Strategy - the sure fire antidote to random acts of content
In the Land of Content, content strategy is the fast route to success
Do you ever get that nagging feeling that you’re slogging your heart out on all this content for little return? You’re doing the work (writing blogs, sending out a regular email newsletter, incessant social media, occasional talks). It’s darned hard work, and for what?
If clarity and confidence in your content efforts is slipping, then this post is for you. Or if you’re just starting out with content marketing, and wondering what to say and how to differentiate your content. What can you do to find or refind your focus and put your content and marketing on the path to sales success?
How to recognise if you’re culpable of Random Acts of Content:
You’re not getting any comment in response to your content and few shares
Enquiries are trickling in but it’s not the kind of work you’re after
Inbound enquiries have dried up entirely
You look at the last 5 things you’ve written and there’s no common thread
You haven’t got a real person in mind when you’re writing
You can’t think who to send it to having written it
It’s all feeling a bit self-indulgent and just plain wrong
First, what NOT to do
Tricky times. But however tempting, here’s what not to do when you feel your content has lost its way.
Give up. Switch off that content tap. Let the tumbleweed roll. [How else are you going to engage, to keep front of mind?]
Start selling hard to your opt-in list of subscribers/your newsletter list. You’ve built their trust, it’s high time you saw the return. Forget the valuable stuff just sell, sell, sell. [The best way to lose that hard won trust, fast!]
Carry on regardless. Must be a blip. A mere glitch in the matrix. Continue, push harder. Eventually it’ll all come good…. won’t it? [Nope. “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”]
None of these three approaches will fire up your business development efforts. There’s a far smarter route to pull yourself out of the hole.
Content strategy – the antidote to Random Acts
“Without strategy content is just stuff. And the world has enough stuff.” ~ Arjun Basu
The process of documenting or re-documenting your strategy makes all the difference if you want to be more effective at marketing. It will ensure the content you create and share is valuable to you (delivers on your business objectives) and valuable to your readers (answers their questions): win, win.
A content marketing strategy is the means by which you make your website and content really work for your business. It forces you to make decisions on all the big content questions – why, who, what, how, where and when. It motivates you to focus your content activities and previous time around a clear goal.
Writing your content marketing strategy in line with your business purpose, strategy and direction, and therefore in line with the needs of the customers you really want to help is the switch that will get you back on track.
A good content strategy starts with objectives and ends with results – a process and a plan to get you from A to B using the content on your website and beyond. But what does this involve?
Content marketing strategy – in 10 steps
Here’s the process.
Get clear on your goals. What is the difference that you want this focus on content to make to your business? Don’t skip this step. The clearer your focus, the more targeted your content marketing efforts will be. >> Here’s a post to help you set clear content marketing goals
Know your business. Make time for some naval gazing and take a hard look at your business. Not just at what the business sells (that is very important) but WHY it exists, its purpose in the world, beyond financial targets. Getting clear on your why will help you to position your content firmly in your area of expertise. If you miss out this step there’s a danger that you’ll create content that meets your customers’ needs (and they will have many) but will never move your business forward. >> Read – Businesses with purpose create better content
Know your customers. Knowing what to talk about with your content relies on knowing who you are talking to and what they care about and value. You’ll know stuff about your customers of course, but to create content that really hits the spot you’ll need to go deeper. Reach out and ask your customers directly. Get curious – call them up, spend some time interviewing them to uncover their real needs. Their answers will always surprise you.
Get clear on your perspective. Your unique, differentiating point of view. >> Read Sharon’s post – How to harness the awesome power of perspective and stand out from the crowd
Set out your content sweet spot and vision. Now we get to the heart of your valuable content strategy process. What is the conversation you want to own with your content? Think big here. As a business, what are you better equipped than anyone else to help people with? Uncover your sweet spot then set out an inspiring vision for your content marketing. How will you win?
Make a content commitment and plan. Your aim is to work towards a bank of high quality, valuable content that you can distribute effectively throughout the year. What’s your schedule? What commitment will you make to valuable content over the next 12 months? Remember: consistency and quality are always more important than volume. Aim for an achievable pattern – something you can stick to as a business.
Prepare your platform and pick your tools. You have defined the vision for your content marketing. What kind of website platform will you need to support you in making that work? How will you create it and how will you get it out there? What content creation and distribution tools will you add to the mix to support your strategy? >> See: What does good content marketing look like.
Organise to make it work. To make your content strategy work you’ll need a team, a budget and an efficient process. But who will be involved? What roles do you need in place to make the process work? How will you organise, work together and manage and control what you do? >> Read – Planning your content marketing A-team
Measure what matters. Before you press go work out how you will assess whether your new strategy is working. You’ve done the thinking about your objectives and goals in Step 1 so refer back to the decisions you made here. Create a set of meaningful measures that are aligned to your ambitions as a business.
Make it so. The power of any good strategy is in its implementation. What do the decisions you’ve made here mean for your website, how you’re organised, your current content, your business? What changes must be put in place to make the new strategy fly? The first thing to do is understand what content, tools and resources you already have at your disposal. Conduct a content audit and gap analysis. The place to begin is a detailed look at your current content. What do you have, and is it any good? Does it meet the needs of your new strategy?
That’s how I’ve seen the process work best. The businesses that take the time to document and regularly visit their content marketing strategy are way more effective than those who don’t.
“If you want to be more effective at content marketing, take the time to research, decide and document your strategy.”
If you’re serious about content marketing and want to drive real competitive advantage revisit your business goals and take some time to write your strategy down.
Content on purpose, and back on track
“Want to be successful? Write down goals, share with your peers & review consistently.” Dr. Gail Matthews.
It feels so frustrating and tiring when your content’s not hitting the mark. It’s hard not to take it personally if it feels like no one is listening. But if you’re leading the content charge in your business and you’ve fought hard to get it on the agenda, don’t give up!
Don’t lose heart but do get smart. Invest thought into your content marketing strategy and stick to it. Focus your time and energy where it will reap most rewards.
Yes, it takes effort but the hard thinking you’ll do on this is never wasted. As well as driving better sales results, the process of developing your content strategy will bring a renewed customer-focus to all you do and sharpen up your business thinking – a great catalyst for a change in fortune all round.
Download the content marketing strategy workbook
>> If you want to take the DIY route then download the valuable content marketing strategy workbook which accompanies the latest edition of my book.
Any questions, or more help required, just let me know.