As online marketers know, “content is king” has been the slogan for years. Many consultants, therefore, produce content in a complex manner. It would be best if you had a good strategy for this.
When do they go about their actual work? If you ask yourself sometimes – so much “content,” that is, text and image material, some consultants produce whatever color for their websites, blogs, and social media accounts. And there are always hopes associated with the production of updated content, such as:
- Then, more potential customers will notice me.
- Then, my name is anchored as a brand in the head of the target customer.
- Then, I get more inquiries from potential customers.
- Then I pull more orders ashore.
Content Marketing Needs a Strategy
That may be the case if what is known as content marketing is based on a sophisticated market development strategy and content production does not become an end. Or if it becomes an employment program for job-seeking PR agencies disguised as content marketing agencies.
Unfortunately, this is often the case. So here are some tips that you should consider as a consultant, trainer, or coach before deciding on content marketing.
Never Act Without a Long-Term Strategy
The regular production of content – for example, for your blog or in the form of white papers for your website – either costs a lot of time or money (for external service providers). Therefore, your content marketing decision should permanently be embedded in a cross-media and strict marketing and market development strategy. Otherwise, the investments are quickly nothing other than waste.
Define the Goals of Content Marketing
Before you decide on content marketing, define exactly which goals you want to achieve with it.
- I want potential customers to notice me
- My name as a brand is anchored in the head of the target customers
- I get more inquiries from potential customers
- I will land more orders.
Then, think about the extent to which you can achieve these goals, for example, by regularly publishing current blog posts, videos, white papers, or podcasts on your website.
Check-in: Is More Content Needed?
Before you finally decide on one of the other measures mentioned, check whether more content is necessary to achieve your goals. This is often not the case. You can also complete your plan by optimizing the existing content on your website, i.e., the existing pages for the web search, or by regularly sending a mailing to your target customers.
Content Must be Perceivable
Never have the illusion that just because you have more text on your website or more videos you have uploaded to YouTube, your target customers will perceive you more intensely or your services will be asked for more frequently. The primary prerequisite for this is that your target customers must find the content you produce on the Internet, YouTube, and Co. Make sure all content marketing activities are yours otherwise.
Produce the Content with Measure and Goal
Before you produce content, think carefully about which sub-goal you want to achieve with it – for example, go to the top five videos on “career coaching” on YouTube. Or: Google search queries for “sales management advice” are on page one of the hit lists. Or gain a hanger for your social media activities. Because only then can you design and create the content so that you achieve this goal – if it is realistic.
Use the Content Cross-Media
Precisely because content production is very time-consuming and cost-intensive, you should ensure that the content produced can be used cross-medially – with little additional effort. For example, offer them to the print and online media as specialist articles, then publish them in a slightly modified form on your blog and refer to the blog posts, for example, on XING or Facebook.
Do Not Create Unnecessary Permanent Construction Sites for Content Marketing
Only with such a networked approach is content marketing effective – regardless of whether you choose it, white papers or podcasts for your website, blog articles for your blog, video articles for your YouTube channel, or short articles for your Facebook Account to create. Otherwise, you only attach yourself to a permanent construction site or create a permanently guilty conscience – for example, because you would finally have to write a blog post again. Still, unfortunately, you do not have time for this.
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