Content marketing helps generate website traffic and leads, establishes your brand as a thought leader, and adds value to your prospects. However, it’s essential to go about it with direction.
 
This is where content strategy comes in.
 
Whether you’ve just started with content creation or have been implementing the same strategy for a while, it won’t hurt to revisit your approach and identify areas for improvement. This article will discuss what a content strategy is and the factors to consider when creating one.
 

What is content strategy?

First things first, what is a content strategy?
 
It is a strategy that takes your business goals and uses content as a primary means to achieve them.
 
For example, your business goal could be to increase brand awareness. To achieve this, you could focus on creating SEO content to improve your online visibility and drive traffic to
your website.
 
With 70% of marketers actively investing in content marketing, it’s crucial to develop an effective content strategy to remain competitive.
 
But how can you do this? Below are the factors that you should take into consideration.

Key Aspects of Content Strategy

Here are the essential elements of a content strategy that you should carefully think about:
 

1. Target Audience

The first question to ask is: who will be reading your content? For what types of audience are you creating content?
 
The answer to these questions is not limited to a single type of reader, and your content strategy can be designed such that it caters to more than one type of audience. By using a diverse range of content types and distribution channels, you’ll be able to offer value to potentially everyone with whom you do business.
 

2. Problem

When you establish a business, you’re addressing a specific challenge or pain point that your target market experiences.
 
A good content strategy should cover those who have yet to identify bottlenecks or problems and the people who are already using your solutions to overcome their struggles. Keep in mind that your content should be relevant and should reinforce your offerings as solutions to help your target audience solve their challenges.
 

3. Unique Selling Proposition

No matter how unique you think your business is, it is highly likely that many others have a similar product or service like yours. This competition means you have to make your potential clients realise that yours is better.
 
With a sound content strategy, you’ll be able to highlight what makes you different from other firms in your industry and prove why they should buy from your business.
 

4. Content Format

Deciding what types of content should you publish to get your message across is equally essential as thinking about relevant topics for your target audience.
 
Do you want to focus on blogs, infographics, or videos? Or maybe a nice combination of all these? Again, you should go back to your target audience and think about the types of content with which they’d be more engaged.
 
It’s important to identify the content formats you’d like to use because it also affects your budget. Unless you’re a multi-talented business owner, you’ll most likely need to tap into the expertise of other professionals such as copywriters, graphic designers, animators, or video editors.
 

5. Distribution Channels

No matter how great your content is, it won’t do you any good if it’s not distributed through the proper channels.
 
Your distribution channels could involve those you already own, such as your website and blog. It could also mean social media properties such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
 
Once again, you should think about who your target readers are and identify where you can best reach them. For instance, millennials typically use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, while professionals prefer expanding their network through LinkedIn.
 

6. Managing Content Creation

When creating a content strategy, you should also identify who’s developing the content, where it will be published, and when it should go live.
 
The best way to organise this is through an editorial/content calendar. Through this tool, you’ll be able to visualise how your brand message is being communicated and establish your authority in your field.
 

Need Help?

Whether you’re too busy with your day-to-day operations, or simply think that a professional can get this done better, feel free to get in touch with Verba Content today. As experts in content marketing, we can assist you with your content strategy and content creation.
 
Contact us today so we can discuss your business and how we can help you.