Remember when content marketing was the Wild West and just doing it was innovative enough? Just publishing regular white papers and e-books, “being on the Twitters,” and updating your blog once a month meant you were ahead of the pack. Today, the bar is at a whole new high, where your buyer is bombarded with information and entertainment from the majority of your competitors and it takes more to stand out.
Chances are, if you’re out reading blogs, you’ve moved past the haphazard “see what sticks” model and into something fairly strategic.
But if you think your content could stand to see some improvement, check out these 5 keys to buff up your strategy in 2014:
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Know your niche. Stay focused on a single area of expertise until you understand the buyers in your segment and can deliver relevant content effectively before expanding the topics you cover.
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Hire a full-time resource or agency. If you think an existing role can just “take on” the responsibility of content marketing within his or her role, think again. You need a full-time employee or agency to manage your efforts in a strategic way.
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Get into a rhythm with recycling. Take your e-books and turn them into blog posts, take your blog posts and turn them into white papers, etc. Your meatier pieces can be broken down into several shorter, social pieces and your social, bitesized content can be packaged together as one larger asset. Getting into a regular rhythm is very difficult (hell, it’s near impossible) without recycling and repurposing your campaigns to extend their life and reach.
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Don’t be afraid of call-to-actions. Most B2B buyers are adept at swiftly dodging CTAs if they aren’t interested. A lot of B2B buyers have learned how to get information for free and duck phone calls from your business like the Matrix. Don’t worry about offending people with a clear call-to-action. The buyer who reads your white paper and wants to take action will thank you for keeping your CTA visible, concise, and easy.
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Measure your results. Maybe you think content marketing is still a soft science and can’t be measured (false). Maybe you think measuring your efforts will be too time consuming and difficult to maintain (false). Regardless of the myths stopping you from effectively measuring your results, it’s time to put the past out to pasture. Get smart and measure your results. Use a consistent dashboard to monitor page views, clicks, conversions, bounce rates, impressions, shares, and other key metrics that align with your overall marketing goals.
Do you have any tips to share with other marketers? Leave a comment below with your best tip on taking your strategy to the next level.
