You’re still in the race—if you take the right approach and focus on your content marketing goals. One Piece of Content, One Content Marketing Goal Though your overarching content strategy will likely have multiple content goals (awareness, lead generation, customer retention, engagement, etc. A campaign enables brands to build upon the successes of individual pieces of content to move their audience to conversion. Analyze the results, adjust and/or expand. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 60 percent of marketers do not formally document their objectives, audience, or goals. Identifying and creating content around the specific needs of your target audience will attract their attention, and a strong call to action for the one next step (whether it’s to purchase, learn more, subscribe to your newsletter, or something else) is the final touch. Analyze and Adjust: Without speaking to him personally (and if you’re reading this Michael, give us a call some time! (And yes, it can even help companies like Xerox.) Capitalizing on Pop Culture SunGard had a challenge that so many brands can relate to: a product or service that doesn’t stoke people’s interest. The brilliance of this campaign comes from its use of zombies.
When it comes to content marketing, have you been slow getting out of the starting gate? Or are you struggling to keep up with larger competitors that crank out tons of content? It’s not an enviable position, but all is not lost. You’re still in the race—if you take the right approach and focus on your content marketing goals.
Despite your instinct to knock out blog post after blog post to catch up, adopting a goal-focused content strategy will provide greater dividends in both the short and long terms. If this sounds obvious, it’s actually the zag to the zig of most marketers. Some 70 percent of them lack a consistent or integrated content strategy, according to Altimeter.
Part of this no-strategy approach likely involves failing to focus on producing a single business goal with each piece of content. Some content managers won’t consider a goal at all when developing a blog post, white paper, or webinar, while others will try to shoot the moon. Both tend to produce an ROI of roughly zilch.
One Piece of Content, One Content Marketing Goal
Though your overarching content strategy will likely have multiple content goals (awareness, lead generation, customer retention, engagement, etc.), each piece of content should focus on a single one. A campaign enables brands to build upon the successes of individual pieces of content to move their audience to conversion.
For example, a blog post may lead to a newsletter sign up, which leads to downloading an ebook, which leads to requesting information from a sales representative. That’s an overly simplified roadmap, but it illustrates how you can use content to create a customized and efficient pathway for your target audience.
Getting Started with Business Goals
While organizations and content strategies differ, the following four steps will help you understand the content you need to produce in order to achieve your desired business objective:
- Define a goal for each piece of content.
- Select a specific audience that makes sense for that goal.
- Identify the content topics/mediums that will move that audience to the desired outcome.
- Analyze the results, adjust and/or expand.
Remember, each step should lead to the next. For example, identifying the objective and audience helps you hone your content types (blog posts, white papers, etc.) and topics, enabling you to deliver the right message at the right time with greater frequency.
Though the steps are simple, you and your team should write down your conclusions—formally, not on a dinner napkin. The extra effort pays off. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 60 percent of marketers do not formally document their objectives, audience, or goals. That diminishes their chances for success, according to a study by Dominican University’s Gail Matthews which showed that people who write down goals, review them, and share them are 33 percent more successful than those who don’t.
Preparing Individual Content Pieces
When preparing content, remember that competition is fierce for your target audience’s attention; they are the metaphorical belle of the content marketing ball, and many brands want a dance. Identifying and creating content around the specific needs of your target audience will attract their attention, and a strong call to action for…
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