in today's video i'm covering all the
crucial components developing a
successful content marketing strategy
to get you more followers more
engagement and more
warm leads i'm going to let you in on
all the secrets to creating the ultimate
master plan
which will help you grow consistently
and efficiently and trust me
nothing is more important than this i
mean it let's dive
right into the step-by-step guide
hi my name is natalia and welcome back
to my channel where i share super action
ideas and content creation
for entrepreneurs and creatives in
today's video we're going in depth on
one of the most important parts of
marketing
which is a strategy you can have amazing
ideas post quality content but without a
well thought out and strategic approach
your growth is actually hindered i
always say this
having a content marketing strategy for
your business is key to your success
so today you'll learn all the important
components i'll teach you what to
include in your strategy
what to think about and how to implement
it properly to get results
i based all of it on a series of
questions so you're guided along the way
plus i have a bonus for you which will
help you tremendously
when creating your strategy so make sure
to watch till the very end
grab a cup of coffee a notepad and a pen
because you'll have a lot to think about
in the next few minutes
so before we get into the meaty part of
this video i want you to know
this if you want to grow consistently
and get results
you absolutely have to have a marketing
strategy
i'm talking about content marketing
strategy in this video but it applies to
any marketing endeavors you undertake
and sure you can post without strategy
and still get results
but trust me you will be much more
efficient if you apply yourself to this
process
let me know in the comments below if you
have a content plan of your own already
i'd love to know secondly your content
marketing strategy should go in line
with your business objectives
and your customers needs there's no
point in creating a strategy that will
not produce what you want in your
business
and what your followers actually need
step one
assess where you are now so as i
mentioned just a moment ago your
strategy for content should be based off
of your customers needs and your
business objectives and we'll have a
look at the latter here
to start off you need to know where you
are now
run your business through the critical
metrics to check which parts are doing
well and what needs improvement
this way you'll know which areas to
focus on and that will give you a sense
of direction and will provide a tactical
path for further growth
how do you do this apply the pirate
metrics framework to your business
the pirate metrics are known as the r
framework hence the pirate reference
so the aarr stands for acquisition
activation retention referral and
revenue
let's say your business is doing great
in terms of acquiring new clients so
they have no issues in finding you and
grabbing your product
or service great upon further inspection
you see that your retention is kind of
lacking
they buy from you but never come back
and identifying the problem is always
the first step
so now that you know you need to find a
way to turn your one-off customers
into returning clients and you can make
it your focus
this helps you find ways in your
marketing to creatively approach this
issue and solve it
step two ask your why the mission now
that you've audited your business
let's focus on why you want to create
content
apart from the obvious i want to have an
online presence and
everyone's on social these days ask
yourself what your mission is
and why you do what you do i will ground
you and make sure that content you
create is infused with purpose and value
and trust me it's much easier to create
with integrity this way once you have
your mission statement laid out
make it a bit more concrete if your
mission is achieved
what will it look like write it all down
really think about how creating content
is going to fulfill this mission
why do you want to implement content
marketing in your overall business
strategy
how is it going to help your audience
and how is it going to benefit
you in the long run these are quite
important things to consider
because there can be so many different
reasons for creating content
but if you pinpoint one or two which
complement your general business goals
it will help guide your creation process
step three choose your goals at this
point you want to ask yourself
what goals you'd like to achieve through
your content strategy and again
keep them in line with your business
objectives once you have a rough idea
outline what measurable outcome would
constitute a success
be very specific here instead of general
statements like i want more followers
set a specific goal which is measurable
both in terms of numbers and time frames
so say i want to get a hundred new
followers on instagram
each month or by the end of this year i
will have reached
10 000 subscribers on youtube this way
you can keep yourself accountable and
actually measure your outcomes in a much
more real way
and of course that's just a simple
example and your goals don't have to be
follower oriented
step four pick your kpis once you have
your mission
and goals set in place choose which
metrics will help you track your
progress
it's extremely important because this is
how you actually measure the outcome
of all your actions how will you test if
the strategy is reaching the assumed
goal
post so let's say if you want more
engagement you can focus on
shares likes comments which will give
you a good indication
of your overall engagement rate if
you're trying to generate leads through
your content
measure your lead generation rate or
conversion rate once you've chosen the
kpis you want to focus on think of which
tools you should use to track them and
how you can create reports for analysis
it's very important that you have a
system in your business to measure
track and analyze your progress step
five define
your audience now for the fun and
sometimes tricky part
you want to know who your audience is
this is absolutely crucial because you
want to know
you're talking to the right people in
the right way with the right message at
the right time and at the right
place i hope you get the gist focusing
on defining your dream audience ensures
that you're not wasting your time and
money on creating content
that falls on deaf ears you need to make
sure that you're targeting people you
