Tag: Content Marketing Agency

How To Create a Content Marketing Strategy in 2024

Content is the most important thing in the marketing world. But sometimes, a lack of planning and thoughtful strategy can result in scattered content, leading to a highly ineffective approach.

Content marketing strategies aren’t about being present on every possible channel. Their success hinges on how effectively a brand gets the best out of its available resources and integrates them towards a common goal. Ultimately, the objective is to guide prospects smoothly through the sales funnel.

Content marketing strategy focuses on creating a marketing machine that aligns buyers’ journey and marketing funnel stages towards the same goal (conversion). This blog will outline some of the important aspects of content marketing strategies.

Content Strategy Vs. Content Marketing: The Key Difference

Content marketing relates to creating different content in multiple marketing channels, such as writing articles, gated content, videos or publishing social media content. 

Content strategy, on the other side, plans how to tie different content formats and channels that lead toward the same goal. Content strategists analyze customer personas and devise a roadmap that reaches them perfectly across the different stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Ultimately, content strategists linked all the content from blogs and e-books to webinars. They tested different scenarios to predict which strategy would bring them success in creating initial brand awareness, converting leads, closing customers and eventually developing the overall brand success.

How Does Content Strategy (A.C.D) Model Work? 

Now we know the content strategy is not all about publishing content in different marketing channels. Let’s see how it takes the existing content resources and repurposes them into cohesive marketing collateral that drives conversions and leads.

According to 74% of companies, content marketing boosts lead generation rate.

Content marketing strategy focuses on buyer journey stages and ensures how to move their prospects from Awareness A, Consideration C to the Decision D stage.

Now, let’s see how these different stages work with marketing channels to provide tailored messages and a unified organic marketing experience to every stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Awareness Stage -> Top-of-the-Funnel (TOFU) Content  

The awareness stage usually deals with top-of-the-funnel sections to drive visitors to the website by capturing their interest, eventually setting the stage for them to potentially become leads as they progress through the sales funnel.

Now, in this stage, various strategies come into the stretch, including Outsource SEO services and B2B content writing across blogs, social media and other website content. This stage marks the beginning of the buyer’s journey and addresses their pain points with messaging that resonates with their business problems.

This stage works on highlighting the challenges and helping potential customers get the right solution. The goal is to create a content marketing strategy that aligns current topics with business goals.

Top of the funnel content usually includes:

  • Series of Blog posts.
  • E-books
  • Social media posts
  • Short-form videos 

Consideration Stage -> Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) Content

Now that the potential customer has moved beyond the awareness stage indicated by actions such as signing up for business lead magnets or downloading an ebook, they are entering the consideration stage and actively evaluating your product or service.

However, hardly half of the work has been done yet. The potential customers might be exploring solutions to their problems, visiting your business website, or managing to see branded content. But they are still not ready to make a decision. 

Businesses must provide content that educates and gives valuable information that impresses their prospects and converts them from general leads to Marketing or Sales Qualified Leads (MQL or SQL). 

Some of the middle-of-the-funnel content can be:

  • Product demos
  • Webinars 
  • Case studies
  • Testimonials 
  • Email newsletters 

Decision Stage -> Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) Content

The bottom of the funnel is to get hands-on conversions and grab the opportunity to earn customers.

After building awareness and consideration among prospects with aligned strategies such as e-books, webinars, and a series of related blogs or email messages, it’s now time to engage in a direct conversation with the customer.

However, this is not an easy stage. Most marketers lose their qualified leads at this stage. Direct responsive content and personalized messaging tone are crucial in this stage.

Bottom of the funnel content types are:

  • Consultation session
  • Product workshops
  • Pricing pages
  • Free trials 

Remember, lead generation magnets like discount coupons, email newsletters, and workshops are core components in increasing leads-to-customer conversion rates, complementing revenue marketing goals.

Now that we have discussed the combined working of the buying journey and marketing channels under content marketing strategy. 

Let’s discuss how to create a flawless content marketing strategy.

Steps To Create Your Next Content Marketing Strategy

  1. Set SMART goals
  2. Find the target audience and their buying journey 
  3. Decide types of content formats
  4. Pick relevant marketing channels
  5. Plan your event-based content
  6. Assess and measure results

Many content marketers allocate over 10% of their marketing budget specifically to content.

1. Set SMART Goals

The first step of digital content marketing is to set SMART goals. All the content initiatives and efforts aim to achieve these goals. This saves them time and resources to keep marketers glued to their content marketing goals. 

