ultimate content marketing guide

The Ultimate Lean Content Marketing Guide

www.Strategy3Inspired.com

This guide aims to provide you with a clear and straight roadmap for creating a successful content marketing framework.

Mission Statement

• Define your mission statement.• Your mission statement should state your

objective for creating content and the value of your content.

• Clearly define your goals: what is the purpose of creating the content and how does it benefit your audience.


Define Your Strategy


Create a strategy for each type of content based on: your mission statement, target audience, type of content, goals, channels of communication and tools.

Identify characteristics of your audience: • Who they are• What are their problems• What are their needs • What are their likes/dislikes• How do they like to communicate• What social media channels do they engage in• What groups do they belong to• How do they like to shop


Understand Your Target Audience

Target Audience: Solve my problem Tell me something useful Provide entertainment Make my life easier Be valuable Marketing message : Clear Useful Interesting Valuable Memorable

Understand Your Target Audience



Identify your business goals and create content that strengthens your brand and goals.

Use data to understand your audience and their pain points.

Map out your customer journey from the first point of contact to the final conversion, which could be anything from buying your product, signing up for a newsletter or subscription.

Set a budget for your content marketing initiatives that includes design, platforms and other resources.

Plan your optimization tactics for your content and select the best distribution channels and platforms to meet your goals.

Create a Content Marketing Roadmap

Tip: Your focus should be on giving your audience a memorable and seamless experience. Make it easy for them to engage with your brand. Earn trust and forge a relationship with your customers by providing value.

“You need to create ridiculously good content – content that is useful, enjoyable and inspired.” - Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs


Create a Content Marketing Roadmap


Your audience is engaged in many social media channels where they are being bombarded with advertising and marketing content. Given the average attention span is eight seconds, it is no wonder getting your message across can be challenging.

Make your content “sticky” by telling your brand story; be creative, fresh and relevant.

Engage your audience and create content that they will to share with peers.

Keep them interested by providing specific content that appeals to their interests and pain points.

Make it easy for your audience to share content across various channels by adding buttons for Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook.

Create content that will stick


Social Media Statistics 2016

Create a guideline: What is your tone, style and editorial guide. Make a plan based on: What topics you will focus on, how often you

will publish content and what type of content you will create. Understand your audience: Listen to their social media

conversations, keep track of what they are saying about you and your competitors.

Create shareable and likeable content: Be interesting, new and useful.

Optimizing your content marketing: To rank high on search engines focus on keyword targeting, link building, quality content and tittle tags.

Leverage data: Look at your data analytics to test and see what is working well. Test what is popular on social channels such videos, articles, graphics etc.


Strategies for Creating Compelling Content

Promote your content: Use paid advertising if you have the budget, create contests and campaigns to generate leads, develop a relationship with influencers and leverage their power to promote your content, tailor your messages for each social media channel.

Simplicity is a beautiful thing: Cut the clutter and long wording, make your messages concise.

Make your headlines standout: Headlines are a key component for successful content writing. Craft headlines that are interesting, easy to understand and introduces your content.

Use visuals to support your content: Graphics, charts and images help to make your content visually appealing.

Call to action: Make your call to action visible and clear. Tell your audience what action you want them to take next.


Strategies for creating compelling content

•Give your audience the opportunity to interact with you by creating feedback channels such as questions, surveys, comments, input. Use apps and games when it adds to enhancing customer experience.

•“Attract, convert, close, and delight — User-generated content plays an important role in all of these inbound marketing stages.” Neil Patel

•Try different content options: Videos, clever slogans, presentations, infographics, and memes.


Create Engagement

http://neilpatel.com/blog/


Create Engagement

*Image Source Neil Patel

Be patient: Content Marketing requires time, resources, talent, tools, trials and tests. It takes time to generate momentum and develop social currency.

“Content Marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” - Jon Buscall, Head of Moondog Marketing

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Long Term Strategy

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