Content strategy: persona maps, content calendars, Tone of Voice, and more.
Think of it as a sublime menu for a meal of killer content.
Cast your mind back to the late-90s. Britney Spears wanted us to hit her again, but only once. New Labour was hangin’ tough as the new political kid on the block. We were all basking in the new-found glory of the stuffed crust pizza.
And businesses were producing content like this:
“Hey, I’ve got a good idea for a blog!”
“Write it.”
“Hey, I’ve had another, totally unrelated good idea!”
“Write that too. Content is king.”
Content is king. The phrase that unwittingly led to a deluge of marketing content that continues to flood the Internet with blog after blog, 90.63% of which is never seen.
Here’s something you thought a writer wouldn’t say: content isn’t king. Strategy is.
Content with no strategy is like throwing pizza at the wall and hoping it sticks. Whereas content with strategy is like launching a surgical strike on your prospect with dough balls.
It’s precise, it’s targeted, and it gets results.
What is content strategy?
A content strategy is a plan that uses content to achieve a business objective. It ensures your content is being created for specific customers and prospects, with specific purpose, so that you’re getting the most from your content investment.
For example, you might want to grow your business by attracting a new type of customer. Instead of blasting a bunch of listicles onto your website and hoping they’ll attract the right person, you create a carefully curated content journey that targets the prospect’s specific needs and leads them all the way to conversion.
Or you may want to raise awareness of a particular issue. Put down the scattergun and think how you would take someone from ignorance to expert, and build that content journey for them.
Each time, you’re saving time and money while bettering your results by creating the right content for the right person that inexorably leads to conversion.
Do I need a content strategy?
Yes. Absolutely.
Is your content marketing just not working? A content strategy will kick everything into shape and get your content converting prospects into customers.
Perhaps your content marketing isn’t doing too badly with the pizza-at-the-wall approach. That’s great. But why not kick it up a gear and start generating some stellar results?
For example, the content strategy I built and executed for British Assessment Bureau resulted in:
- 98% boost in traffic
- 29% uplift in enquiries
- 21% increase in conversions
Let’s be honest: you deserve results like that. Which is why you deserve a stonking content strategy. So let’s build one for you.
How do you create a content strategy?
It differs for every strategist, hut here’s the process I follow:
- Define the objective. Sometimes this involves getting a super specific objective from a general one i.e. get more sales becomes get more web conversions from our CEO persona
- Map the objective to the persona(s). Now we know what we’re trying to achieve, I look at the customer persona information to identify the relevant pain/gain points we need to consider to create the content.
- Build the journey the persona will need to take in order to convert in a way that meets the objective.
- Analyse the existing content. Is there anything that already fits into this journey? This step is crucial for reducing the investment needed to execute the strategy i.e. save money.
- Fill the gaps = create the content that is missing from the journey. I use a custom-built content analyser and planner that I give to all my clients.
- Measure and revise. Let the content do its thing, measure the data, and tweak the work so that it works the best it can.
Does content strategy deliver results?
Look, I get it. Sometimes all this talk sounds like a lot of pointless chatter. Does a simple blog really need so much thought behind it?
Let me ask you a question: how many of your blogs are actually driving conversions? If they’re not, what’s the point of them?
- Search traffic. Great, you’ve written a blog for a few search terms. People visit the blog. They leave. So what was the point?
- Brand awareness. Super. What now?
- Algorithms like regular content. Maybe so. Your prospects will prefer relevant, quality content.
- We need content for social/newsletter/etc. You do. Content with a purpose. Otherwise it’s content for content’s sake again.
Let me put it this way: when I implemented a solid content strategy for Lexham Insurance, it helped to boost enquiries by 20%.
So what are we waiting for? Let’s create a content strategy that will increase sales and grow your business.
