By Shannan Hearne, Summit Technologies Marketing Specialist
Content-based marketing strategies have become increasingly popular as businesses try to reach their target audiences through valuable, relevant, and engaging content. However, creating and implementing an effective content marketing strategy can be challenging, especially if you're new to the field. The more technology plays a role in how we reach prospects, the more we need to go back to the basics of content-based marketing.
Here are five insights that can help you develop a successful content marketing strategy:
Insight #1: Develop a Documented Content Marketing Strategy
Research indicates that having a documented content marketing strategy is a key factor in determining success. The study found that 80% of very successful content marketers have a clearly defined content marketing strategy, while only 50% of minimally successful ones do. Therefore, creating a documented strategy is essential to the success of your content marketing efforts.
Your content marketing strategy should outline your goals, target audience, messaging, content themes, and channels of distribution. It should also include a plan for measuring the success of your efforts. By documenting your strategy, you can ensure that all members of your team are on the same page, and your efforts are focused and consistent.
Salesforce’s automation capabilities can empower a good content marketing strategy on autopilot.
Personalization with artificial intelligence is another great component of your content marketing strategy.
Insight #2: Allocate Adequate Budget to Content Marketing
Another key factor in determining success is the budget allocated to content marketing. The study found that 80% of very successful content marketers allocate more than 10% of their total marketing budgets to content, while only 52% of unsuccessful content marketers do the same. Therefore, it's crucial to prioritize your content marketing budget to achieve success.
Investing in content marketing can help you establish your brand as an industry thought leader, build trust with your audience, and generate leads. By allocating a sufficient budget to content marketing, you can create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience and helps you achieve your business goals.
Insight #3: Creatively Promote Your Content
Creating high-quality content is only half the battle. You must also promote your content effectively to reach your target audience. Successful content marketers differentiate themselves from minimally successful or unsuccessful ones in terms of content promotion. They employ creative and varied strategies, including influencer marketing, email campaigns, paid social, PR and media outreach, and other paid channels.
Promoting your content through various channels can help you reach a wider audience and generate more leads. You can also leverage social media platforms to amplify your reach and engage with your audience. By being creative in your content promotion, you can increase the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud has great solutions for digital marketing and is a tool well designed to evolve your content marketing both in email and landing pages as well as social media.
Insight #4: Prioritize Your Content Marketing Team
Having a solid content marketing team is essential to the success of your content marketing strategy. The study found that 66% of very successful content marketers have at least four specialists in their team, while only 32% of unsuccessful content marketers do the same. Shockingly, 34% of respondents who were unsuccessful in content marketing have no content specialists on their team.
A strong content marketing team should include specialists in content creation, SEO, social media, and analytics. By prioritizing your content marketing team, you can ensure that you have the expertise you need to create high-quality content, distribute it effectively, and measure its success.
Ford Motor Company took a digital transformation journey and found that their marketing team could be empowered by the Salesforce tools.
Insight #5: Measure Your Return on Investment
Finally, measuring your return on investment (ROI) is crucial to achieving content marketing success. Metrics such as website traffic, engagement rates, lead generation, and revenue can help you determine the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts. Respondents who had the most success in content marketing effectively measured their ROI.
By measuring your ROI, you can identify what's working and what's not and adjust your strategy accordingly. You can also demonstrate the value of your content marketing efforts to stakeholders and secure more budget for future campaigns.
Employing Salesforce’s Einstein Lead Scoring helps you convert leads faster and automatically. What better way to ramp up your ROI?
Creating and implementing a successful content marketing strategy requires a documented strategy, a sufficient budget, creative content promotion, a strong content marketing team, and effective measurement of ROI. If your content marketing plan needs some help contact Summit Technologies today.