When it comes to delivering content for your business, it would be so easy to just post anything and everything new that comes along. Wouldn’t it be a great time saver if you could pop in with all the latest news and updates stemming from your company? And, besides, isn’t all news great content? Not so fast.
Posting the wrong type of content is worse than posting nothing new at all. If you were to post things that have no relevance to your target audience, you’ll take a big risk of them walking—no, running—away, never to return. In order to pull in the appropriate prospects and customers in your inbound marketing efforts, you have to develop an inbound strategy that shares the information they want to know—at the time when they want to know it.
Even the numbers are showing the proof about the benefits of a great content strategy.
Consider these statistics:
62% of the most successful content marketers have a documented strategy vs. 16% of the least successful that don’t have one.
72% of content marketers who increased their level of success over the past year credit their content strategy as a major contributor
Creating a substantive content strategy is well worth the effort and we share a few reasons to develop a well thought out strategy here.
You won’t have to work in the dark. Defining a vision for your content initiative is what a content strategy does. A robust strategy will light your way and remind you why you’re working to it if you ever have questions along the way. Be sure to think of overall corporate goals and not only content goals. Smart content and a remarkable content strategy will benefit company growth goals as well as provide information on products and solutions. It all starts with an overarching vision which can be supported by relevant content shared at the appropriate times.
Content creation will be easier. Creating content just for the sake of content is actually much harder than developing content that tracks with a defined strategy. When a thorough content strategy is in place, it’s easier to create because you know who your target audience is and why you’re sharing information at this particular time. Is there a new product release? Has the company added a new line of business? Are there new case studies that are relevant for an industry event? This should all be documented in a strategy and your content team can plan and produce with more efficiency.
Creates an anchor for content initiatives. There are many moving parts when developing a content initiative for your business so it’s important to get some sort of structure from which to work. A content strategy provides an anchor or the centre of the wheel effect for the company’s marketers, subject matter experts and content creators. It’s professional and organised to provide the guidepost for the strategy that sources can return to for guidance as the plan extends.
Target audiences more easily. Content marketing can be more specific and personalised than ever before which makes for much easier and efficient targeting of audiences. Delivering content that addresses pain points and interests during the customer journey will be received favourably and with much better success. Part of a content strategy also includes using the appropriate channels and this will also strengthen targeted efforts.
Consistency promotes a better brand image. Random releases of content that appear sporadically and without being tied to a special event seem unprofessional to your target audience. When content is released on a regular basis, readers will come to rely on the information as well as the cadence with which it is delivered. They will come to rely on you for a long term commitment which is critical in manufacturing marketing initiatives.
Improve content creation efficiency. When a strategy and schedule for content creation have been determined, they will dramatically improve efficiency. Marketing and content creation teams will know how to plan workloads appropriately and can call in outside sources for peak times in order to meet commitments. They can also project and create work in advance to take advantage of lulls in work schedules.
Almost as important as developing the content strategy is understanding the need to revise it upon occasion. Businesses don’t operate in vacuums and there will always be updates and changes that will affect content development and delivery. Savvy marketers understand the need for staying in the lane when it comes to strategy but that it’s okay to adapt when necessary. A remarkable strategy has to be dynamic to do the best good and you can count on its effectiveness.