Today, “content” is the key to brand-building and marketing success, whether that means blogs on the web, trendy social media posts, or video production. Take a look around, and it seems like everyone is getting on board the content marketing train — so how do you punch your ticket to success?

Don’t make the mistake of plunging head-first into content creation without a clear strategy. The most successful marketing efforts develop clear goals first and aim for ways to meet them. An aimless strategy not only creates little value for your clients but may reflect poorly on your brand. So how do you create an effective strategy?

Know Your Audience and What They Want

This most basic question is the starting point for all successful content strategies. Fundamentally, you must answer questions such as:

• Who will consume this content?
• What kinds of things interest our audience? How can we relate those things to what we offer?
• How can we provide useful information to our audience?

To make content that people want to consume, do a deep dive on what makes your brand tick — then make that shine through in your content while providing more than just fluff.

Develop a Unique Position Where Possible

It’s tough to stand out on the web today, especially with so much competition within markets. What makes your brand special? How does your content differ? To create an effective strategy, you need to carve out your niche. Whether that means helpful how-to guides or quirky videos that uniquely communicate interesting information, equip your brand with content that gives it that “something special” that keeps people interested.

Select the Channels Likely to Work Best for You

The best content in the world doesn’t make a difference if no one sees it in the first place. If all your potential users are on Pinterest and Instagram, investing all your resources into Twitter and Facebook doesn’t make much sense. This circles back around to “know your audience” — where do they like to go on the web?

Invest in Quality Content

Keeping up with the content train is no easy feat, and it’s tough for even the most dedicated marketers to do it all alone. When you do outsource content, choose providers with a proven track record of trustworthy production. Fly-by-night producers who don’t care for your brand or what you’re trying to build often prove more of a hindrance than a help.

Have a Plan for Managing All Your Content

Once you start the process of producing content, you’ll find it quickly piles up — there’s always something new to create or to tweak, and engagements from your audience may drive changes, too. Know what you’ll do to stay on top of the process once you’ve started. It wouldn’t make sense to invest so much time and effort into a strategy that couldn’t sustain itself over the long term.

Find out more about how you can manage the demands of a content strategy while effectively reaching your target market with Distribion.