Content marketing benefits are numerous, but only if you are strategic in your planning. Some of these benefits are improved brand awareness, engagement, lead generation, online reputation, organic traffic, and a company’s digital presence.

But most of all, content marketing is not a one-off transaction that gets you temporary customers.

It is a long-term strategy that works to attract and build lasting, meaningful connections with your audience.

So, what is content marketing?

It is the practice of creating and then distributing content in videos, blog posts, educational articles, or how-to tutorials through various marketing channels like Facebook and LinkedIn. One content marketing example is L’Oreal Paris Signature Faces Virtual Makeup content marketing that puts the needs of its customers at the forefront.

Usually, the primary goal in content marketing is to communicate your brand message with your audience. With that in mind, follow these steps to build your content marketing guide.

Step 1: Determine Your Objectives

A plan without an objective is like a blind man that scorns a guide. So start by determining what you need from your content marketing. For instance, do you think blog posts or a podcast will better reach and connect with your target audience?

When you look at your customer reviews, are most of your clients asking for tutorials or webinars? These and other questions will help you determine the primary objective of your content marketing, after which you can create lower-level objectives.

Once you know what you want, determine how your needs will fit into your overall digital marketing strategy – if you already have one. Also, formulate KPIs to help keep you on track once you have a content marketing timeframe.

Step 2: Assemble a Team of Professionals

One of the most significant content marketing principles to follow is to hire a team of professionals in the field. Whether you choose to get them in-house or through outsourcing or freelancing, ensure you have a good team of content marketers.

Content marketing is a profession of skill. This means that you cannot rely on using any Tom, Dick, and Harry. Instead, work on finding individuals that have a proven track record of getting results from their content.

They don’t have to be viral sensations. But they need to know how to get your name out there. And if your business cannot handle the cost of hiring many experts, get one to manage and supervise the rest of the team.

Step 3: Get to Know Your Audience

You have your objectives and professionals. Now it’s time to know your audience. Find out what they need, how they think, their struggles, who they are, what they like, their social and working status – you get the point. Seek to know everything about your potential customers.

Why is this important? The more you know about your customers, the easier it will be to tailor your products and services to fit their needs. You can provide solutions they actually can use and not what you think they want to use.

You will get the best results with market research banked on accurate data. Also, consider the places your target audience goes to find information. This will help you to formulate your content marketing ideas. For instance, if most of your target audience are busy individuals, you can convert your blog posts into podcasts.

Step 4: Start to Plan Your Strategy

Content marketing for small businesses should start with blog posts because they create a platform for gaining experience. Blog posts are also excellent because you can repurpose the content for other forms of content marketing like podcasts or YouTube videos.

This is also the stage where you start to build your brand message into your content. Create a purpose statement centered on ways you serve your customers and meet their needs. The purpose statement should carry meaning in a short, enticing format.

Step 5: Create a Schedule for Publishing Content

One other key to success in content marketing is consistency. Be consistent in the message you share with your target audience, the amount of content you produce, and the number of times you publish your content. Consistency shows your reliability.

Additionally, take advantage of promotional avenues to further expand your target reach. An excellent example is the use of influencer marketing. Another example that works is email marketing. If you don’t have the budget for these two methods, consider inviting a guest to blog on your site – or blog on authority sites.

Conclusion

Remember, nothing is set in stone. The idea is to build and rebuild until you find something that works best for your business. Keep in mind that content marketing helps with creating a long-term foundation for your business. So don’t expect immediate results.

But if you do it right, you will get the best results, eventually. In the meantime, you can conduct a competitor analysis to determine the strategies they are using and the type of content they are sharing.

You can then use this information to produce more interesting and relatable content for your audience. Fill in any gaps you identify. On that note, do you know of any gaps content marketers are yet to fill in their strategies? Let us know in the comments below.

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