How to Build a Winning Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
Marketing to Pros in 2024 is not easy. Getting your messaging right, understanding how to engage them, and creating the perfect mix of attention-snatching words can feel like a daunting task, especially in this industry. The Pros coming into the field are younger, more tech savvy, and it can feel harder to reach them than ever before.
You need the marketing equivalent of Superman, and content marketing is here to save the day. Content marketing is a powerful tool that can help you build that brand awareness that you crave, attract those newer pros, and reach them where they are. You know this, but how do you execute a great content marketing plan and turn it into a winning strategy?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here is everything you need to know to start building a killer content marketing strategy that attracts even your most fragmented audiences. But first…
Why is Content Marketing so Important?
Back in the day–before digital– mailers and a billboard on I-95 were sufficient to drive customers to your doors. Those were the days when your competition lived in the same town as you, and your customers were pros who were servicing your area, too.
Now, the internet has opened the competitive landscape to a global scale. Your competitors live all over the world, and so do the pros you are trying to market to. A billboard and a nice mailer just aren’t going to cut it anymore. In the age of digital, great marketing is about building awareness and educating your audience. To thrive in this environment, you need to be a trusted source because this makes you memorable. This is where content marketing comes in.
We’re going to give you a simple blueprint to get your content marketing engines running. Let’s dive in.
1. Define your objectives
What do you want to achieve? This is the first question you need to ask yourself. Defining your objectives gives you a foundation to stand on. Your goals could be to increase brand awareness, generate more leads, or improve customer engagement. Defining your goals gives you a target and at the same time, will help you decide which types of content to create, where to distribute your content, and how to measure your success.
2. Identify your target audience
Who are you marketing to? Identifying your target audience is mission- critical because this helps you understand what they are going to want to see from you. What do they like? How do they consume content (and where)? What pain points does your product address? If you’re not sure about how to do this, conducting market research and creating buyer personas can help you identify your target audience and tailor your content to their needs.
3. Develop your content plan
Once you have these two questions ironed out, it’s time to start fleshing out your plan. The best way to do this is to include the types of content that you will create, the topics that fit those channels, and the frequency of your content. It’s important to remember that people like variety. You will expand your reach if you develop add a mix of content types to your list like blog posts, videos, and infographics to name a few.
4. Create high quality content
Nobody likes irrelevant content. Think about the ads that you scroll past, the blogs that you abandon after the first paragraph, the emails that you send to spam. That content was either irrelevant, unhelpful, or just plain old boring. To avoid this, you need to create content that is informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience. Use storytelling techniques to make your content memorable, use great visuals to engage, and make sure that your content is optimized for search engines to expand your reach.
5. Distribute your content
Distributing your content is just as important as creating high quality content. Imagine working so hard on steps one through five, only for your masterpieces to collect dust and not get any engagement. This is what happens when content isn’t distributed properly. A great place to start is to distribute content where you know your audience is the most active. For example, share that great blog post via email and social media. Mastering the art of distributing content can be the difference between collecting dust and an engagement powerhouse.
6. Measure your results
Marketers love data so measuring the results of your new campaign is a no-brainer. Use analytics tools to track website traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. While it’s great to see the numbers, make sure that you are using this data to determine which types of content are performing best, which channels drive the most traffic, and where you need to improve. Apply these findings to your next campaign and your competitors aren’t going to know what hit them.
7. Adjust your strategy
And last but most importantly, adjust your content marketing strategy based on your results. Use those insights that you gained from your analytic tools to change your content plan, distribution channels, and overall design. Adjust your strategy after every campaign and your competitors aren’t going to know what hit them.
It’s Time to Tell Your Story
Building a winning content marketing strategy isn’t rocket science, but it does require careful planning. You’re going to need high quality content to make that planning worth it, a targeted distribution plan to meet your Pros where they are, and adjustments to blow your competitors out of the water.
Follow these steps and you’ll have a killer content marketing strategy that not only helps you hit your business objectives but also drives growth.
Want to learn more about how you can accelerate your marketing engine? Contact us and experience data-driven marketing, designed for the unique needs of your trade professional audience.