can help
serve or provide value for one way or
the other
this in turn means that they will
actually want to listen let's explore
these questions that can help you
identify the perfect audience
what are their demographics so sex age
location
what are their problems and solutions
they're looking for and where
are they daily what apps do they use how
do they consume content where do they
look for solutions and how do they
search for content
how do they make decisions how do they
buy
what are they likely to be enticed by to
drive the sales process
don't be superficial here really go in
depth on who they are
and observe carefully if all of this is
reflected in real life
once you have this base established
segment your audience based on their
consumer behaviors
and we note from you here there's a
tendency to segment the audience solely
on the demographics so say
you know professional women in their 30s
interested in design
but within this group these women can
have a very different ways they buy or
consume content
and this is what you should focus on
when segmenting your audience
so say some are more likely to buy after
establishing a relationship and can be
reached via email marketing
and some may purchase more impulsively
after seeing a recommendation from their
favorite
influencer this is of course a very
general example and it will be very
specific to your audience
your industry your niche so take the
time to analyze it for your specific
case
to further help yourself establish a
more personal connection and keep a
clear vision on who
these audiences are create personas
think of those as
semi-fictional representations of who
your audience is
based on the research you've just done
then attach different content types to
them
more in it later so make sure to watch
till the very end be as detailed as
possible
this helps not to devalue or idealize
your target audience which we sometimes
tend to do
and at times we think they have no
knowledge whatsoever or we expect them
to understand
major complicated notions which they
might not even be aware of and finally
at the beginning it's tempting to think
your audience is in fact
you but it's not you may understand them
but remember
they may behave completely different to
you step 6
establish types of content now that
we've got the basics covered we can
begin
thinking about content with everything
we've just researched think what unique
message or ideas you want to convey
what values do you bring first this is
your foundation for content creation
next think what language you'll use to
reach the particular segments of your
audience
what tone and style will work best then
we're going to focus on how to
differentiate yourself
and how your business will stand out
from what's already out there
what unique selling points define your
brand how are you different from what's
already being created and hey you don't
have to reinvent
the wheel you always have a unique
perspective so tap
into that the next step is to choose
your channels so what one two channels
will you focus on at first
what are you good at tap into this
potential if you like to speak
video if you like to write blog you get
what i'm saying
remember to think about where your
audience spend their time
and how they consume content and a word
of warning for me
if you're just starting out it's
tempting to go overboard and be present
on every platform
however to grow efficiently i always
advise to focus on just one or two
so start slow at the moment and of
course nothing stops
you from expanding later on when you
have more capacity to do so
therefore the next question is where
will you move on to in the future
next think what types of posts you'll be
creating
how can you support your content with
infographics checklists
transcripts ebooks what categories are
you going to cover
educational light emotional
inspirational don't forget to think
about design as well
keep it in line with your brand's visual
identity if you're planning on posting
quotes keep the format consistent what
colors
elements icons will you use for
particular types of content
when supporting your content with photos
what mood are you going for
and a very important step is to identify
what content is missing out there
what gaps can you fill by producing
specific content
what are people searching for that they
can't really find
pick your cornerstone content and plan
follow-up chunks and
find other types of content by
repurposing content atomization so
like take chunks of huge pieces of
content and produce
smaller bits from it and then turn to
your clients so user-generated content
or
curate content produced by others step 7
pick keywords and metadata
researching keywords at this stage is
quite a good practice
find a mixture of niche and generic
keywords to lead your content
and remember to track these keywords in
your marketing processes
then establish a baseline of categories
tags and hashtags for your content
so let's say you have a food blog your
categories could be recipes techniques
culture and travel
and your tags could pertain to
particular ingredients like coconut milk
yeast
or dietary requirements like gluten or
dairy-free
and again a very quick example to just
give you an idea of what this could be
step 8 create content calendar and on to
planning your content execution
choose when you're writing to whom about
what it's easier now that you have your
audience's behaviors established
so mix content types to keep it
interesting and actually
plan for it single out the particular
times when your audience might be
interested in particular subjects
so if you're offering gift vouchers it
might be useful to push some content
around mother's day etc
so what holiday and occasions are
driving particular behaviors for your
audience
maybe they need a value-driven nudge
during this time
you know it can be informative or more
sales focused
and what subjects are trending in
particular months
identify those at this stage next map
your content based on all i mentioned
and moreover plan your cornerstone
pieces first and pick dates for the
follow-up posts
to create a journey for your audience
think of it almost like a storytelling
process and guide your audience through
it
if you have any series in mind make note
of them now what is the best time to
launch it and what time is best to post
it
choose the frequency and put them on
your calendar and while you're at it
allocate resources
if you're not a solopreneur who does it
all think of your team and their role in
