
It’s often not talked about much, but it’s the best place to look for inspiration and ask questions. Find the questions your readers are asking right there. Especially if you run a blog, you’ll find a lot of inspiration there for creating more posts.
5. X (ex-Twitter)
Or the well-known Twitter. Short & concise posts with a concrete message—this is the platform where your business will find itself best. After many changes, X is well-known for freedom of speech and controversy. And controversy is, after all, what our society likes the most. Don’t be afraid to use it right there.
5/ Surprise Your Audience with a New Form of Content
Your content cannot be boring and monotonous. No matter how interesting it is, it won’t attract many viewers that way.
Use several traffic sources to reach the maximum number of your audience.
>> If you like writing: LinkedIn
>> If you enjoy recording: TikTok
>> If design is not foreign to you: Pinterest
However, remember the main rule—diversify your content.
By posting the same posts on each platform, why should your audience follow you on each of them? That’s the question.
Different posts and tailor them to the appropriate traffic source. Shorter or longer content. More or fewer graphics. Longer or shorter videos.
Diversified content—this is something that your audience loves most.
6/ Write Consistently Your Content
If you’re a blogger or a professional copywriter, you know how important perseverance in writing is.
From experience, I know that sometimes, I can write 20,000 words on a specific topic in a day. And other times, 3,000 words can be a nightmare.
If you’re lacking ideas, ask ChatGPT for help.
Write me a prompt: “Based on the topic X (write a specific name), create for me 5 subtopics”. After all, you’ll see how simple it is.
However, never copy from Chat. No matter what prompt you give, it’ll never be your style.
If you want to attract an audience that will integrate with your style, always write yourself. Generating ideas from ChatGPT is great, but copying from it will not lead to anything good.
Prepare your topic. Write adequate keywords for SEO. Choose your target audience and start writing nonstop. Voilà!
7/ A/B Test Your Tactic
Pay attention to what your readers are saying.
After all, the content you create is not for you; it’s for them.
When receiving comments on posts, on your blog, or in private messages—respond appropriately to their suggestions.
Sometimes you might get a comment saying your post is a piece of sh*t. You can’t do much about that, so don’t take it personally.
On the other hand, suggestions on what you could improve or what your audience would like to see will often start to appear. Address those.
A/B testing and frequent interaction with your audience is the best (and free) way to increase revenue from your blog and other online businesses.
And what’s your strategy for content creation?
Write to me in the comments what you think and what might be missing here!
P.S. Don’t forget to add me to your network on LinkedIn & X.
Thank you for reading & contributing!
Simon
Author Profile
- Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Copywriting, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.
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