One example of a SMART goal that should be attained in the next quarter is: 

5 New Customers 

20 New Leads

2,000 Monthly Visitors 

2. Find the Target Audience and their Buying Journey 

Creating a content strategy without clearly knowing the target audience is absolutely baseless. 

Instead of considering a broad audience, content strategists should focus on tailored building buyer personas and creating content marketing solutions that clearly identify their buyer journey.

Creating their buyer personas and understanding their buying journey helps them create content that rightly resonates with them. Examining their problems and needs helps them create specialized content.

3. Decide Types of Content Formats

The next phase is to decide which content format will highly resonate with their target audience. Businesses conduct content audits and see which resources and materials they already have to put under their strategy. 

Types of content can be blog posts, user-generated content, and other technical gated content to see which one makes more impact at different stages of the buyer journey.

4. Pick Relevant Marketing Channels

Once the content is decided, it’s time to pick marketing channels that will prove effective for content marketing strategies.

Content strategists will decide on different marketing channels like b2b email marketing, social platforms or website blogs based on the content they are going out with.

5. Plan Your Event-Based Content

This stage involves event-based audits to outline content according to upcoming priorities, setting future blog topics, social media campaigns, and other inbound marketing efforts tailored to buyer personas.

This helps them schedule content to cater to specific events while distributing them on the right content channels.

6. Assess and Measure Results

The last stage is analyzing and measuring results. Examine which strategies work and what adjustments need to be made to achieve their set goals and metrics. 

This stage also includes the A/B testing phase to see which content marketing strategy or process needs improvements to earn SMART goals and (Key-Performance-Indicators) KPIs better for the future phase. 

Wrapping Up: What’s Next For Content Marketing World

Many B2B content marketing agencies provide expertise in writing exceptional content marketing strategies that take the visitors from leads to customers and eventually make them brand evangelists. According to Seth Godin, “Content marketing is the only marketing that is left”, and their impact certainly vouches for that. To conclude, content marketing strategies have the power to align businesses with different marketing collateral and optimize them for better lead generation results.

With Market Pro, you can craft a content marketing strategy that pinpoints your ideal customers and boosts lead-to-customer conversion rates.

Top Tips to Develop a Winning Content Marketing Strategy for B2B Tech

Online information sources remain the number-one “go-to” for technical purchasers seeking a solution for company purchases. Considering this, many marketers fall into the trap of producing vast amounts of content in order to ensure that anything they believe their ideal customers are seeking is available on their website. These advertisers frequently devote sufficient time to content creation that they have no time to establish a comprehensive content marketing strategy or examine the effectiveness of existing content to determine what resonates with their ideal customers.

Publishing content solely for the purpose of having it available is an unsuccessful approach. Excessive content can make it harder for your readers to find what they need. Every step of the content creation process, i.e., planning, development, and evaluation, should be given equal weight to prevent yourself from falling into the high-volume trap.

Let’s explore the four tips for developing a winning content marketing plan that will keep you focused on engaging prospects and ultimately persuade them to continue making purchases with your brand.

Tip #1: Generate Content with a Purpose

The primary objective of content marketing campaigns is to provide the correct mix of information that resonates with ideal customer profiles at various phases of their purchasing journey. However, it’s easier said than done, particularly if your firm has Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who are enthusiastic about producing content and prefer to produce many pieces every year in their respective fields of expertise.

One of the last things you wish to do as a content strategist is suppress an SME’s enthusiasm by requesting them to stop crafting content. However, if your firm has content development silos, consumers will find it more challenging to get the details they need to back up their buying choices.

Devote time to regular content planning to relieve the pressure and pay attention to your SMEs’ content creation efforts. Define the purpose of your writing, as well as the content topics that your business will focus on during the planning and marketing cycle. For example, 41% of the marketers’ goal was to create brand awareness through content marketing activities in 2022. This critical information, when combined, will determine the sort of content your business requires and aid in the elimination of “random acts of content production” occurring in your company. During the planning stage, ensure that each piece of written material you develop fulfils customers’ needs and educates a client or prospect in a certain way.

Suggested Read: The Power of Content Strategy: Factors That Make Content Go Viral

Tip #2: Let Data Influence Your Decisions

Does your B2B content writing business have a mechanism in place for analyzing content metrics on an ongoing basis? Or are your content creators too busy crafting material to devote time to metric evaluation? You aren’t alone if you responded yes to the query. You need a method for assessing content performance to verify that it can assist you in accomplishing the strategic goals set throughout the planning phase. Create a content scorecard for all of the marketing initiatives as part of the planning phase, outlining the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are required to be tracked. The scorecard must indicate where your company is now and where you want it to be in the future. By analyzing the data every three months, you can determine what is working and what’s not to make data-driven changes to your content writing strategy.

