Regardless of industry or even the type of product or service you offer, there is a specific result that you are committed to as a business. That result can look like “generating more leads, increasing audience engagement, or increasing website visits or store visits.”
Before, you can start working on the WHAT & HOW (getting to your result), you have to start with your WHY. There needs to be a rhyme and reason to the messages (content) that you put out to your customers & prospective customers (digital audience). This is considered your content strategy, which is the planning, development, and management of content.
First Comes Strategy, then Comes Content.
The 1st step in developing any strategy is to define your goals. What result do you want your content to help bring to fruition? For example, what are your revenue goals? What are some business initiatives—like launching a new product or service, launching in-person events, expanding a department (recruitment), or selling a new ebook or online class?
Write down every business goal and then categorize them into the 5 Content Goal Buckets: Brand Awareness, Lead Generation, Engagement, Customer Retention, or Sales.
Once you have your WHY down (your business goals/objectives), it’s time to move to your WHAT (your content type).
There are 3 key components to Content Strategy: you need to determine your
- Content Type
- Content Goals
- Content KPIs
When choosing the type of content that you would like to share, consider that your content is meant to SERVE your audience (by either being informational or delivering actionable advice) and to help solve/support a business goal.
Below are a few content categories that can serve your audience.
Share Thought Leadership Content
- Position your brand as an industry expert.
- Become the one-stop shop for all things {insert industry}.
- Share trends in the industry and innovations to your products/services.
- Through this content type, you are educating your audience and thus helping them to continue to own their power in the buying process. This creates TRUST in a brand.
Share Guidelines on How to Best Use Your Product/Service
- Help your customers, help you. Giving them a roadmap, positively impacts their overall customer experience.
- If you offer products, provide best practices for product usage to yield the best results.
- If you offer services, provide best practices in the buying process (what to look for when determining the right fit).
- This content type also enables you to educate your audience and thus help them to continue to own their power in the buying process, creating TRUST in the brand.
Share Social Proof
- User-Generated Content (people trust information from their peers)
- Product Reviews
- Customer Experiences (These are stories that your customers share about their customer journey & experience)
- Testimonials (These are stories that your customers tell about your company)
There you have it—the key elements to crafting a strong content strategy.