Content marketing strategy, content strategy, content plan... These terms are interchangeable and are used to refer to the same thing, just at various depths. Marketers use these terms to describe a strategy that answers why you are creating content, who you’re creating content for, what your content is, and how you will execute your strategy, e.g., who handles which tasks.

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A little while ago we wrote a blog titled “What is A Content Marketing Strategy and Why Do You Need One.” Based on one of our “Content and Coffee” podcast episodes, this blog goes over the nitty gritty of what makes a content marketing strategy as well as how you can use it to your advantage.

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Now that you know why you need content marketing, I want to build more on how to start. It’s daunting – especially when you have no experience with creating content marketing strategies or even creating online content. In this blog, we’ll take a look at the basics of creating your content marketing strategy, how to use content to drive more business, and tips to hit your marketing goals.

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Let’s start.

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Click here to find out how we used our own content marketing strategy to drive a 788.13% ROI.

Creating That Content Marketing Strategy

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First, you need to know what industry you’re actually in. For example, if your business is a bed and breakfast, what does that mean and who are you targeting? Is it the vacation industry? Leisure and travel? Business services? Before you can even embark on creating a content marketing strategy, you need to figure this out.

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Get an idea of what kind of content is already out there for your industry by looking up your competitors. What are they posting on their website, social media, and other channels? Is anything novel or does anything stick out to you? Pay close attention to what content does well and what content flops. Don’t look at the big names either; it’s more accurate to look up other competitors that are similar in size to you. Doing this will help you understand the trends, best practices, and even spot any weaknesses ahead of time.

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While you’re doing your research, be sure to check out online groups, forums, and pages where your targeted audiences are searching for answers. Find out the questions your consumers are asking and the problems they are facing so you have a better idea of what content to produce.

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Your content marketing strategy at its core will force you to identify your targeted audience if you haven’t already. Make sure your strategy is extensive. Brainstorm questions to ask yourself such as:

- “Why are you creating this content?

- ”Who are you helping?”

- “How will you help them?”

- “What is your result?”

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Once you have your overall content marketing strategy, you can start to delve a little deeper into the actual content you want to write. For example, how will it be spaced, how much content should you write, what kind of topics will you cover, etc. This portion of your strategy will need to be redone after you’ve exhausted your content ideas and can be repeated monthly, quarterly, biannually, or yearly.

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Using Content to Drive More Business

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Not only does your content have to be interesting, but it also has to be more interesting than the millions of other pieces of content that are similar to yours. We can work around this though by spreading out your channels of distribution, but I’ll talk about this another time.

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Take a look at Anthropologie’s content marketing. They feature DIY recipes and blogs with beautifully positioned images. They’ve positioned themselves as a lifestyle blog that reports the latest trends and fashion. This is genius since they are a clothing retailer that curates clothing, jewelry, furniture, décor, and more.

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Another great brand that we look at is Disney. They have a vast variety of content, but we'll focus on their 'behind the scenes posts.' The Disney Parks Blog features an entire category for behind the scenes posts! Disney is known for how strict they are about keeping the magic alive, which means continuing to create that fantasy behind its characters and stories. Even their actors are not allowed to break character on site if they’re still in costume even to drink or eat.

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Disney fans love to see the making of the magic because it elicits feelings of exclusivity. These blogs provide a welcomed glimpse into the beloved parks and cast members.

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Try and break through the clutter by being visually arresting, surprising and beautiful. You want to trigger people’s emotions so that the content is lasting – forever saved in people’s memories. Think about school lectures when they were all factual, unless they were relevant and applicable chances are you’ve forgotten most of it. However, when someone tells you a story that elicits some emotional response, you tend to remember it better. In fact, you’ll like it better too.

Make sure that your content has solid branding. Even though you’re not explicitly self-promoting, your content is linked to your brand and your brand personality. You don’t want random pieces of content because it can cause jarring to your audience and loss of trust.

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Finally, make sure that your content is providing a benefit and not just contributing to the meaningless infinite junk that litters our internet. It should be special, something that urges people to share.

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Disney fans love to see the making of the magic because it elicits feelings of exclusivity. These blogs provide a welcomed glimpse into the beloved parks and cast members.

‍

Try and break through the clutter by being visually arresting, surprising and beautiful. You want to trigger people’s emotions so that the content is lasting – forever saved in people’s memories. Think about school lectures when they were all factual, unless they were relevant and applicable chances are you’ve forgotten most of it. However, when someone tells you a story that elicits some emotional response, you tend to remember it better. In fact, you’ll like it better too.

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Make sure that your content has solid branding. Even though you’re not explicitly self-promoting, your content links with your brand and your brand personality. You don’t want random pieces of content that do not connect because that can cause jarring with your audience and loss of trust.

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Finally, make sure that your content is providing a benefit and not just contributing to the meaningless infinite junk that litters our internet. It should be special, something that urges people to share.