Tip #3: Ensure the Content Continues to Meet Your KPIs

Unlike several other marketing strategies, like search advertising, which expires when you stop making payments for a campaign, your writing may remain on your site permanently. Yet, not all stuff should remain forever. Your company and its services will change gradually, as will market trends and innovations, which may ultimately render earlier top-performing articles obsolete. Adopt a content life cycle management method to analyze current content at least once a year to boost popular topics and remove irrelevant or outdated material from the website. A well-established content life cycle strategy will eventually make it methodical for your team to continuously assess and optimize your material, ensuring that your best content dominates.

Tip #4: Make Content Creation Manageable

Making the content creation more manageable entails more than just reducing volume. To create a really sustainable content strategy that fuels your advertising plan, you must first assess the resources at your disposal, as well as any previous issues that your company has had with content generation. Is it, for instance, difficult to get SME time to attend sourcing sessions, or is it more challenging to obtain input during reviews? Or are you a solitary marketer who wears multiple advertising hats for your company and finds it tough to devote time to content development?

To avoid these circumstances hampering your marketing efforts, ensure having the resources to carry out the strategy you established. For example, if you want to involve the SMEs in content creation, it may require working with the relevant management staff to determine if metrics for success can be related to content generation as needed. If it is difficult to devote advertising resources to content production and evaluation activities, consider making a collaboration with a SaaS content marketing agency. 

You can contact us if you still have any queries.

Why is there a Need for a Winning Content Marketing Strategy?

A strategic and flexible brand content marketing strategy should be at the heart of your marketing plan to fuel growth effectively. It is going to be easier for the audience to find the information they are searching for if whatever material you publish has a mission and that aim is constantly reaffirmed through regular examination. The material you publish as part of a dedicated content marketing plan, rather than a series of one-time initiatives, is much more likely to attract traffic, generate leads, and contribute to qualifying sales prospects.

Suggested Read: Why Content Marketing is Crucial For SaaS Companies in 2023

Let Market Pro Help You!

Are you tired because your content marketing plan is not up to the mark? Let Market Pro, a digital marketing company, help you. Our team of experts will help you make a content marketing strategy that generates leads and results in a significant ROI. From content planning to optimization to measuring performance, our content marketing consulting services cover it all.   

Content Marketing Trends To Keep An Eye on in 2023

Content marketing services include brainstorming and creating digital media content to attract and retain a brand’s relevant audiences. The content produced can be of multiple types, from long-form blogs to videos and podcasts, different businesses utilize different content forms to tap into their niche market. 

Content marketing aims to build a meaningful and close relationship with their client base by showing them engaging and actionable content. Effective content creation and marketing strategies establish trust between a brand and its audience. Ultimately fostering a loyal customer base for the brand by projecting the brand’s authentic side. 

Moreover, content marketing is mainly used in combination with other marketing strategies like social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to create a cohesive and productive content marketing strategy. A content marketing agency plays a crucial role in guiding and advising brands on opting for the right digital marketing strategy and creating content that bears the desired results one hopes to achieve.  

The content marketing scene is constantly evolving as new trends come and go. To keep one’s brand and business relevant in the current times, it is vital to stay ahead of competitors by keeping up with the latest trends. The top content marketing trends dominating in the year 2023 include short form, engaging videos, personalized, human-centric content, SEO, valuable and actionable content, quality user experience and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance the content output and quality. 

Suggested Read: https://marketpro.ai/blog/top-8-digital-marketing-trends-in-2023/

Top 10 Content Marketing Trends

Like any strategy or technique used to boost the profitability of a business, content marketing is also dominated by a number of different trends. Content marketing cannot be carried out on the back of the same basic principles it once started out at. It is essential that new tech trends are incorporated into the strategy to keep it efficient and effective in achieving the desired results that a business is aiming for. 

To dominate the world of digital marketing, brands work diligently on their digital marketing strategies and invest a significant amount in their content. Content writing agencies help companies in producing B2B content writing and also B2C content writing. 

  • Short-Form Videos 

Video content has become the backbone of digital marketing in 2023, with Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok capturing the netizens’ attention and keeping them hooked. It has been calculated that the average internet user spends about 19 hours per week watching video content online. 

As people’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter with each passing day, social media platforms have realized the importance of promoting short-form content through their algorithms. These short video snippets are essential for brands and businesses in today’s world to create engaging and entertaining content for their audiences which will entice a response. 

