When you create a blog or business, you need to have a solid content marketing strategy in place. If not, it’ll prove difficult to build a steady following, generate leads, and produce sales.
As it’s the start of a new year, marketers are reworking their content to match what best suits their audience. Around 63 percent of marketers say that the biggest challenge they face in content marketing is producing leads and driving traffic to their website. It’s a common problem that could end up impacting your business as well unless you refine your strategy.
Here are four tips to help you achieve your content marketing goals in 2020.
Know Who You’re Writing for
If you’re going to build a loyal following, you need to provide them with what they want. The only way to bring value to your readers is by telling them something new. They likely stumbled on your content in pursuit of the answer to a problem. If you give them answers, they’ll become returning visitors who want to invest in your brand.
Create customer personas of all the important details you need to know. Age, location, buying behaviors, and pain points are some factors to include in your personas that tell you more about your ideal customers.
For ecommerce businesses especially, personas make it easier to produce relevant, useful content. Know what your customers want helps you create products and services that cater to their needs and interests.
When you’re done, your customer persona might look something like this:
Use SEO-Friendly Practices
For any content to reach its target market, it needs to be popular with search engines. Search engines are a direct way for those in your audience to find and interact with your content. When they search keyword phrases or questions in Google, you want your content to be the first they see. That’s why you need to use SEO-friendly practices when creating it.
Search engine optimization ensures that your business gets the awareness it deserves. But, it must also provide quality, value, and be relevant to your audience.
Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, but paying attention to certain components is sure to help your website’s reach. These include:
Implement Consistent Branding
You’ll cause confusion for your readers if you constantly change your branding. It sends mixed messages and fails to build brand recognition so visitors become familiar with your business.
Your branding consists of:
Your marketing content must reflect your values across the board, from your website to your social media to your email marketing. It’s confusing for your audience if you’re lighthearted and funny on social media but serious and stern in your emails.
A popular example of consistent branding is Nike. Although they sell sportswear, which many businesses do, they set themselves apart by being a relatable brand that encourages its customers to achieve their goals. Their logo has also kept the same style since its inception:
Create a Content Calendar
If you’re new content marketing, then you’ll soon learn that utilizing a content calendar is the best move you can make. To appeal to your audience and build a loyal readership, you need to put out content regularly. Without a plan in place, you won’t be able to keep up with the demand and will face burnout.
A content calendar schedules your content from inception to publication. It helps you manage your time wisely so you’re always aware of how your content progresses and performs with your audience. Otherwise, you’re putting content out there without knowing if it’s doing your business any good.
Your content calendar might look something like this when it’s done:
Conclusion
If you want your content to bring your business to new heights, then these tips are sure to help you get there. You’ll need a content marketing strategy that caters to your audience by providing them with value and solutions. How will you achieve our content marketing goals in 2020? Let us know in the comments!
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Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.