Developing the best content marketing strategy might imply to make a point of your brand and your objectives. However, the true focus should be on the kind of information you deliver, at what time, and with which channel. Above all, this is what’s truly essential to reach your prospects.
Here are 6 tips for developing a perfect content marketing strategy.
1. Content marketing funneling
Firstly, a good content marketing strategy considers the funnel by which a prospect goes through to become a customer. In fact, this funnel is constituted of 3 stages.
The first stage is awareness. It represents the moment when a prospect becomes aware of an unfulfilled need and how you can be considered as the answer.
The second stage is evaluation. Once a prospect is aware of their need, they can evaluate their options. Namely, they can take a look at your competitors, or decide to take no action to fulfill their need.
The third stage is conversion. After a prospect has evaluated his options, they are at the most crucial step – purchasing. This stage represents the number of leads you can convert into customers.
2. Intent-based content marketing
Secondly, the key to a good content marketing strategy is to understand the present intent of your prospects, and to predict their future intent. A great way to achieve this is to offer content that relates to the 3 stages of the funnel.
- Awareness – Blogs, social media updates, photos and videos, etc.
- Evaluation – Discounts, coupons, surveys, etc.
- Conversion – Free trials, ”happy customer” stories, comparison and spec sheets, etc.
3. Creating a positive user experience
Thirdly, it’s crucial to create a positive user experience. The goal is to anticipate a prospect’s next logical intent, and to remove the friction between them and the next stage.
For instance, you can offer a prospect with an awareness intent to share their e-mail adress for access to more information. Comparatively, a prospect with a conversion intent can be offered a free trial without asking for a payment method. In reality, by answering to a prospect’s present intent, it is easier to predict their future intent and to guide them through the funnel.
4. Ad retargeting
Then, an important part to designing your content marketing strategy is to understand the needs of your prospects. A great way to do this is to monitor their time spent on a piece of content. In reality, a prospect visiting your page is an indicator of at least some interest.
Ad retargeting is a useful tool to follow up with a prospect in a timely manner. In addition, you have the chance to make an offer that fits their profile. It is used as a call-to-action instrument to convert leads.
5. Content cross-channeling
Next, a great way to reach prospects is to use channels where they might search for and share your content. A single piece of content could be published on multiple channels in an attempt to boost exposure.
- Etc.
6. Avatar-based content marketing
Lastly, a perfect content marketing strategy attempts to satisfy the intent of customer avatars. Prospects can represent a single avatar, or multiple.
For example, this blog was made to raise awareness for HEC Montreal’s digital students website. Therefore, its target is a ”student” avatar. Certainly, this avatar’s goal is to learn about how they can produce a proper content marketing strategy. By pinpointing the right customer avatar for your prospects, it is easier to create content that aligns with their intererests.
In conclusion, creating an adequate content marketing strategy is very important. It is what makes your media presence relevant for you and your prospects. But, it doesn’t mean you should throw content at your prospects. In fact, the focus is always to deliver the right information, at the right time.
Source : Content Marketing Strategy – The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing | DigitalMarketer
