Create a Consistently Successful Content Marketing Strategy with These 6 Tips

6_Tips_Header

Creating content isn’t anything innovative.

In fact, 91% of businesses use content marketing as part of their marketing strategy.

And it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that more and more brands are taking advantage of it.

Content creation has a whole host of benefits, to help you reach more consumers for almost little to no price once created.

It sounds great! … But what’s the catch?

Two words: creativity and consistency. 

That means, delivering killer content on a regular basis, that addresses exactly what your audience is searching for. 

It sounds simple to do, and yet so many brands get it wrong. They spend hours creating insurmountable pieces of content. Only to realise later down the line that it hasn’t had any effect on their rankings or views. 

So how do you ensure your creating content that’s unique enough to capture your audience’s attention? And then, how do you begin to consistently replicate this in order to maximise results? 

Well, it all starts with a process. It’s something which begins way before you even think about putting your fingers to a keyboard. 

Creating Content: Consistency is Key

As a brand, content marketing is all about creating and sharing valuable and relevant content. This is in order to attract and engage a wider audience, with the objective of driving future sales from them.

This content can come in almost any format. It could be a weekly newsletter for your subscribers, a bi-weekly blog post, or even your daily social media updates. 

If you can create engaging content that fulfils their search query, you’ll start to build a loyal and valuable following of prospective customers. 

Customers who are all keen to hear an expert share information about an industry they’re passionate about.

Of course, there are many factors which can contribute to your content marketing’s success.

But, if you want to establish authority, build trust and create more leads, then consistency is key.

Consistency is key

In today’s busy marketplace, consumers are swarmed with content every time they log onto their smartphone or desktop. 

To ensure your brand’s voice stands out, you need to regularly engage with your audience. And, you need to also make sure you deliver content that makes an impact. 

This doesn’t just mean creating and posting new and regular snippets of content. However, it’s also about keeping your brand’s tone, voice and most importantly, quality, as uniformed as possible. 

Though consistency isn’t a direct ranking factor for your website, it plays an important role. It helps to forge connections with new site visitors, and encourages them to enter into the sales process with you.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at 6 ways to help you achieve a successful content marketing strategy. One which consistently creates an impact, and can help you to drive more high-converting traffic to your site.

6 Tips For a Consistently Successful Content Marketing Strategy

Consistency ensures you can deliver on your customer’s expectations. That is, entertaining and updating them with information which fulfils the intent of their search. All the while, maintaining a uniformed style, tone and voice.

There are 6 ways you can do this, and we’re going to run through them in detail below: 

1. Plan, plan, plan!

Plan, plan, plan.

The key to consistent high-quality content is planning. And for some businesses, this can mean planning months in advance. 

Planning ahead means you can set expectations about how often you’ll produce content. You’ll also have a clear idea of what it’s going to be about.   

As you probably know by now, content marketing can be a rather time-consuming process. But, by planning ahead, you can make sure you’ve got enough time to get your content as polished as it can be. As well as publishing it regularly enough to keep up with your audience’s expectations. 

It’s a chance to gather your resources (and creativity) and establish a routine. It will include how often you can research, outline, write, edit, optimise and publish a piece of content. 

You need to consider how many pieces of content you want to share. Then make sure you plan far enough in advance to keep everything on track. 

This is of course the more laborious part of the strategy. But once you’ve got a clear schedule in place, you’ll be able to deliver great content to your audience on a regular basis. Thus, you can avoid the trap of having to quickly (and poorly) produce content.

2. Research Your Audience (Regularly)

If you want to create quality content, you need to do extensive research. It’s impossible to create and share content that answers search queries if you don’t have a clear understanding of your target audience. 

Namely, who you are targeting and what search terms they’re using in order to find that content. 

This is why it’s crucial to thoroughly research your target audience.

There are a few ways which you can do this, including:

  •  Talking to your existing customer base using surveys and questionnaires
  •  Exploring forums and sites like Quora or Reddit
  •  Following the top blogs in your industry
  •  Discovering groups and hashtags your target audience uses on social media
  •  Analysing your competitors published content

This research will provide you with a substantial list of ideas to create content about. However, not all will be relevant in terms of search volume. And so, you want to avoid wasting time creating content that no one is searching for. 

This is where keyword research plays an important role. 

There are a number of keyword research tools available on the market which will help you to identify any sizable search queries. You can use this data to check what topics your target audience are interested in. Then you can addresses these topics as you begin creating content. 

Regular keyword and audience research is essential. Whether you’re a new start-up with little content, or an established brand looking to audit and improve their existing content.

This research is time consuming.  However, if you dedicate the time and put the hard work in now, you’ll avoid wasting more of your time later down the line.

3. Provide Value to Searchers

We know that every piece of content you create should be high-quality, engaging and entertaining. 

But to make it consistently stand out above your competition, and encourage people to keep returning to your site, it needs to do the following: 

  •  Directly address and resolve a searcher’s problem
  •  Be optimised around a keyword with a significant monthly search volume
  •  Aim to generate brand awareness and nurture your current audience

Forge valuable connections

If you want your content to forge valuable connections with prospective customers, you need to understand what they’re looking for. Then create solutions to help them fulfil their query. 

And, if you can develop strong connections with your audience, you’ll naturally receive more leads. Which can then turn into sales as a result of your content marketing strategy. 

Valuable content is everything now – people are constantly looking for reliable information to offer guidance and dictate their purchases.

