A research study conducted by Demand Metric reveals that 90% of all companies employ content in their marketing efforts and 78% of CMOs see custom content as the future of marketing.
The majority of business owners believe that content should be central to marketing work and they surely have their reasons to think so.
Research-based content marketing is a sustainable way of bringing in more loyal customers. Even though both large and small-sized businesses can benefit from employing the best practices of content marketing, most of us struggle to pull off a successful content marketing strategy.
Check out these research-based content actions if you’re looking to improve your content marketing game.
1. Develop a research-based content marketing plan
Realizing the benefits of content marketing, it’s crucial to have a well-crafted plan. Many marketers face challenges on different stages of their campaign’s
implementation due to their sketchy content plans.
Identifying objectives is a crucial step you should take when creating your content marketing strategy.
- Assess and identify your resources. Make sure you have enough writers and budget to complete tasks efficiently.
- Organize topics and publications in your editorial calendar.
- Come up with a content distribution plan and organize distribution.
- Identify the type of content you will be producing. Research shows that 88% of digital marketers said their marketing strategy includes blogging with visuals. Consider adding educational blogging to your website.
- Analyze your content’s performance and measure improvements by conducting a content audit.
- Use social media platforms to facilitate social sharing.
- Assess strategic objectives and main core values.
- Evaluate the competitive landscape. Monitor competitor’s content.
- Delegate the tasks to your team members by clearly defining your goals.
A well-thought-out content production process is another significant aspect to focus on. Idea generation is a collaborative process, so make sure to have a better handle of your workflow and workplace environment. Ensure each member of your content team is familiar with their tasks, goals, deadlines, and roles. Adjust your workflow concerning the shifting goals, priorities, and trends in the marketing field.
2. Target the right people
Many marketers face the challenge of targeting the wrong audience at the beginning of their content marketing journey. As many as 82% of customers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content. If you want to get closer to this number, you will have to learn to target the right groups of people. Target analysis will enable you to understand your audience better and make more effective use of your resources.
Segmenting your audience is a useful research-based content method to employ in your strategy. Audience segmentation implies dividing target audience members into groups based on certain criteria (like geographical location, age, gender identity, education level, income, etc.) Also, you can segment your audience based on their behavior, such as the type of device they’re using, engagement level, and their buyer’s journey.
Once you’ve got the results of the audience segmentation, you can use this data to tailor your content to resonate specifically with the target audience segments. Thus, you can improve the relationships with your users and earn their loyalty by targeting only the people who might be interested in your content.
When your content marketing campaign is set in motion, collect feedback and evaluate how the audience’s behavior changes once it consumes your content. Adjust your content with respect to the results of the audience evaluation.
3. Encourage meaningful relationships
Encouraging long-term meaningful relationships and creating an online community is particularly important in marketing. You can build personal connections online by communicating with your customers via different mediums.
Email has been a major hub for marketing efforts for nearly 40 years. Even though email marketing proves to be effective, it can also be overwhelming. It’s hard to stay competitive, relevant, and up-to-date in the ocean of discount-oriented and promotion-heavy emails. If you’re struggling with email marketing check out and avoid the most common email marketing fails. Since email marketing can be irritating, consider evaluating your email frequency rate and don’t overwhelm your audience.
Make sure you go beyond email marketing to build customer relationships. Invite connections by hosting in-person events. Also, keep an eye on changing trends. Blend SMS messaging and email marketing together. When you have the attention of your audience, invite them to take the next step by providing relevant call-to-action buttons.
Once the connection has been established, focus on winning and keeping your audience’s trust and loyalty. The challenging part is building your brand credibility and customer loyalty. Here are some tips for improving credibility.
- When introducing your product, point to value before asking to take action.
- Be consistent and deliver reliable and valuable content over time.
- Personalize your content based on the data collected from customers.
- Link your content and build on what came earlier.
- Check spelling and grammar using online writing tools, like Grammarly and Proessaywriter to get the best out of your content.
4. Set achievable goals and learn to measure progress
It’s common that companies set the bar too high and expect immediate returns on their marketing efforts. If you want to establish achievable goals, take into account your company’s size, values, and available resources. Also, the expectations will vary based on the industry, target audience, competitive landscape, and
management commitment. After you’ve set reasonable expectations about what can be achieved, it’s time to become committed to your content marketing.
Keep in mind that content marketing is a long-term strategy. Recent research suggests that 89% of surveyed marketers claimed that content marketing produced higher quality leads than other forms of marketing. The secret ingredients of successful marketers are consistent, relevant, and credible stories. Another useful tip is sharing your company’s success stories, work reports, and metrics demonstrating the results of your content marketing efforts.
Goals will also help in measuring your performance over time. When you’ve gathered analytics, figure out which metrics to use for measuring your progress. The most common metrics related to consumption are downloads, page views, and visits.
Wrapping up
Understanding the reality of marketing and implementing up-to-date strategies to improve your content is essential if you want your business to thrive.
Providing valuable research-based content experiences is what makes you stand out in a crowd of your competitors. If you’re not there yet, don’t worry there is always room for improvement. Ensure to segment and get familiar with your target audience and develop a detailed plan.
And finally, if you’re struggling with making content, try to direct your attention to long-term benefits and establish realistic expectations.
