It's a persistent issue that crops up repeatedly with almost every client and every new project: the conceptualisation or strategy development. It's not a problem for me personally – I always find writing concepts exciting – but rather for my clients and partners. Especially when they see the budget item for strategy development, the same questions regularly arise. Why is a concept so expensive? Do we really need it? Can't we somehow shorten/postpone/do it later?
By now, I've stopped taking such questions personally. I truly understand my clients. They're asked to pay for something they can't immediately see or experience, and from which they can't derive direct profit, so what's the point? Just so I can charge more on my invoice?
No, of course not. A plan is absolutely necessary for a strategic approach, and I like to illustrate it with the following metaphor: attempting to implement content marketing without a concept is like ordering a house from a builder without prior planning. What are the prospects for success in that scenario?
No plan, no goal – also in Content Marketing
Nevertheless, many surveys show that companies with a documented strategy are in the minority in the field of content marketing. According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, only 36% of UK marketers stated they actually had such a strategy. Unfortunately, I lack current figures for Austria, but I fear the situation might be even worse here.
What dangers arise from a non-strategic approach?
- Without a strategy, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.
- Without a strategy, you don't know what measures are available or which ones make sense at all.
- Without a strategy, you can only guess at your buyer personas.
- Without a strategy, you've probably not defined any goals at all, and therefore can't measure their achievement.
- Without a strategy, you risk wasting your resources.
It seems these are the ideal conditions for failure! Why would anyone deliberately want that?
Clear Advantages of a Content Marketing Strategy
There are some genuinely good reasons to develop a content marketing strategy. For me, the most important seems to be measurable success! Which company wouldn't want that?
Furthermore, the following points also positively impact business objectives.
- A written concept provides stability and direction. It shows where you currently stand and where you want to go.
- With a strategy, you keep your resources under control.
- A developed concept outlines the most efficient path.
- A strategy offers control options.
- The plan shows when you have achieved your goal.
While developing a strategy is (usually) not complicated, as there's a proven framework for it, it is relatively time-consuming and involves “proper work”. All the more reason to adequately appreciate strategy development.
Here's the plan on how to do it right!
Stage 1: The Analysis
The strategy development begins with a thorough analysis. Its goal is to create the most accurate possible picture of the current situation through the “content marketing lens”.
- What is the current state of the company? What are the general business objectives? What are the company's mission and vision? What role does content marketing currently play?
- How does the company currently relate to its target groups? What does this relationship look like? What do buyer personas want from the company, and what problems are they trying to solve?
- What needs do they have, and does the company address them?
- What is the current market situation? What is the competition doing? Is anyone already (successfully) using content marketing?
A SWOT analysis is suitable for evaluating the findings. What are the strengths and weaknesses, where are the opportunities and threats? This allows for important conclusions to be drawn, which form the basis for further strategy development.
Stage 2: Goal Setting
This stage addresses what you want to achieve for the company with content marketing. What will the end state look like after implementing content marketing measures?
Even within a content marketing strategy, SMART goals must be set. Additionally, I recommend dividing these into short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. This introduces initial signposts into the strategy. All content marketing goals must also be subordinate to the general business objectives.
Stage 3: The Target Audience
Naturally, target groups were already a topic in the analysis section. At this point, however, we become more specific and look at our dialogue partners through the eyes of content marketing. Not all stakeholder groups are relevant for content marketing.
At the end of this stage, we want to identify clear buyer personas. For this, we use existing evaluations, utilise analytics data, and possibly even engage in direct dialogue. This Hubspot article shows what this can look like.
However, another target group is interesting for content marketing: online influencers and bloggers. While they are not the primary dialogue group, they play a crucial role and should always be considered.
Stage 4: The Story
The story is the heart of every content marketing strategy, as it triangulates the first three stages into a homogeneous core message. This central message, also known as the guiding principle, is important because it defines all (!) further communication agendas.
Content marketing is about conveying very specific content – namely, that which is relevant to the buyer personas. These messages must be simple, clear, and consistent with the company's image.
At this point, the internal storytelling of the company is defined. What is the fundamental message of the company, and what sub-messages can be derived from it? Who are the “heroes” of our stories (customers, employees, influencers, etc.), what are their challenges (pain points of the buyer personas), and what are the “instruments” that help our heroes achieve their goals (services, products, etc.)? It is important that the company itself is never the hero of the story; the company is not at the centre here.
Stage 5: The Content
The core message and sub-messages from the previous point form our topic plan. We orient ourselves by this when it comes to planning and creating content. At the content stage, a wealth of tasks awaits us:
- Evaluation of existing content (so-called content audit)
- Creation of a topic and/or editorial plan
- Keyword analyses
- Compilation of available content
- Refining existing content
- Definition of a content hub (usually the company's own website with a blog)
- Development of fresh evergreen content
- Assembly of a content team
Stage 6: The Communication Channels
Now, in the content marketing strategy, it's about channels. Only at this point do we know what messages we can communicate for which target groups on which channels to achieve our goals. Campaigns therefore only make sense from this stage onwards.
What tasks await us?
- Selection of suitable channels
- Adaptation of content to the chosen channels
- Development of communication guidelines
- Assembly of a community management team (including reporting loops)
- Planning for crisis management
- Content promotion planning
- Integration of content curation
- Opportunities for network expansion
- Development of earned and paid media measures
- Success monitoring: Definition and measurement of KPIs
Stage 7: Resource Planning
Strategic content marketing costs time and money. Since we never have enough of either, we must carefully allocate and judiciously utilise our resources.
HUMAN RESOURCES:
- Who is responsible for what?
- What skills are required?
- How is the content marketing team structured?
- How much time must each individual dedicate to completing their tasks?
FINANCIAL RESOURCES:
- What are the (estimated) staff costs?
- What budget is available for content creation, and what for its promotion?
- What ancillary costs will we incur? (Evaluation, overheads, tools, etc.)
Conclusion
A content marketing strategy is a project plan for success, a model for achieving our goals. Creating it is time-consuming, but every minute invested will pay off many times over – through measurable success.
I hope this guide will help my readers create their own solid content marketing strategy, and at the same time help to illustrate its value. My explanations are “just” a guiding framework that must be individually adapted.
As always, I welcome questions, suggestions, and feedback. Has my article served its purpose? What are your experiences to date with developing and/or implementing strategies?