So, if you can prove your authority and solve your customer’s problems in your area of expertise in a direct and honest way, you’ll be more likely to transform them into paying customers. 

Getting your content right will take a bit of tweaking. You’ll find your brand’s unique voice as you discover what content and tone gels with your readers. 

But, as your pageviews and the time spent on your content starts to grow, you’ll know you’re on the path to delivering something of value to your visitors.

4. Consider Guest Bloggers

As a small or new start-up business, it may be beneficial to use guest bloggers on your website. 

Many brands don’t use guest bloggers. Mainly because they believe that the average quality of guest posts are sub-par in comparison to their own content. 

However, as long as your website ranks well and has a moderate domain authority, you’ll be drawing in good pitches from equally good writers within your industry. 

Guest bloggers

Plus, there are some great benefits of using guest bloggers on your site including:

  •  Getting backlinks to your site from the blogger’s own website
  •  Filling gaps in your content schedule for weeks when you’re struggling for time
  •  Offering a variety of content and fresh perspectives for your readers
  •  Networking with other industry professionals

To ensure the content is up-to-scratch with your website, feel free to give your guest bloggers a loose content outline. Or some short and long-tail keywords which you may want included within the content to help with your website’s SEO

If your website is worth being on, they’ll happily take your criteria on board. And, if they can help you to save some time by writing your own content one week, why not give them the opportunity to feature on your website?

Within the busy online world of content, it’s far better to offer variety than nothing at all. It could even prove to be a great hit with your readers! 

5. Be Current

To consistently share the most relevant content with your audience, you need to make sure you’re up-to-date. This includes knowing everything there is to know about all facets of your industry. Not just the things which are immediately relevant to you.

Say, for example, you’re an online gaming shop. Knowing as much as you can about the latest game releases, global eSport competitions and even news features is vital. Especially when it comes to creating content for your target audience. You also need to follow games developers and publishers on social media, read popular articles, and search for the latest news. 

online gaming store keeping up to date with developments and news

Today, industry changes happen so fast that ongoing education is vital to your brand’s success. The best content creators are active, and always looking for topics which target every aspect of their industry. 

The more you know, the better equipped you are to remain the most relevant and competitive voice in the industry. You’ll be able to produce content that’s suited to any new developments. As well as be able to join in on conversations with your prospects as they look for answers to their queries.

6. Don’t Be Afraid of Variety

If you’ve created a few successful pieces of content which are driving some good levels of traffic to your site, it can be easy to fall into the trap of following the exact same formula to try and achieve the same results. 

But, this could lead you to falling into a path of repetition. Offering your audience the same predictable type of content is unwise. If they find it too habitual, or even boring, then it could lead to a drop off in readers.

It’s often the most curious content creators who are more successful. Those who strive to find alternative angles on topics, or new ways to share their opinions with their audiences. 

Even the head of marketing at Google has said that: ‘you need to be curious to identify problems worth solving, and then come up with new solutions.’ 

Be Curious

It’s this curiosity that gets content on people’s radar. 

Don’t be afraid to question the status quo or play devil’s advocate. Taking the opposing view of a piece of content can be difficult at first. However, if you question why an industry has a particular viewpoint, you’ll start thinking more critically about the content you’re engaging with. 

And, it’s critical thinkers that tend to create and make the most entertaining content.

You can even try to mix up your content’s format. By trying a new layout, experimenting with video or audio,  or utilising interactive quizzes.  Even adopting a new tone of voice can be enough to entertain and engage your audience. 

Just remember to stay authentic to your brand. You never want to put out a false opinion or create controversy just for the purpose of trying to get views. 

Use this method as a way to keep your content unique, not as a way to become a viral sensation. Your audience will see through this, and you could end up doing more harm than good for your persona.

Summary

There’s a lot of pressure on brands to churn out thousands of pieces of great content as part of their marketing strategy

Part of a successful strategy is down to the habits you form, as well as continually being open to change. This may include using guest writers to help with creating content, or even writing an opposing view. 

Once you’ve got into a great habit of refining your audience and keyword research, you’ll be able create a content schedule. One focused on producing content which is directly relevant to your searcher’s queries.

Over time, you’ll establish authority and trust with your site visitors. You’ll prove to them that you are the most credible and current of all your competitors. So, when it comes to their purchase decisions in the future, they’ll turn to you first as a trusted seller.

Hiring a Marketing Consultant to Assist with your Content Marketing

As we’ve established during this article, to be successful with your content marketing strategy, you need to dedicate a lot of your resources to it.  

Each step requires a lot of careful planning and execution, which of course amounts to a lot of time. Whether it be researching and refining your plan, or writing and reviewing your content. 

This is time which, if you’re a new or small business, you may not be able to regularly dedicate.

If so, you may look for a marketing consultant to help develop and execute an actionable content marketing strategy.

With over ten years’ experience within the industry, myself and my team have worked with hundreds of companies. We’ve helped to help improve their SEO rankings and drive valuable traffic to their websites. 

We know exactly what it takes to succeed in today’s noisy marketplace. So we would be more than happy to help get your brand the results it deserves.

To find out more about the services we offer and how we could help your company,  get in contact. I’d be more than happy to walk you through some examples of our previous work, and discuss your goals for online.

About Murray Dare

Murray Dare is a Marketing Consultant, Strategist and Director at Dare Media. Murray helps UK businesses find better ways to connect with their audiences through targeted content marketing strategies.