By John Ninness, CEO
As many in the marketing fraternity have realised, the new kid on the block is content marketing. From our perspective at APRS Media, it is clear that 2016 will be the year when great content (aligned with great native advertising) will reap rewards for businesses. It is also increasingly clear that content investment is an important component of strategy for big and small advertisers alike.
It all begins with knowing your customer and what they need and indeed what they relate to. As advertisers we need to understand what message we’re aiming to communicate and what the key drivers for market engagement are. If you clearly can define that, you’re well on the way to establishing your plan.
Research from the US tells us only 32 per cent of companies have a clearly defined documented content marketing plan and just on 37 per cent of companies actually have a plan. So here’s our simple guide to get one going if you haven’t already embraced it:
1. Do your research and define your target for your content.
2. Get ALL your stakeholders on board (know who is going to write the content and who is going to propagate out to the audience).
3.Set aside a budget for your content propagation. Our experience says that you don’t necessarily need a huge budget to get a positive result. The essence of your budget is creatively using it to get the biggest bang for your buck.
4. Identify and focus on a few channels that will work for your budget. Too many channels can end up being tiresome and frustrating to manage. If you work a few defined channels, chances are you’ll improve your expertise in that channel. Having a consistent presence on a channel will help you keep your branding at top of mind as well. If you dither across a range of mediums then you’ll essentially lose brand presence.
5. Get an editorial plan. Having an effective editorial plan lets you stay on track. It also allows you to allocate and define resources you’ll need to make your content marketing happen. You should know your editorial goals and define at which times you will publish relevant content. Be careful to align with seasons and product cycles.
6. Get some measurables in place. Without effective metrics you’re flying blind. Ultimately your metrics will be aligned to what you’re aiming to achieve from your content marketing, i.e., if you’re aiming for building brand reputation don’t look at sales and conversions as a reasonable metric. You may need to consider the outcome of market research and focus groups to determine your ability to build your brand.
7. Get a good partner. If it all sounds too daunting at this stage, why not try and reach out and find a good partner to help you achieve your goals. Chances are they’ll have experience in writing content and getting the content out to the right channel at the right time.
Investing in content marketing in 2016 is critical to ensuring that your business gets heard in 2016 and now is the time to start planning (of course if you haven’t already got it under control).
Inefficient content marketing can be a millstone around your neck and a costly burden for your business as reported recently by B2C website. By following the seven steps above we trust you will benefit significantly in 2016 with a great program to enhance your brand and drive sales to your business.