The 9 steps of the content marketing strategy

A summary of the steps taken to boost this type of marketing strategy.

Content marketing is an action that goes far beyond producing digital content. In addition to offering interesting information to the public, it is also necessary to think about the best way to distribute that content, in order to increase the audience.

A larger audience is synonymous with more business opportunities, and it is for this reason that you must think very carefully about the process with which you intend to achieve that goal.

There are several steps in the content marketing strategyThe steps involved in the content marketing strategy range from the choice of information channels to the selection of the content to be published and its periodicity. Next we will see what steps this process involves.

What is a content marketing strategy?

A content marketing strategy is the way in which the planning, management, development and distribution of content, as well as the analysis of its impact and results, are grouped together.and the analysis of the impact and results of this content.

As every year companies are forced to produce more content and be very careful with what they publish, these strategies have become an urgent necessity to keep organizations visible and gain competitive advantages.

It is not simply a matter of informing about what the company does or will do, as in traditional corporate communication.It is not about simply informing about what the company is doing or what it will do, as in traditional corporate communication. Unlike the traditional method, focused on the business, the content marketing strategy focuses on people, while aiming to improve brand positioning, build authority in its market and educate it, making it see how the organization can solve and resolve users' problems.

This type of strategy is the way for the company to achieve up to four general objectives:

• Expansion in the market.
• Expansion of its offer of goods and services.
• Increase in sales.
• Increase in brand value.

The steps of the content marketing strategy

The content marketing strategy involves a series of steps that must be followed in order to ensure that the company disseminates content that is relevant to the target audience, in addition to increasing the number of sales.The content marketing strategy involves a series of steps to be followed to ensure that the company is disseminating relevant content to its target audience and increasing its sales and relevance in the market.

1. Define the objectives

The first thing to do is to define the objectives to be achieved with the development of the content marketing strategy. You cannot begin to change the dynamics of content creation if you do not know the goal you want to achieve.

This step, so simple, is very necessary, since it will make it easier to easier to determine in the future which aspects are the most relevant for the strategy.. It will also make it possible to define the formats and social networks that will be used to share the content.

It is in this step that the following questions should be asked: does the company want to increase the digital community? increase sales? increase customer loyalty? increase traffic to the site?

2. Define the buyer persona

Once the objectives have been established, it is necessary to define the "buyer persona" to whom our content will be directed.

But what is the "buyer persona"? It is the consumer stereotype to be impacted, a semi-fictitious representation of what is understood as the ideal customer of our organization. of what is understood as the ideal customer of our organization. Before developing content, it is extremely necessary to understand to whom we are going to send the information and that is why the figure of the "buyer persona" is so necessary.

It should not be seen as a synonym of the target audience, but rather as a broader concept of it. of the same. When thinking about this figure, in addition to basic demographic information such as age group, gender or language of majority use, more personal aspects will be taken into account, such as preferences, concerns, short and long term objectives, way of behaving on the Internet...

It is possible that, if you have been generating content for some time, you may want to expand the target audience, or change the current one. To do this, it is crucial to review the parameters of the audience of the company or organization, conducting market research from time to time, preferably annually.

3. Conduct interviews with customers and prospects

Although we may have a more or less clear idea of what our "buyer persona" is, in order to better define it, it is advisable to conduct interviews with customers and prospects.

We must put aside assumptions and intuitions about who our ideal client is, since, like all humans, we are all human beings.As all humans, we can be wrong, and that is not good for us. This process is a real research, demanding the application of inquiry techniques and effective methodologies.

4. Determine the content management system

Creating content is essential, but if this content is not properly managed, it can lead to a chaotic library of resources that will not be properly used and will not be attractive to the target audience.

The content management system must be determined, organizing the activity in such a way as to achieve the best results. The content management system must be determined, organizing the activity in such a way as to achieve success in establishing contact with potential buyers of the product or service offered by the company. Some vital parts of content management are the creation, publication and evaluation of that same content.

5. Determine topics

Determining what topics your audience is interested in is critical to generating new content that they will find interesting and share with their acquaintances. It is in the best interest of every company that its followers on social networks share the content it publishes.This will make it gain more impact on the general public, in addition to attracting the attention of more people interested in what the business offers.

In order to determine themes, the trends and preferences of the general public must be analyzed and, in particular, what seems to interest the "buyer persona". The best way to do this is by analyzing "keywords", which are terms or sentences used by users when they use Internet search engines such as Google or Bing.

Depending on the audience to which the content is addressed, one or other keywords should be chosen to guarantee the exposure and visibility of what the brand publishes. It must be taken into account that using "keywords" will imply having to produce content on topics that, perhaps, would never that, perhaps, would never have occurred to the page managers.

