7 Steps To Creating Your Own Content Strategy

By Kaya Ismail -

source-https://www.cmswire.com/content-strategy/7-steps-to-create-a-successful-content-strategy/

These six steps are essential to developing a solid content strategy:

1. Set Your Goal(s)

Reed recommended you start with an objective. "Starting with the end business goal helps keep you focused," she said, "otherwise it can be easy to get distracted." Without concentrating on business objectives, you could end up publishing content just for the sake of it. “At this point, make sure you have your analytics all set up,” suggested Taras Prystatsky, content marketing strategist at Respect.Studio. Potential metrics to track in your analytics tools could include page views, social media shares or ecommerce conversions.

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2. Determine Your Target Audience

"Get to know your target audience," said Andreevska. You want to know where they spend their time online, what they spend their money on, and how you can solve their problems. "Map out their journey from the discovery phase, to the consideration phase, to the point of purchase, to hopefully becoming a repeat customer," Reed recommended. You want to develop content that attracts your target audience and leads them every step of the way to a purchase.

3. Work the SEO Angle and Do Keyword Research

After you've determined your target audience, Andreevska said, “you have to carefully research the keywords relevant to your audience," as these will become "the backbone of your content development." Many tools can help with keyword research like Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner. You can create content around these keywords that drives traffic and higher SEO rankings for your website and brand.

4. Analyze the Competition

Once you understand what your target audience and keywords are, it's great idea to examine your competitors content along with the areas and keywords that they rank for. "Look at what your competitors are doing, but more importantly, look at what they're not doing," Reed said. Study the topics, keywords and length of the content on their website or other distribution channels. If you find areas where your competitors have content that's lacking, you can fill in the gaps and provide better value to your target market.

5. Choose Your Distribution Channels

Don't let the endless amount of distribution channels overwhelm your teams. Prystatsky believes brands should choose a small handful of channels for content distribution, such as a blog and a YouTube channel, allowing the company to "focus on distribution to the right people through the right channels."

6. Develop an Editorial Calendar

Once you've chosen your distribution channels, "create an editorial calendar to iron out the nitty-gritty details of where and when this content will be made available," Reed said. An editorial calendar will help you keep track of your content and ensure you're publishing consistently.

7. Build Credibility on Your Topic

Prystatsky concluded, "when it comes to B2B — it is much more important to build a credible image instead of catching hype." Following these steps will help you create a content strategy that provides real value to your audience and develops long-lasting trust for your brand.