Developing A Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing strategy – content strategy, and content plan. People use these terms interchangeably (which is understandable, as the lines are somewhat blurry), but each is a bit different.
Content marketing strategy: At its core, your content marketing strategy is your “why.” Why are you creating content, who are you helping, and how will you help them in a way no one else can. Organizations typically use content marketing to build an audience and to achieve at least one of these profitable results: increased revenue, lower costs, or better customers.
Content strategy on the other hand, delves deeper into the “creation, publication, and governance of useful, useable content.”
In contrast to the other two, a content plan is very tactical. It documents the specifics of how you will execute your strategy, and who on your team will be handling each task. It’s important to understand that you need a content marketing strategy before you build your content plan. Think of it as a marketing plan that specifically relates to content; thus, it should include details such as the key topic areas you will cover, what content you will create, when and how to share your content, and specific calls to action you will include.
Do you really need a content marketing strategy? Yes! As we’ve learned at Captains & Cowboys through our annual research, not only do you need a strategy, you also need to document it. Those with a documented content marketing strategy:
- Are far more likely to consider themselves effective at content marketing.
- Feel significantly less challenged with every aspect of content marketing.
- Generally consider themselves effective in their use of all content marketing tactics and social media channels.
- Able to justify spending a higher percentage of their marketing budget on content marketing.
