8 essential techniques to elevate your content marketing

In a digital world awash with content, capturing your audience’s attention has never been more challenging – or more imperative.

So, how can marketers creatively and consistently connect with their audiences, build their brand and, ultimately, drive conversions?

It all comes down to one thing: mastering your content marketing.

Here, we guide you through the 8 essential steps to elevate your content strategy – and carve a memorable spot in a crowded digital landscape.

First, what is content marketing? And why do I need it?

Simply put, content marketing is the creation and sharing of material that does not explicitly promote your brand (or sell your product/services) but aims to stimulate interest.

The best content marketing involves sharing high-value material that inspires, informs and/or entertains. And as a result, builds brand awareness, cultivates customer loyalty and elevates brands to industry authority status.

Whether you’re promoting facials, fidget spinners or fintech, content marketing has an integral part to play in your sales growth.

So, let’s get stuck into the 8 essential techniques to elevate your content marketing – and secure your brand’s spot in a saturated landscape.

1. Craft a robust content marketing strategy

To build a house, you need a blueprint. Similarly, when you engage in content marketing, you need a plan.

Before you start posting Instagram stories or sending email newsletters, you must create a content strategy (or content plan). This will ensure your messaging is consistent and clear – and neither you nor your audience get confused.

So, what goes into a content strategy?

You need to detail your brand’s:

· Specific and measurable content marketing goals.

· Personas (your target customers depicted as real people).

· Content pillars (the thematic umbrellas that your content pieces will fall under).

· A publishing calendar.

· Marketing metrics and tracking tools.

And anything else you think will guide your content output and keep you focused.

SIDEBAR: Understand your customer personas

To deliver content that’s sure to engage, you need to understand your customer personas – otherwise known as your target audience. So, do your market research.

Learn the pain points, desires, and interests of each of your key customer segments.

Your sales team is fundamental here. They are the ones who are directly engaging with your prospects and customers day in and day out. Who better to tell you about their frequently asked questions, their biggest barriers to a sale, and what they love most about your product?

2. Craft high-quality content

So you’ve got your content mapped to the letter. But even the best plan will fall short without high-quality, compelling and relevant content to back it up. After all, the online and offline world is swimming in average content.

No matter if you’re crafting an eDM, social post, infographic, lead magnet, white paper, meme, or video, it can – and must – be captivating.

Here are some pro tips to guide your creation:

• Avoid the jargon: Insider-speak might fly in your office, but it will bore and alienate your readers. To truly impress your customers, write in a language they understand. We recommend plain English.

• Focus on your reader: Personalised, impactful messaging is the way to your reader’s heart (and eventually, their pocket). So, tailor your content to your customers. The more specific, the more resonant.

• Balance your keywords: Yes, keywords matter. But your reader will see through a keyword-riddled blog post – and so will Google. So, strike a balance. Just enough to rank, not too many to compromise sense or flow.

• Engage in relevant trends: If the latest TikTok trend lends itself to your content goals, capitalise on it. You can rejig your schedule a little and find a whole new audience in the process.

• Pay attention to aesthetics: Looks matter. Whether you’re creating an infographic, a pop-up event or a video, invest in proper design or styling when budget allows. Online, budget-friendly tools like Canva can be useful for crafting attractive digital collateral.

3. Promote and distribute your content across platforms

Creating great content is only half the battle. Promotion is equally as important to ensure your brand reaches the right eyes.

So, do your research and find out which social media platforms, third-party platforms, and paid advertising will serve your brand best.

And then, get busy. Tag relevant people and brands on your social posts. Offer a blog to a relevant third party for republishing. And stay active on community sites.

4. Recycle and repurpose your old content

Content marketing doesn’t always require fresh ideas. In fact, some of the best-performing content – in both engagement and reach – is repurposed from years gone by.

Whether it’s a blog post, eDM or white paper, your previous content catalogue should not be ignored. Ask yourself: Does this content have relevance to my audience today? Or could it?

Use your creativity to reimagine it. Turn a blog post into an infographic. Turn a video into a LinkedIn carousel.

That way, you’re giving your reader fresh content without having to exert enormous effort. It’s a win-win.

5. Use SEO carefully

SEO – or Search Engine Optimisation – makes your content discoverable on the net. Think keywords, meta tags, links, and structured data.

While it may be tempting to hit every mark on your SEO checklist (and then some), it’s important to be measured in your SEO use. After all, writing just for SEO can impact your content’s tone, flow – and even intention.

So, when you’re researching key terms, be sure to use only the most relevant and reasonable ones – and avoid the overly competitive terms dominated by much larger players.

There’s a plethora of online tools, like Surfer Seo, to assist you in finding search terms and optimising and generating content. And if you prefer a human touch, working with a dedicated SEO specialist can be helpful to ensure you’re getting a return on your investment.

6. Write sensible CTAs

Your Call to Action (or CTA) is the critical pivot point between content engagement and customer action. Not all content requires a CTA – particularly if it’s about awareness or education – but most will.

It may urge customers to subscribe to a newsletter, download a white paper, or make a purchase. But whatever your CTA, it must make sense in your customer’s journey.

While your ultimate goal may be to guide customers towards a purchase, ensure your CTA aligns with the content they have just engaged with. In other words, don’t rush the process. And ensure the language is clear, concise and evokes a sense of urgency or benefit.

7. Measure your progress – and adjust where necessary

Finally, measuring your content's engagement, reach and overall effectiveness is paramount.

Start by assessing your KPIs, including your:

• Organic search traffic.

• Click-through rate.

• Bounce rate.

• Page dwell time.

• Conversion rate.

• Open rate.

• Social post engagement.

Next, assess your results. What content resonated? What didn’t? Let this guide your future content marketing efforts.

Remember, effective content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. You will grow your brand's online presence with consistent, measured, and compelling content marketing (and a little bit of patience).

Does your team need support with content marketing? Enrol in ADMA’s Content Marketing Strategy course. And discover how to craft content that converts.