How to Target Content Marketing Strategy Effectively

Very often, too much weight is placed on a landing page. Yes, they need to have a clean URL, a unique meta description and they need to be optimized for the main keywords of your product or service. But this is only part of the picture. Consumers have questions and they visit your landing page for them. Before you inundate the web with content, consider a content marketing strategy that address these three main points:

1. Who is your intended audience? Content must be written with the express intent of attracting their attention. Ask yourself why a particular blog should be written?
2. How will you make money off this content? Is your helpful content leading customers towards purchasing your product or service?
3. What do consumers want from your content? Do they need your address and location above all? Or do they need specific help in using your product? If you operate an interior design company, are customers interested in the colour trends for 2014?

If you sell mufflers, it may not be enough to simply write content that sells mufflers. Customers may not simply be searching for “mufflers for sale.” In fact, they are more likely searching for answers and doing comparisons. Which mufflers are the cheapest? Which ones are the hardiest? What are the signs a muffler needs replacing? These are the more intuitive questions that your audience is asking. Re-target your blog posts to address these questions and to serve the purpose of content: to engage, to enlighten and to entertain.

Life Beyond Keywords

Keywords are necessary, but not the focus of content strategy. In order for audiences to engage, they need to addressed in an ongoing, year-round fashion. Follow the needs of your audience as the year goes by. If the time of year, the season, the weather are considerations of your audience, then create content that stays up-to-date. Then take a look at your competition.

You and your competition are vying for space on the Internet and are most likely optimized for the same keywords. Read their content. What content can you create that blows your competition away? What are they missing? These are simple marketing rules: understand your Unique Selling Proposition and run with it. If your competition is all about the numbers then you can approach your audience in a more human, personal way.

Online, you’re not in competition over your products, you’re in competition over your online presence, your content. Be daring. Say something that your competition isn’t saying.

Good Content Strategy Requires Sharing

If your content is relevant, your audience will share it on their social media sites. This is key to getting your blogs / videos / eBooks shared with a wider audience. People don’t share ads (unless they’re really into advertising.) Generally, people only share information that is useful, answers specific questions or is in (the very least) entertaining. Hence the number of piano playing cats that goes viral on YouTube. For a business, you need to be a resource and wealth of information and answers. It’s not necessarily your product description that you want shared, but your content and your voice.

Search Rankings Aren’t About Robots

Yes, Google crawlers are out there looking for keywords but they’re also looking for shares, likes, re-posts, links and visits. Streamlining your site to accommodate good content will help your audience to participate in the work you’re doing. Remember, it’s not necessarily about getting a sale. It’s a long-term content strategy that will pay off dividends in terms of followers and online presence.

Did you find this post useful? Please tell me your thoughts on how content strategy applies to your particular niche market. If you know someone who is struggling with ideas for content and / or wonders about the efficacy of blog writing, send this along to them. After all, this is the point of ColdAd’s content.