Ready to integrate content marketing into your online marketing strategy? Not sure where to begin? Here is a basic rundown of how to create a killer content marketing strategy. This seven-step guide will help you kick off your journey to content marketing success. Ready? Set? Go!

1. Identify your goal. Your content marketing strategy can be catered to accomplish any number of goals. Do you want to use your content solely to build brand awareness? Or is your goal to generate leads? Make sales? It is important to identify your goal first because it impacts all aspects of content marketing strategy from the persona you target to your means of distribution. Examine your current marketing strategy and decide where quality content will serve one of your key objectives.

2. Identify your audience. Now that you know what your content marketing objective, it’s time to decide who you want your content to reach. This begins by creating a buyer persona, a fictional representation of the real people you want to buy your product. Crafting your buyer persona takes a lot more than researching demographics. You have to actually have in-depth conversations with consumers, says Content Marketing Institute. Once you’ve fleshed out the buyer persona details, don’t forget to also target influencers who drive consumer decisions.

3. Generate some ideas. This is often the most challenging step in crafting a content marketing strategy. A great place to begin is to talk to consumers online and on the street to learn their needs and interests. Plug into your buyer persona’s online communities. What are they talking about on blogs and social media? And remember brainstorming is never a solo activity. Recruit everyone in your organization and network to inquire, research, and start generating ideas, advises Moz.

4. Start creating. The next step is to dive into the actual content creation. Tap into your brainstorming session to build content around what your audience values. Use diverse formats to deliver value via multiple mediums. Ensure your content is keyword-rich and SEO-friendly so it will be found by search engines. And remember, looks matter when it comes to content, says Heidi Cohen. Make sure your content is well-organized, visually pleasing, and free of grammatical errors.

5. Plan your editorial calendar. Strategically publish your content to ensure a consistent feed of useful information throughout the day, week, and month. Make sure your content stream is compelling, not repetitive, and mixes up content formats to maintain engagement. Be sure your content schedule coincides with existing marketing projects and newsworthy events to try to capture search traffic.

6. Distribute content. No content marketing strategy is complete without a killer social media strategy. Based on buyer persona research, distribute your content through the proper social media channels where they will be read and shared by your target audience. Share content consistently and strategically. Time of day matters if you want your content to be seen on social platforms.

7. Measure content performance. This may be the final step in executing a content marketing strategy, but it is no less important. It is important to track multiple content marketing KPIs if you want to evaluate the success of your content marketing strategy.  Keep in mind content marketing ROI is not easily quantifiable and won’t appear overnight. Be patient. But if your measurements indicate something’s not working, it’s time to reevaluate your content marketing strategy.

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