As technology advances, digital content is becoming increasingly important for brand growth. Content strategies, whether they be for digital or written content, are crucial when trying to achieve the goals you’ve created for your business. Here are a few tips on how to develop a content strategy for your brand that actually works!
What is a Content Strategy?
Chances are if you are running a business, you’ve set business goals, which is a step in the right direction. But now you have to figure out how to achieve those goals. Here’s your answer: develop a content strategy. A content strategy essentially links your business’s content efforts to your business goals. It ensures that the content you produce for public consumption translates back to those business goals. A content strategy can also be helpful to use as a guide when creating content.
How to Develop a Content Strategy That Works
Define your goals
What would you like this content strategy to help you accomplish? Before you do anything else, it is crucial that you lay out the groundwork for this strategy – also known as your goals. Ask yourself why you are creating content. Asking yourself this question will help you figure out whether or not creating content is the correct solution for you. Many times asking this question will lead you to the realization that a content strategy might be different from what you actually need in order to accomplish your goals.
Know your Audience
This is another crucial step to developing a content strategy that works. You need to know your audience to create content that caters to their needs. Once you’ve identified your audience, you can begin researching industry trends and see what your competitors are doing to begin developing your content strategy. You can also engage with your audience through email marketing and social media to survey them and see what type of content they enjoy. Hearing what your audience wants firsthand can really help you elevate your content.
Conduct a Content Audit
It’s easy to get lost in the details and forget about the big picture. That’s why it’s important to take a step back from time to time and take a look at your content as a whole. Is your content communicating what you want it to? Can you identify what’s missing from your content? Is there anything you could add to your content to make it better? By re-evaluating and answering these simple questions, you can make sure your content is in line with your strategy and stay on track to meet your goals.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
We are lucky to have technology on our side in this day and age – so be sure to use it to your advantage! Utilize various content management systems (CMS) to elevate your content. Some examples of CMS tools you can use are WordPress, HubSpot, Microsoft SharePoint, etc. It’s important to do your research and pick the best tool for you based on your needs.
It can also be extremely useful to use content planning sites to lay out all of your content. These sites allow you to plan your content out weeks in advance, which can be extremely beneficial. Not only does it allow you to work ahead, but it also allows you to see everything in one place and make sure everything is in line with your overarching content strategy. Some good content planning tools to look into are Monday.com, Asana, Trello, etc. Once again, it’s important that you pick the tools best suited to your business needs.