So, you want to know the secret to content marketing? As a brand it’s no longer about selling your product or services to just anyone. The key to success is in finding your target audience’s needs and serving up content that offers true value, on the channel where they are likely to engage with it.

We completely understand that your priorities as a business are to drive sales and accumulate interested prospects. But, in order to do this consistently over time we’ve seen customers switch off from the pushy, one-way sales messaging on digital channels. So, what does this mean for you as a business owner whose number one priority is to drive revenue?

Well, firstly let us tell you – it’s not all bad news! The secret lies in understanding what you want to achieve as a business and identifying your customers pain points. This can be achieved through a mix of keyword research, social listening and desk research.

From there you’ll be able to create engaging, relevant content that taps into your target audience’s daily micro-moments, meets their needs, adds true value and is offering something different from your competitors in the market.

Interestingly, studies show that 51% of consumers using smartphones have purchased from a brand over another in the market due to them providing regular, useful information. Adidas is a brand that has proved this type of content marketing strategy works, through turning content into a conversation, driving true brand loyalty and dominating the market.

Easy to say, but how do we achieve this? We’ve pulled together our top content marketing tips to get you started no matter what size business you are!

1. Be clear on your business & marketing objectives

Your business objectives should be smart and actionable with a clear mission statement for where your brand is going. Develop a detailed outline for what each department needs to achieve and by when, to deliver success. Crucially, you should ensure it is clear exactly how you are measuring the success of your activities so that all marketing output ladders up to the same goals.

2. Understand your competitors

In every industry, there are businesses who stand out at the top of the pack but how do you stand out in an over-saturated industry? By understanding what their positioning is, who they are attracting and what actions they are taking to ensure success, you too can reap these rewards.

Once you know the ins and outs of your competitors, it’s time to consider how you will differentiate and importantly, what else you can bring to the market through insight, education and innovation.

3. Know your audience inside-out

Successful businesses know exactly who they are targeting and what makes each segment of their target audience tick. Take each segment and carry out keyword research and social listening to find out what they are searching for and their pain points. What sorts of questions are they asking? This is the information that will allow your brand to add real value to a specific segment within your target audience.

4. Create a content strategy

The road to success starts with a clear plan of action. Identify the seasonal trends and when is the best time of the year to engage each segment of your target audience. From here you will be able to form an always-on strategy across your marketing mix. Also, you will be able to see peak opportunities to run campaigns that gain greater awareness at these key times in the year.

5. Quality over quantity

Quality definitely beats quantity! You need to focus on quality content that remains true to your brand’s personality and positioning. Always ask yourself, “is this adding value to my audience?” If it’s not, go back to the drawing board. There are different angles you could take here whether it’s informative, advice-led, answering challenges or offering entertainment.

6. Ensure your content gets seen by the right people

Okay, so you’ve produced this amazing content – now the challenge is considering how to get it seen by the right people. Think about activating all your channels. Can you use influencers, PR, social media, PPC, re-marketing, email, website and supporting blog content to support your always-on or campaign plans.

7. Test, test and test again

As mentioned by our head of SEO, an important element is to ensure the content resonates well with your target audience. Ensure a test and learn approach is implemented to identify quickly what is working and importantly change those things that aren’t having any impact.

Conclusion

Ultimately we need to start producing content that fits into our audience’s needs and wants. Why? Because if we’re offering on-going valuable information to our audiences, they ultimately will reward us with their business and loyalty, which is much more valuable in the long term.