6 Rules For A Successful Content Marketing Strategy

by Jim Frost

June 20, 2022

in Blog, Content Marketing, Content Strategy

No Comments

388

Content is the essential element of an inbound marketing strategy. Both terms are often used as synonyms, but content marketing is the main segment of inbound marketing. While inbound marketing encompasses all of the strategies involved in creating and distributing your content, content marketing is about creating, publishing, and distributing content to an audience. Now you might be wondering: How can I create content that is truly unique when more and more companies are turning to inbound marketing? Here are 6 rules for harnessing a workable content marketing strategy.

Rule #1: Know your target audience

Content creation should not be a race against your competitors, but should be specifically geared towards your buyer persona. That’s why developing buyer personas is the very first step of any inbound marketing strategy. – In short: Your content results from your persona.

As you develop a persona, ideas for suitable content will automatically arise: What is your ideal customer looking for? What are his challenges? How would you like to receive information? The answers to these and other questions result in topics and channels through which your content is distributed.

Rule #2: Choose the right channels

Once you’ve figured out where your buyer persona is looking for information online, you should use the relevant channels to consistently reach your target audience. A blog, social media channels, or a newsletter are good ways to publish new content that is geared towards specific personas and their current situation.

Rule #3: Don’t be pushy

One of the reasons inbound marketing is so successful is that it doesn’t use the traditional ad break tactic. Whether you’re developing content for an e-book, a blog article, or a post on your social media, focus on helping the reader rather than scaring them off with distracting or even aggressive marketing messages.

Here are some suitable solutions to fulfill your needs:

Rule #4: Think of the customer journey

Just as your buyer persona moves through the different phases of the customer or buyer’s journey on the way to the customer, you should also change your content. At the beginning of the customer journey, readers are looking for more general information. In the consideration phase, your content can be of a high standard, while in the decision phase, the focus should be more on your company or your products/services. To help you develop your leads, we recommend creating specific content for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Rule #5: Create an editorial plan

An editorial plan will help you create unique content at a consistent level and become more productive over time. With an editorial plan, you can more easily uncover gaps in your content strategy and also delegate tasks and responsibilities to team members.

Relevant Service: High-Quality Marketing Content

Rule #6: Measure your engagement

How did readers interact with the content you created and shared? To measure this, the following key figures are helpful:

Number of likes/shares/retweets on the various social networks
Comments on blog articles
Number of downloads of offers (e.g. white paper, checklists)
General website traffic figures (views, clicks, length of stay)

If you know what types of content drive more traffic or engagement, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. And should you ever have no idea: no rule prohibits using the same content again in a different form.

Conclusion

To use original, successful content in the marketing mix of an inbound strategy, certain requirements must be met. The above 6 content rules reflect this strategy.

Your desired readers are the focus. Knowing them as well is the first requirement. What are your personas interested in? Unique content answers their questions as well.

Want more content marketing tips, insights, and examples? Keep visiting TextProz Blog or visit our Content Writing Services page.

Jim Frost

Jim Frost is an experienced content writer with a decade-long experience in helping businesses grow. He has written multiple articles on topics such as business, finance, technology, marketing, and more.