Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash
“Where can I find content and make them resonate with my target customers?”
Perhaps a question you’ve asked yourself a few times.
You may feel that at this stage in your business, you’re not yet ready to invest in paid content, i.e., Facebook or Google ads. So you would instead focus on content for your website and social media platforms.
Well, a content strategy works too! But a successful content marketing program is anchored on a solid content strategy.
But as a marketer or business owner, do you struggle to create a content strategy for your brand?
Are there times when you’re unsure where to find suitable topics or how to create a robust content strategy and marketing plan that your target customers will read and share? Even how to write articles that your audience will love?
Well, I’ve got some good news. Did you know that:
- You can make an article resonate more for your readers by researching search keywords and diving deep into what topics/questions/keywords people usually search for on the internet.
- You can network and collaborate with thought leaders and influencers in the same or complementary niche as yours. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or have not established a strong brand yet—it can be done.
- Produce high-quality content by using materials that you already have. Repurposing can help you create content in less time!
- You can increase traffic to your blog content by knowing how to optimize its format, length, headline, and visual presentation.
The answer to all that?
Here are some best practices from the experts in content marketing.
Content strategy tip #1: Use online search engines to find out what your customers are looking for.
Start with where customers start in their journey to discover brands – Google.
You must have seen dropdowns and suggestions for search, right? These suggestions are not random – they are the most popular searches.
By Googling about your products and incorporating words like “tips,” “how-to,” “top,” “best,” and similar terms used by problem-aware customers, you will get ideas on what topics to write about.
When the results show, you can look into the top ranking articles and get an idea on:
- What has been written over and over online? Can you make an article that’s better and more comprehensive than these articles?
- What has not been written yet – can you start an article that no one has written yet and make it the best article yet on the topic?
See these boxes on the search results? These are golden tips about what you can write about too!
You can also do keyword research on YouTube and leverage the top video results. By looking into when they were uploaded, how popular the channel is, and the titles of the top results, you can produce content that will rank higher, especially if:
- The top video results are older, i.e., uploaded two years ago;
- The channel that uploaded it has fewer subscriptions or following than yours; and
- You observe how the titles of the top results are written, and you write yours a little differently than the rest without veering away too much from the topic.
From the example below, the top search result for the question “what is the best pet food” was uploaded five years ago. Because YouTube and Google favor recent content, you have a fighting chance if you create a video about the “best and worst pet foods.” It’s especially true if you have a more considerable following than MercolaHealthyPets, The 5 Best, and Happy Tails.
You can also use tools like the following:
Content strategy tip #2: Build and leverage your network of content creators.
Reach out to influencers, thought leaders, podcasters, and bloggers who create content in the same niche and industry as yours. By building your network of content creators, you are killing two (or more) birds with one stone:
- You help your Search Engine Optimization and drive more traffic to your website. Getting links and references to your blog posts from other websites increases your “Authority,” which Google sees as “okay, this website is credible.”
- You open opportunities for collaboration and co-creation of content with like-minded credible individuals.
Find journalists, authors, podcasters, academic researchers, event producers, and blog editors to publish, share or link to your content. You can even ask for “contributor quotes.”
Reach out to them to communicate that your article is aligned with their platform’s theme and that you’ve already done their work for them.
This is modern public relations. They can all happen online.
The most significant rule of thumb is not to be creepy. Be patient. Be polite. Be persistent without being intrusive and invasive.
Imagine this strategy as dating—you get to know someone first. If you feel aligned in values and beliefs, you can pursue and strengthen the relationship.
You can do your influencer and network outreach in the following ways:
- Send them an email showcasing your understanding of who they are and their platform. Show how your article is aligned with their existing content.
- Follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter, podcast, or Facebook page. Like, comment, and engage with their post. Before sending them any message, familiarize yourself with their content. The low-lying fruit for me is those you are already a fan of—influencers you resonate with. This way, you have a deeper grasp of their content, your values are aligned, and it’s easier to create or offer your content in parallel with theirs.
- Share your existing article, and even consider writing a guest post for them.
- Reach out to people after conferences and Zoom workshops.
Content strategy tip #3: Learn how to repurpose your existing content.
If you think you’re running out of ideas on what to write, why don’t you look at your existing materials?
Do you have older posts that you can update and beef up?
Do you have videos that you can turn into a blog article or vice-versa?
How about those white papers and research that you once published? Perhaps you can create bite-sized articles or social media posts?
Have you had a look at some of your internal documents? Do you have existing checklists, guidelines, and templates that your target customers will find helpful?
Side note: don’t worry about other people using your business practices or intellectual property. I’ve read and listened to many business owners and creators that have done this, and the pros have always outweighed the cons. In this internet age, sharing knowledge always seem to trump keeping them to yourself.
Content strategy tip #4: This is how an optimized article looks in terms of format, length, headline, and visual presentation.
Create headlines that catch attention.
In the CXL Growth Marketing mini degree, Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios describes a compelling headline as one that:
- Makes a promise
- Triggers curiosity
- Uses numbers
- Asks a question
- Uses power words
- Sized to fit the purpose
- is keyword first
Make your article format easy to skim.
Adding the following elements to your articles can make it so:
- Headers, subheads
- Bullet lists, numbered lists
- Bolding and Italics
- Internal links
- Multiple images
Avoid jargons.
Use common, everyday words. Use “get” instead of “acquire.” Imagine your readers to be 8th graders. Use words that resonate better with most online readers.
Avoid long blocks of paragraphs.
Only include 2-3 sentences in a paragraph. This will help most of your readers—skimmers—better digest your articles. Add as much white space in between paragraphs as possible. As Jason Fried of Basecamp once said:
Short paragraphs get read.
Long paragraphs get skimmed.
Very long paragraphs get skipped.
Jason Fried, basecamp
Always link your new article to an older post.
Link older ones into your new piece. Cross-linking your website content to each other help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Create long-form content.
Articles that are 1,000+ words get shared and linked to more.
Add images and visual cues.
Again, readers are skimmers. Images and visual cues like those below can help them understand what’s being said in your post.
Based on the options below, the one with the arrow got the longest time spent on the form, followed by the one with the human looking at the form. The one with the human looking away from the form got the shortest time spent on the page.
What’s next
Massive credits to Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios for the screenshots and these key takeaways from his CXL Content Strategy and SEO for Lead Generation Course.
If you liked this article and would love to learn more, leave a comment below. Email me@tinasendin.com or connect with me on LinkedIn!
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- Product Messaging – How to write effective copy to drive sales
- Google Tag Manager – why you need to set this up for your website analytics
- 5 amazing things that Google Analytics can do
- Here’s the Google Analytics 101 you’ve been looking for
- 5 things you should look for in Google Analytics
- A/B testing techniques from the experts
- How to get more website conversions (and how growth marketers do it)
- Conversion Optimization: The Important Role of Research and Testing in Growth Marketing
- Growth Marketing Mindset: The User-centric Approach
- What is growth marketing? [CXL Institute Minidegree Review]
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