How to Create Content That Works

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters

Originally Posted On: MoonProject – How to Create Content That Works

By now, it’s clear that for a business or brand to be successful online, it needs high-quality content, optimized for search engines and targeted at customers primed to receive it. This clockwork strategy has developed over many years of tailoring marketing methods to be more efficient and effective. There are now formulas for it that work pretty well, but if you want them to work for you, you need to understand a few fundamentals. Below are just some of them.

Content marketing online is all about narrowing your focus down, shaving off the unnecessary excess, and laser targeting your primary objective. For any of this to work, you need to know what that primary objective is. It might be to increase leads, improve brand awareness, or increase your subscriber list. Wherever your goal is, it makes sense to understanding as this will closely define your future strategy and results.

If you want your content marketing strategy to succeed, you need to forget about your own goals and motivations. You need to switch modes. Instead of thinking about your own targets, you need to consider your audience, such as car finance, and what value your brand brings to their lives. Who are they, and why do they use your product? The more you understand about your audience, the more successful your strategy will be. Create audience personas and make them the heart of your campaign.

In the old advertising model, the audience was segmented, and then your message was blasted loudly in their general direction. This worked, to an extent. But there was much waste in the process; it was very inefficient. Best marketing practice now concentrates on not only who your customer is but when they’re most likely to search, buy, or use a product. Lined this up with a sales process optimized to meet those moments, and you have a very efficient means of content marketing that returns better results for a fraction of the cost.

Your content is valuable! You have spent time and money on producing the content and analyzing it for optimal success. But for it to be successful, it must do its job, and that means it must convert. A conversion can be in the form of a comment, share, sign-up, or purchase. At first, the content must engage the interest of your target audience; it should identify a pain point and deliver a solution. If you’ve done your research, the person engaging with the content will be primed to receive it. Offer a clear call-to-action at the end to seal the deal.

As a content marketing agent, you need to wear many hats. It is no longer about short campaigns that deliver results; these days, you need to think like a publisher as well. After all, what is managing online content, if not publishing? Companies and brands receive the best results when they build momentum over time. Audiences appreciate timely and consistent content from a brand and will reward it with engagement. The best route to success is a content calendar.