A well-planned content strategy can assist your business blog goals. It can serve as a roadmap for your marketing and allow you to streamline how you publish your content. Creating a content strategy for your business is essential, but it isn’t always easy. Here’s what you should know about content strategy, its importance, and how to develop one for your small business.
What Is a Content Strategy?
A content strategy is a guide used for mapping out future content that will boost your brand’s marketing. Content strategy helps small business owners track the input and output of their content in different formats. Content strategy refers to not only written work, but also applies to images and video used to promote your brand, idea, or product.
What Types of Content Should You Include?
To create an effective content strategy, you’ll include multiple forms of media. A description of some of the most useful types of content follows below.
Blog Articles
Blog articles are an excellent way to inform readers about your business. In a content strategy, they are the most important. On their own, blogs provide several benefits for small business owners. Business blog articles catered to your audience may create the perfect way to build trust with prospective customers.
Videos
Videos are another type of content that you’ll want to include in your content strategy. When starting your business, videos should focus on the following:
- Company background or company story
- Email marketing or sales
- Customer testimonials
- Onboarding
- Products and/or services
- Social videos
Infographics
Infographics are another type of content that provides more information to your content strategy. Uploading information in a visual format creates another way for blog visitors to interpret information. It also allows you to condense the information that you want to provide to the most essential points.
How to Develop a Blog Content Strategy
To develop a content strategy, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind.
1. Goals
The first thing to keep in mind is the goal of your business blog. It should be tailored to growing your audience so that new customers can find your business blog online. You should determine this early in the process to avoid errors in later steps.
2. Know Your Audience
Your audience is the most crucial part of your business. There are several ways that you can determine your audience and their demographic information.
You can achieve this by conducting market research. Another helpful tool, especially with content strategy, is to implement user research which consists of:
- Card sorting
- First click testing
- Focus groups
- Surveys
- Usability testing
- Use cases
3. Select Categories
Try to select categories that are most relevant to your business. A good idea at this point is to conduct general research about your business idea. The industry that you’re in or the idea that you’re trying to promote may already exist online. Therefore, it is crucial to know how to adjust your content accordingly to experience an increase in customers, search results, and subscribers.
4. Brainstorm Ideas
Brainstorming ideas for your content strategy is the fourth step. You can brainstorm ideas for content strategy in many formats. However, for business purposes, it is better to try creating an idea board, list, or mind map.
5. Select Your Keywords
Fifth, keywords are another useful tool that you can use to begin keyword research. You’ll do this in an effort to find more terms that rank higher when users search for your business blog. The process is rather simple, and to do so you’ll:
- Start with a broad search term
- Narrow down the search term based on several factors
- Put it all together (to compile keywords)
- Check tools (similar keywords that show as results)
6. Create a Content Calendar
A content calendar will help you organize and visualize your blog topics, notes, and plans. You can create a content calendar in several programs and some are free to use. You should add two things to your content calendar: blogs published and a promotional schedule.
Blogs Published
Your content calendar will track the number of blogs you publish. You’ll want to maintain a similar amount of blogs published monthly. Consistent help ensure that there will be a steady amount of material available for visitors to read.
Promotional Schedule
Your content strategy should also have a promotional schedule. This will help you advertise your business blog during holidays before any competitors attempt the same strategy.
7. SEO Is Your Friend
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a critical tool. You can use this to create more keywords, conduct more competitive and market research, and carve your niche. By using it over time, you’ll see the potential value that SEO can add to your business.
8. Learn and Refine
As the months and quarters progress, you’ll know how to refine your strategy to increase leads. It is helpful to research your competitors at this phase to see if they’re experiencing an increase or decrease in visitors. As your competitors experience ebbs and flows, adjust your content strategy to take advantage.
Work with Professionals
Creating a content strategy can benefit your business, but consider working with the pros if you need more help. If you’re ready to take the next step, head over to our article on How to Start a Business Blog.
