Why do I need a content strategy?

So you have your marketing strategy in place and your marketing team are ready to go, but how do you know what to write? This is one of the fundamental issues encountered by companies hence the need for a content strategy.

How do I create a strategy?

Although ultimately this may fall down to the marketing department, why not include the wider sales and marketing team? The sales team are the ones who are constantly liaising with clients, hearing their problems first hand, and coming up with solutions. They will have a vast bank of knowledge and experience which can be harvested into the perfect blog post, FAQ document or even LinkedIn published post. From experience, getting the sales and marketing team in a room together for just half an hour can unearth some fantastic ideas which in turn could lead to all important opportunities.

The first thing you need to decide upon is a timescale. Do you want a 3 month plan, 6 month plan or even an annual plan? How many campaigns do you want to run during that time? Once the structure has been decided, the ideas will flow and you can begin to fill in the gaps. Keeping the whole team involved throughout will only improve team work and get everyone on board. Creating quality content will keep an audience engaged, keep the unsubscribe rates down, and attract prospects to your website. Creating a brand which attracts people to visit your website, drop you an email or call you is the ultimate reward for the marketing team.

According to Hubspot, only 44% of B2B companies have a documented content strategy, a surprising statistic. Although content strategies are a must have, it is also important to remain responsive, maintain dialogue and be willing to answer client queries via a public forum. Social media, when used effectively can act as a catalyst; to get consumers to trust and rely on your company before they are actively sold to, however to do this, you must first create remarkable content.

Create, Distribute, Analyse, Repeat

Whether you use e-shots, social media, traditional marketing methods or a combination of all of these, what is a successful campaign without analysis? How do you know what has worked and what hasn’t? With technology constantly evolving, there are hundreds of clever tricks to analyse results, from marketing automation platforms such as Hubspot to good old Google analytics. But once you have posted something once, you should never post it again right? I disagree! If the content is remarkable and it works, why reinvent the wheel? Providing content is still relevant, the correct platform is used and the buyer’s persona is always considered, there is no harm in repeating content again and again.

Ask yourself, if I were in their shoes, would I be interested in this content? Would I open this email or would I share this post?