the whole content creation process
so who's creating this piece of content
who's doing the research
and of course if you are the only one on
the team that's fine
pick the dates and have at it planning
is key
and knowing what your resources are from
the get-go is going to help you along
the way and a bonus point
have a way of retaining good ideas even
if the time is not right to create
something specific
or there's simply no time for it in the
calendar
implement a way to store the ideas for
future use
if you need tools to do so check out
asana which is one of my favorite tools
i have a whole video teaching you how to
set it up from scratch
and of course you can use other tools
like trello running ideas list in your
inbox or a good old notebook
step 9 create a distribution strategy
this is the tricky part your ideas mean
absolutely nothing when they're not
hurt and this means your content needs a
strategic approach to distribute
it properly by approaching marketing
your content tactically you ensure
it reaches the right audience at the
right time again where is your audience
spending their time
is it worth showcasing your content on a
particular facebook group or should you
target
influencers to promote your content
should you implement pr strategies to
get media on board
and which social media channels would
fit the content subject
have a process for publishing to avoid
mistakes and ensure a great workflow
so outline it write it fact check it
confirm it fits with a strategy
publish distribute plan activities to
market it
if you'd like to know more about how to
perfect your own content creation
workflow
let me know in the comments below and i
can record a video for you on the
subject
another tip for me on how to promote
your existing content is to set
reminders to post
evergreen content after a particular
time so let's say a month
half a year and a year from the time it
was published i also highly recommend
having an
inventory of content for yourself you
never know when it might come in handy
to tap into your past content
and with a simple directory a quick
search with specific keywords can save
you
hours of going back and forth trying to
reference other pieces of content with a
vague idea of which one you actually
need
step 10 document it all time and time
again i see marketing endeavors without
a written down strategy
and data shows that those marketers who
have a documented marketing strategy
are far more efficient both in terms of
actual results
and how they perceive their work and no
wonder
a written down document helps keep your
actions consistent with your objectives
keep it on the right track and not stray
too far from the main path
writing it all down sets it all in place
i prefer to start off with doing it by
hand at first and then moving on to
typing out a document
once it's all set in stone once it's
created it serves as a comprehensive
guide for teams to refer back to
or you know a solo team let's face it if
you're on your own you need a point of
reference too
have someone within your team who's
perfect in keeping people in check
well that's your person to keep an eye
on the document and
ensure the creative teams stay on the
right track you know how this can go
and you're so creative that your mind
wanders farther and farther and to
find yourself in the middle of the
forest without knowing how you got there
so make sure to have a strategy keeper
like a gatekeeper protector whatever
just on your team fill in the rest on
the fact that this person is not
a jerk for constantly saying oh well but
it's not in line with our objectives
but it's their job to keep everyone
anchored and sometimes an idea is great
but it's not consistent with your goals
doesn't really fit the brand or will not
be of use to your particular audience
and by referring to your strategy
document you have a way to make your
case and have a good argument against
publishing it or
the document can help you transform the
idea to match the strategy better
step 11 check back constantly and on the
subject of sticking to the strategy
have systems in place to track your kpis
regularly
schedule monthly get togethers where you
discuss what went well
and how we can use it in the future or
what went wrong and how to fix it or not
to make the same mistake again and what
you've learned from this
and by the way if you're on your own you
can still do it after a pre-selected
period of time
apply the same metrics you applied at
the beginning to assess your current
state
so what's working what's not working
identify the chunk that's not working
and focus on fixing it and which parts
are going well
what strategies have you implemented
that help with it
it really goes on and on like this
checking back constantly and leveraging
what's working great and tweaking
what needs improvement is a sure way to
progress at this point you can also
check consumer behavior so
introduce a b testing for your headlines
or photos or check how your sales
funnels are doing
are people bouncing on a particular part
of your website trace it so an example
right you want to engage your audience
they're not engaging
why are you activating them by asking
questions have you chosen the right
channels the ones they're actually
active on
or maybe you've chosen the wrong
audience always compare
test kpis check results and analyze them
as well as your own actions
only this will ensure that you don't
waste your time doing what you're doing
then at the end of each cycle optimize
your actions once you have a working
content marketing strategy
see what can be improved so check what
you can automate or
waterproof your processes and the just
always
be proactive and now for the bonus
you've been waiting for i've created a
completely free content marketing
strategy workbook to help you power
through the process in an efficient way
check out the link in the description
box to download it and see how your
content creation transforms
next make sure to check out this video
to get your head breaming with content
ideas
and trust me this one's very very juicy
it will make thinking out content for
you
super easy type in ready in the comment
section below if you'll be creating your
own
content marketing strategy if you have
any questions at all leave them below
too
it took me a while to produce this video
so i would really really appreciate it
if you could leave a thumbs up
because it helps me out a ton subscribe
for more content creation ideas and i'll
see you
next time