Rather than 15-minute long promotional content advertising a product or service, a short video snippet is highly likely to gain audience attention, compel them to visit the brand and spend money on its offerings. In 2023, businesses are encouraged to time their visual content to under 2 minutes and keep the video content engaging and actionable so that people are compelled to listen to your brand’s message and conceive it effectively. 

  • Relatable, Human-Centric Content 

In the olden days, customers and potential clients of businesses expected them to convey their promotional message in a formal and curt tone. However, this is not what is trending in 2023. In fact, companies are expected to know their customers and audience and cater to their interests effectively now. 

This means creating friendly content, using a human tone and being conversational. This makes people feel that the brand they are investing their time and money on actually cares about them and knows them at a personal level. 

  • Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the most critical factor in determining the true worth of the content put out by a company on its online platforms. Search engines like Google rank content on their result pages based on SEO strategies used to optimize the content. 

Search engine optimization involves using the right keywords in the content and supporting it with authentic and strong backlinks that will boost the worth of the content being put out. The content efficiently created and optimized according to search engine standards ranks high on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and therefore boosts the brand image and value. 

  • Valuable and Actionable Content 

Audiences and customers demand content which is informative, honest, thought-provoking and convinces them to take action. When big corporations put out content that is genuine to their brand’s voice and identity, customers and audiences will likely appreciate this honesty. 

Therefore, according to data, 95% of customers are loyal to brands with an authentic online presence, and their content truly reflects their offerings. Using genuine words, and making data-backed claims helps brands create content that is actionable and valuable in the eyes of their audiences. 63% of B2B digital marketers use different forms of content to build customer loyalty and acceptance. 

  • Top-Notch User Experience 

User experience is supposed to be seamless and smooth, and it has been a trend that has stood the test of time and remained an important factor in helping brands find their voice online and keep true to it. 

A business can have the best content in the world, but if they are not providing an excellent and lag-free user experience to their audiences, all the time and effort spent on creating the content will go to waste. Therefore, in 2023, giving potential customers the best user experience when they visit a website is even more critical. 

User experience can be boosted by ensuring the quality of the following website feature, 

  • Page load speed
  • Mobile friendly interface 
  • Visual quality 
  • Website style and overall aesthetics

  • Well-Researched Content 

In 2023, misleading and clickbait-y content will have to take a back seat as more and more people now rely on cross-checking the information they see online for its authenticity. Insights and claims a brand represents must be backed by accurate and well-documented data.  

It is crucial to have an in-house team of experts who can research and produce truthful content for the company. However, an externally hired content writing agency can also help companies research well and produce content backed by knowledge and proven data insights. 

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

2023 is the year dominated by inventions like chatGPT, AI and ML. These new inventions and technologies, respectively, are making it easier to conduct content marketing and create marketing strategies that can be profitable for companies and brands.

From aiding in saving precious resources and time, automation is already helping brands achieve their desired profits by creating automated content. Furthermore, AI and ML are creating more such software that can easily, through the use of bots, generate helpful and informational content for audiences. 

  • Consistent Content Production 

A critical factor in the success of content marketing is consistent production. Businesses posting content regularly are more likely to keep their audience hooked to their brand and offerings. Being regular in one’s marketing efforts is essential to keep the brand fresh in its audience’s minds.

  • Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing and affiliate marketing are two of the most important and essential marketing trends of 2023. Affiliates and influencers chosen by companies help them promote their products and services by creating engaging and authentic content. Therefore, influencer marketing will gain more importance and offer even more specialized offerings in the year 2023 as more brands turn towards affiliates and influencers to fulfil their content marketing needs.

  •  Tracking Content Marketing Strategies

Keeping track of the performance of one’s content marketing services helps maintain the results and profits and helps companies incorporate newer trends in their strategies. This allows brands to keep their content marketing efforts up-to-date and ensures that their marketing efforts bear the desired results. 

Reasons To Keep Up With The Latest Content Marketing Trends

Brands and businesses should be able to keep up with the latest content marketing trends to effectively utilize their precious resources to achieve the desired results in the form of boosted sales and profits. 

Following are a few reasons to make sure that one’s company is using the latest trends in their digital marketing efforts to make the most of it and become more profitable, 

  1. Stay relevant 
  2. Stay ahead of your competitors 
  3. Enhance the Return on Investments (ROI)
  4. Adapt to changing customer demands and preferences
  5. Improve brand image

Overall, keeping up with the latest content marketing trends will help companies thrive in the highly competitive market. Therefore, in recognizing the importance of content marketing, Market Pro offers its clientele the best content marketing solutions to stay ahead of their competitors, earn profits, and drive the sales they truly deserve. 

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