6. Monitoring of social networks.

To know what is being talked about, the brand must have social media monitoring tools, in order to know which keywords are "trending topic". In addition, by monitoring what the followers of the page are doing it is possible to know whether or not a published content has had the desired impact..

There are several tools that allow us to take this step. To name a few. Hootsuite, Buffer, IFTTT...

7. Monitor the competition

You have to be aware of the trends in the area in which you want to have an impact, and know what companies similar to yours are doing. This is essential if you want to continue appearing in search engines when the public searches for certain information related to the topics of our contents.

Knowing what your competitors are doing is essential, not only because it helps us to to set guidelines, take some references and modify contents to make them more original.. This can help you avoid making the same mistakes as your competitors.

Some things you can measure about your competitors are the volume of competitors, how they communicate with each other, the traffic to the site, how often they post new content...

8. Determine the content format

There is a lot of content that a company can create on its official web site. Depending on what is being discussed, it may be more appropriate to present this content in one format or another, such as, among the main ones, blog posts, e-books, infographics, videos and podcasts.

Blog posts

Blog posts are common on all types of websites, and are usually published on a regular basis. are usually published on a regular basis to attract new visitors.. The articles should provide valuable content for the buyer persona. Usually these blogs are between 1,000 and 2,000 words, although they can be shorter or longer depending on the audience to be reached.

Blogs, developed with SEO techniques, have many benefits for the company, especially if we take into account that the blog or web page is the face of the organization, so it is important to make sure that it is always updated. The web page can show, in an organized way, the products and services, as well as offering a clear way to contact the author of the entry or those in charge of the content in general.

If the blogs are elaborated correctly positioning the "keywords" and properly applying the SEO writing techniques, the blog will appear in the first entries in the search engines more easily.

E-books

E-books are very important tools in marketingespecially if they can be downloaded for free after having the potential customer fill out an online form with their contact information. They tend to be much longer and more detailed than blogs, but with less frequency of publication.

Readers of the website content may have read some blog posts and want to know more. It is for this reason that the company should have this avenue covered, in order to satisfy the need to acquire a deeper knowledge of its audience.

Infographics

They are a closer and more visual way of presenting information than the two previous options.. These are great content formats to use if you want to share a large amount of data in a clear and easy way, without the reader feeling oversaturated by seeing a bunch of scattered words on a topic he does not master.

Videos

People usually prefer to watch a video rather than read a blog, for this reason, within the steps of the content marketing strategy, the development of this multimedia material should not be left aside. Moreover, they are easy to share, they are easy to share.

However, they have a disadvantage, and that is that they involve a greater investment in terms of time and resources than content in written format. Even so, and also related to infographics, taking into account that in recent years visual marketing has been gaining more and more importance, it is a resource worth investing in.

Podcasts

Podcasts are a resource that has become very fashionable in recent years, especially if we take into account that they they make it possible to reach an audience that does not have time or interest in reading written content on a frequent basis.. This resource can be ideal if you have interesting people to interview.

9. Publish and manage content

The marketing plan must go beyond simply choosing the type of content to create: it must be organized.

This can be done in a number of ways, but the key is to have an editorial calendar in place to set the an editorial calendar that will set the right path for publishing a balanced, diverse and of content that is balanced, diverse and adjusted to what has been seen when analyzing and delimiting the "buyer persona", making it relevant to the theme of the website but, at the same time, offering something new.

In this calendar, in addition to publishing content related to the company's theme and what the buyer persona is interested in, important celebrations and holidays, such as Christmas, national and international commemorations and anniversaries, should not be overlooked.

Although it is convenient to have a well-organized editorial calendar, you should not be extremely rigid when it comes to sharing content. Current events are very volatilenews appear, which are opportunities that should not be missed. To create content related to a current topic is essential to generate important traffic peaks.

Conclusion

As we can see, there are many steps in the content marketing strategy. It is a somewhat long road, but necessary if you want to make the company have visibility in the field to which it is dedicated. It should be noted that this type of strategy is focused on achieving sustainable results.Therefore, it is highly advisable to comply with each of the phases described here.

However, one should not be rigid. Along the way you may encounter bumps and other inconveniences in which you will have to redefine the objectives initially set out, change the format of some content and, also, see to what extent the "buyer persona" is really the one you have delimited.

Bibliographical references:

• Lindström, Martin (2010). Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 9780385523899.
• Bel Mallén, J. I. (coord.) (2004). Comunicar para crear valor. La dirección de comunicación en las organizaciones. Navarra: COSO Foundation and EUNSA.
• Capriotti Peri, P. (2009). Corporate branding. Fundamentals for the strategic management of corporate identity. Santiago de Chile: Colección de Libros de la Empresa.