The Foundation of a Good Content Marketing Strategy

Your knowledge and experience directly contribute to business success. That sounds great, but how do you achieve that? Content marketing is one possible answer, but if you dive into it headfirst, you may encounter unpleasant surprises. That’s why we discuss the basics in this article: the content marketing strategy. We answer the question: What does a content marketing strategy consist of, and what exactly does it bring?

We previously described content marketing as a “Strategic marketing approach focused on creating and disseminating valuable and relevant content with the ultimate goal of attracting or retaining a specific target audience.” The idea behind this is that by sharing your in-depth knowledge, you engage in a conversation with your target audience. This conversation can ultimately lead to business opportunities. Content marketing is often a crucial pillar of the online marketing strategy.

But what does a content marketing strategy entail?

The content marketing strategy is the overarching narrative that a company tells and the way it engages and encourages its target audience to engage in desirable behaviors for the company. A content marketing strategy is the plan that outlines how your content marketing will be successful. There are plenty of fun (and successful!) content marketing examples, from travel tips for Thailand to General Electric’s GEreports.com, where the company publishes daily articles on innovation, science, and technology.

Is a content marketing strategy important?

We go a step further and say that strategy is essential for the success of content marketing. Without this strategy, we find that:

• It’s challenging to involve the organization in content marketing and gain the necessary input and support for success.
• It’s harder to allocate or secure a budget for content marketing compared to more traditional efforts.
• People feel less capable in the field of content marketing, which leads to less motivation. Content marketing then quickly deteriorates and does not achieve the desired results.
• It’s more difficult to measure the success and results of content marketing.

The Foundation of the Content Marketing Strategy

The foundation of a good content marketing strategy can be divided into four components:

• Business case
• Positioning
• Customer Journey
• Channels
• Business Case

Start by outlining why you are implementing content marketing. What risks are associated with this approach, and what does success look like? Finally, set clear goals for your content marketing strategy. This way, you create support, especially from your leadership, and can also hold yourself accountable.

Positioning

Positioning, the overarching story of your brand, is, of course, the foundation of content marketing. Therefore, consider how to translate your positioning into content marketing. What content aligns with your positioning? What tone do you adopt? In what ways can the reader take action? These and other questions ensure that your content marketing aligns with and builds upon your positioning, creating synergy with activities such as sales.

Customer Journey

Consider your target audience’s buying process. Determine what information needs the audience has in the different stages or identify the points where strong sales arguments or testimonials can make a difference. This information will be crucial later for creating a content plan and producing content that helps achieve the previously established goals.

Channels

Which channels does the target audience use, and which ones will you use to successfully promote your content? Of course, there are some “usual suspects,” like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, but there might be very specific channels for your market through which you can reach your target audience. The choice of communication channel should primarily be determined by your customer’s preference, not your own preferences! A great example of a very specific channel for the target audience is MedTalks. This is a comprehensive content-driven platform created “by and for” medical professionals.

In practice, companies often dive into content marketing headfirst. It’s understandable that not everything is well-thought-out, but when results don’t appear in the short term, content marketing often fades away quietly. This is unfortunate because there are many examples of successful content marketing, especially in B2B markets! By first considering the fundamentals of good content marketing and establishing a clear content marketing strategy, you can avoid this.