Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools you have for promoting your business. Every brand should be using it to create digital content and reach their target audience, and beyond. But effective use of content requires a strategic content marketing strategy. You need a plan that ensures you are consistent and that you are creating quality content that builds your brand and business goals in the way that you intend.
Here are five simple tips to help you achieve your content goals and develop effective content:
1. Create Content that Appeals to Google and Your Readers
The original sin of content creation is focusing too much on what you want to create and not enough on what your audience wants from you. Content writing should aim to appeal to readers and your target audience. You want to make sure you are expert enough to speak on a topic – which should automatically come with it being a part of your industry. But don’t just assume that because you have something to say about a topic that it’s something your customers will want to hear.
Once you understand how important it is to appeal to readers, you can make your website content appealing to search engines. This allows people to be able to find the high quality content you’ve spent so long making. Unfortunately, creating this blend of Google-friendly content and reader-friendly content is one of the biggest challenges of content development. It’s an ever-changing world and keeping up with it is a full-time job. This is why so many brands turn to professional content creation companies to help them.
2. Format Content in a Reader-friendly Manner
Too many people make the mistake of filling their webpages and blogs with big chunks of text. This is difficult to read and turns readers off. To keep things interesting and make sure readers stick around, you’ll want to format content in a way that is comfortable to read and engage with. Make sure you are using bullet points, highlights, headings, and text that is easy to read.
In addition to how you format your content, you’ll also want to make sure you use images and words that reach out to people and grab their attention. You want your content to be interesting, which can be a tall order if your industry isn’t particularly exciting. You know your audience better than anyone – at least you should – and you know what appeals to them. Find creative ways to get their attention and help them feel good about using your website.
3. Develop Content that is Timely and Trending
It’s important to have evergreen content that will appeal to readers across time, but the best content development plans also include timely content. It’s a good idea to set up Google alerts to make sure you know about what is going on in your industry.
One of the best ways to build a following with your content and grow your brand is to speak authoritatively in developments in your field. Becoming a source that people go to for opinions in your industry should be one of your primary content goals. Over time, people will know to come to you and will view you as a thought leader in your industry.
4. Make Sure Content is Unique
It probably goes without saying that your content needs to be original. You can look to your competitors and other sources for inspiration, but your content must still be unique. Creating a well-defined brand is all about making sure your content is identifiable when you aren’t making it clear who it’s from. Think about some of the world’s best-known brands. You can recognize their content based on their color scheme or logo or slogans or the overall message of their content. You should aim to accomplish this too with completely unique content.
5. Always Keep Helping Your Customers at the Forefront of Your Content Plans
Before posting a single piece of content, ask yourself, “How is this going to help my ideal customers?” Even if the answer is nothing more than “It will entertain them,” or “It will make them smile,” that’s enough. But your content should always be providing something to readers. Brands that make helping readers one of their top content priorities tend to fare best in online marketing.
What are Five Essential Elements to Keep in Mind When Developing Content?
In addition to the tips above, make sure each piece of content you create is:
- Specific: Make your content intentional and focused on a specific audience.
- Measurable: Don’t base your entire content develop strategy on increasing your numbers, but make sure that’s part of the plan. Being able to track the success of the content you’re creating will give you a road map for the future. Don’t be afraid of failing, but being able to measure and evaluate what you’re doing means you won’t continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.
- Actionable: Make sure you have a content development plan that is easy to follow and could be followed even if you aren’t around to implement it. A step-by-step guide makes it easier to stay on track and be consistent.
- Realistic: The idea of creating endless content forever is admirable, but it’s not going to work. You need to be sure whatever you plan can be implemented consistently. Biting off more than you can chew is always a mistake when it comes to content.
- Diversify: Remember, there’s more to content creation than just writing blogs or posting on social media. You need to create a content strategy that finds your ideal customers and spends time on the platforms they are on. There’s no sense posting to a platform that doesn’t appeal to your audience.
Effective content is about more than just pushing out as much content as possible. You must have a strategy and commit to implementing it over the long haul. As anyone who has successfully used their content to market their brand, it’s all about the slow and steady consistency. You’ll see results, but they don’t always happen immediately. Putting a plan in place, evaluating that plan, and being willing to adjust when needed is the key to great content development in our modern age for brands.
