The ROOLS of Marketing: Developing A Content Strategy

By now, most marketers and business owners know how important it is to have a strong content strategy for your organization. But if you are just winging it, or creating content for the sake of having content, you can be doing more harm than good. Below are a few helpful tips when creating your content strategy.

Start at the End

We get a lot of professionals coming to us asking for “help with content”, and our first questions is always, “Why?”. 

It is critical that you start with your business goals in mind and work backwards from there. Determine the top 2-3 things you are trying to accomplish in the business, and then think about how a strong content strategy can help accomplish those goals.

Identify Content Themes

It is important to identify content themes that help reinforce your business values and align well with your core mission. If you choose themes that don’t align with your company's goals or mission, it can become confusing to your reader and do more damage than good for your SEO. Keep this in mind when identifying content themes:

• Remember, think about your business goals first
• Keep it between 3-5 themes to help you focus on what is important
• Everything you share should reinforce your business values
• Review the types of content your clients and competitors are sharing

Fill in The Gaps

Once you have an idea of the core content themes that will help deliver on your strategy, review the content you may already have developed; such as blogs, brochures, videos, social media posts, third party articles, etc.

Identify where the gaps are and come up with a plan to create the content. This can be done in-house or by hiring a freelancer or agency to create the content for you. Not every piece of content needs to be long. A simple Facebook post or Tweet can play an important role in your overall strategy.

Test and Expand your Content

Start small and test your content as you go. If you notice a Facebook post getting more shares or comments, build on the topic by creating a blog post or article to further inform your audience. If a certain content theme seems to have low engagement, ask yourself if it is the theme or the way you are communicating the topic?

As you test your content strategy, pay attention to the metrics that matter. While likes and retweets are important, how many comments are you getting? Are readers taking the next step and filling out a lead form? Are your leads even the right people you want to be talking to? And above all else, are you reaching your business goals you started with? Even if all the metrics are pointing in the right direction, if you are not hitting your primary business goals, something needs fixed.

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