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6 Key Steps To Creating A Winning Content Marketing Strategy

content-marketing-strategy-rachelle-deem

Don’t be intimidated if you’re new to the world of content marketing. We all start somewhere and it’s nowhere near as complicated, or stressful as you may think.

There are six key steps you need to consider to create a winning content marketing strategy and I’m going to cover each of those steps for you in this blog post.

1. Set your goals

Why are you creating your content? What are you hoping to achieve with crafting a content marketing strategy? Setting a goal for your strategy can mean the difference between success and failure. 

And how do you achieve your goals? 

Moving towards the end goal with your content marketing strategy is no different than any other business goal - you need a solid plan of action to take you from A to Z. 

The most effective way to achieve a large goal is to break it down into bite-sized milestones. It can be overwhelming when you have one single huge goal ahead of you - it can sometimes feel completely unattainable, and unrealistic, but a series of small steps, mini-goals, can make it easier to achieve. You are more likely to feel an ongoing sense of motivation if you’re able to tick something off your list more regularly, rather than having a single big goal which never seems to be ticked off.

2. Know your audience

Knowing your audience can’t ever be underestimated. It’s one of the backbones of a successful content marketing strategy. Without it, you could be very well shooting in the dark. If you want to make the most of your content marketing, then know who your content is for first.

3. Identify your content platforms

There are a lot of platforms you can choose to publish your content on. Of course, having your own website should be at the top of your list. A solid social media presence is also very important. Find out what other platforms are preferred by your audience and where it’s practical to do so, join them there. It’s a pointless exercise in targeting your audience on Twitter if they’re all hanging out on LinkedIn. 

I get that you’ve probably done an exercise on determining your Ideal Client Avatar (ICA) on more than one occasion. Possibly, if you’re like I once was, you roll your eyes or grimace at the thought of doing it again, and think it’s a pointless exercise because you know your audience.

Well if you really do - that’s perfect. 

If you truly know your audience then you know how to access them; You know where to find them, who else they follow, what they read, what they listen to.

Most importantly, you know how to speak to them in a way that will truly resonate and connect with them. You know what they’re struggling with, and know-how to help them solve that struggle. You can even communicate that struggle to them better than they can themselves - and when they hear your words they think - “Oh my god, she totally gets me”. 

But...if you don’t know your audience like this, if you don’t how you can speak to them through your content and have them sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for more from you, then I really encourage you to do an ICA exercise again...incredibly beneficial. 

There are sooo many different sites that can help you out with this, but here are a few to get you started:

Scott Oldford - 360 degree customer avatar

Amy Porterfield - Defining Your Ideal Client Avatar

4. Decide on content types

Once you know where your audience hangs out, then it’s time to decide on the types of content you should be publishing. In addition to blog posts and articles, you can repurpose your content into many other formats like videos, infographics, podcasts, etc.

I have a blog post on the top types of content for your content marketing strategy. You can check it out right here.

5. Create content

Now here comes the hard part. Creating content is going to take time whether you do it yourself or not. If you’re building your business all by yourself, expect to spend a significant amount of time in front of your computer. If you don’t want to do that, then you should consider outsourcing. It’s probably going to be pricey, but you do get your free time back.

6. Promote and market

Your content is not going to get discovered on its own. You’ll need to go out there and promote it! When you create content, create a number of social posts to accompany and promote it, across your platforms.

You can make it easy for your audience to share your content with their networks by adding social media sharing buttons on your site.

And that’s it - 6 key ways to create a winning content marketing strategy.

Now, it’s time to get started crafting your own content marketing strategy.

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