The secret to winning customers is to offer them exactly what they want when they want it. Make it easy for them to find you and get what they want from you. That’s why we have content marketing. Content marketing is a customer-focused method of offering potential customers the information they need to solve a problem they encounter, with the goal of turning those individuals into customers when they decide they want to buy from you.
Here’s a quick and easy step-by-step guide to content marketing:
Step 1: Goal Setting
What do you want to achieve with your content marketing plan? More sales? More client leads? Exposure and brand recognition? Increasing customer retention? Write down your goals and keep them in mind during every step of the way. It’s very important to make your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timed.
Step 2: Determine your target audience
Content should always be targeted to a certain audience, otherwise, it’ll fall on deaf ears. Do research on your target demographic to find out things like their media habits and what attracts them to a product. Every content you create should be created and distributed with this audience in mind.
Step 3: Know your business
Before actually creating the content, know your business from head to toe. Be tuned to your business’ strengths/weaknesses, competitive advantages/disadvantages, best-selling products/services, and so on. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes to determine what they like and dislike about your product and why it’s worth their time and money. Find out what draws your customers to your product and use that to your advantage.
Step 4: Know your competitors
Your competitors are most likely marketing to your target audience as well. Find out what sets you apart and what advantage you have against them.
Step 5: Keyword research
Now you know your company and your competitors like the back of your hand, identify what keywords to use in your content. You want your audience to feel connected to your product, so optimizing your content with appropriate keywords is crucial. Monitor online conversations and listen to your customers to find keywords that are relevant, specific and competitive.
Step 6: Optimize SEO
The major goal of your content marketing will be to promote your company’s website, so make sure to optimize your SEO by ensuring keywords are included all the aspects of your URL and website. Then make appropriate tweaks and changes to further improve SEO.
Step 7: Develop your content
Now it’s time to start actually creating your content keeping steps 1 to 7 in mind. Start writing/filming/designing/publishing using your top keywords. Each content should have a purpose and should be aimed at contributing to your defined goals.
Step 8: Make a content calendar
Plot out the delivery of your content by creating a content calendar to keep your content marketing fresh, consistent and committed.
Step 9: Market your content
Here comes the fun part – getting your content out there. Use varied forms of media and platforms from Facebook to YouTube to blogs to engage your audience!
Step 10: Evaluate
The final step is to evaluate your content marketing plan to see what works/what doesn’t and how you can improve!
About Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian is the Founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations. He is one of the foremost Public Relations experts in the United States, with over 20 years of experience. He has won countless awards for leadership and entrepreneurship, and Ronn Torossian has transformed businesses through strategic and aggressive PR strategies.