Because creating a content marketing strategy is a MUST-DO before you start putting out messages into the world and expecting the dollar bills to roll in. If you don’t know “why” you’re marketing, who you’re talking to, or what to even say to make an impact and see results, your marketing tactics don’t actually matter 🙀
I know I know, slightly harsh..but I’m super passionate about this in case you couldn’t tell 😂 Because I seriously believe with all my heart you deserve to have a business AND life you’re crazy passionate about… so I want to make sure you nail this FIRST, MUST-HAVE strategy to market like a pro: Content Marketing Strategy.
Today we’re talking all about:
- What content marketing strategy is and why you need it
- How to create a killer content marketing strategy (like the kind that converts)
- How to implement a killer content marketing strategy
- Swipeable content ideas to jumpstart your content strategy
So what is content marketing strategy and why do you need it?
So glad you asked! Content marketing strategy is basically “why” you’re creating messages, who you’re talking to, and how you actually plan to execute on all of it to get to your business bottom line(whether sales, traffic, follows, etc). Content marketing strategy answers questions like:
- “Why” you do what you do?
- What do you want to be known for?
- How do I promote and sell my products or services and grow my reach/impact?
And you need one because you want to work smarter and not harder, Amen??
You need one because:
- You want to attract your ideal client with crystal clear messages that CONVERT
- You want your audience to be actual fans and not just followers so they’ll actually engage with you on social media and blog posts
- You want more free time to be with your family and do more of what you love
- You’re tired of feeling all “Why am I even doing this whole online business thing anyways!?”
Trust me, I’ve been there and done all the marketing #burnout so I want to make sure you don’t do the same. So let’s talk about:
How to create a killer content marketing strategy that converts
1: Revisit and/or revamp your brand mission statement.
Why did you even start this business? Who specifically do you want to serve? DO NOT even consider who you “should” serve, but rather who specifically you are insanely passionate about and were called to serve.
And lastly, how will you uniquely serve them? Get crystal clear on this to keep coming back to this point for every future business decision–especially content! Try putting pen to paper and “trying it on” for the next few days to make sure it’s what your brand is on a mission to do.
2: Choose your brand “categories.”
Think of “brand categories” as your content subjects…like what you’ll write about to promote your brand. Ask yourself “What do I want to be known for” or “What do I stand for” and list out all the topics or brand “categories” that come to mind that are relevant to your brand mission. Include things like your brand values, services, and target client.
For example, mine are: faith, entrepreneurship, marketing strategy + tips, motherhood, family, community+collaboration, and creativity.
Map out a good 6-9 brand “categories” and use these as future topics to include in your content strategy across all of your marketing platforms like social media and email. This will help you answer the whole “What do I write about?” conundrum each time you go to blog or post social media captions.
These categories help shape and position your brand to showcase what you’re all about and how all these things are important and relevant to your overall product or service.
For me, faith and family are why I do what I do so I want to convey that my gifts and services can help women who share those same values and interests…and that’s how I attract my ideal clients and you can too.
“Content is king, but context is EVERYTHING!”.
So get clear about what your brand is all about so you can attract like-minded peeps.
3: Set clear goals
Sounds so cliche, but if you don’t know the purpose of your content how can you be upset about results? Do you want to make money? Increase website visits? Gain new followers? Promote one particular product? All of the above??
Your content should always be goal-oriented so you can:
- Track what content is “working” (and what’s not)
- Make sure you’re always in alignment with your mission and vision for the company
- Course-correct your content strategy if need be
- Know how to scale in the future.
Pro tip: Your product or service shouldn’t always be the direct call to action at the end of your content. You build trust and authority from providing high-value content that creates relationships first before people are ready to smack your buy button. A good rule of thumb I try to go by is the 80/20 rule of pitching 20
After you prep your brand categories and set goals, it’s time to implement your content marketing strategy.
How to implement your content marketing strategy:
First, you need to update all of your marketing platforms.
Make sure your mission statement, what you’re all about, and those “brand categories” are loud and clear across your main marketing platforms like your website (from homepage to services pages), your Instagram and other social media bio’s, and any existing landing pages, etc that you may have floating around out there still in use.
This will make sure that all those new visitors to your sites and pages know exactly what you’re all about and give them the opportunity to decide if they want to stick around and hear from you.
Then, you need to create a content calendar.
A content calendar is your content planning tool for all your blog posts, video content, and social media posts so you can:
- Not miss important dates like launches, major holidays, and events that pertain to your audience,
- Save time and stress of wondering about what to write about next,
- Create intentional and super relevant content for upcoming promotions,
- Learn from what works,
- And schedule content in advance so you can be proactive, not reactive (like when your babies get sick and your whole day gets rearranged).
Mark important dates on your content calendar first like:
- Blog posts to be published
- Holidays
- Personal birthdays/anniversaries/ big events for family (social just LOVES to celebrate these with you!)
- Product, service, announcement launch dates
- Seasonal campaign ideas: back to school, fall, whacky holidays, etc.
- Email newsletters
Then mark which dates you plan to post on social.
If it’s 5 Instagram posts per week, then mark it down.
If you post 2 social media stories per day, then plug it into the calendar.
Do the same for all other social media strategies like Pinterest, Youtube, etc.
I use a combination of my Google Calendar and Trello board to map out all my upcoming content so I can plan all my other business things accordingly.
Your content calendar doesn’t have to be a fancy tool, it can be anything as basic as a Word doc or as traditional as pen and paper in your daily planner. The goal is to create awareness, streamline your other processes, and be proactive for the one marketing strategy (content) that is going to make or break your business.
Start plugging in blog topic and social media topic ideas into your calendar using your “brand categories” and drafting content with a clear call to action (depending on your goals) at the end of each content piece. Calls to action can include:
- incentives to download your lead magnet
- leaving comments
- scheduling free consultation calls
- downloading a coupon code
- signing up for your email newsletter
- following you on social media
and so many more! Getting “on-brand” content and positioning your brand clearly is going allow you to start seeing the results you’ve been craving…no more spending hours on a blog post to get 2 likes ok??
And hey, if content creation really isn’t your “thing”, you can totally snag a free call with me and I’ll give you my 3 best brand categories and content tips so you can get ahead of the competition–F’real!
Now tell me…would a done-for-content calendar example be helpful? Would ‘How to come up with relevant blog post ideas’ or ‘How to not sound “salesy”‘ be of interest to you?? Tell me all your burning content strategy q’s below so I can help you even more and fill my very own content calendar! 👇👇👇
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