How To Create An Effective Content Marketing Strategy

Creating content with storytelling

As a Golden Rule: When it comes to content marketing, the goal of the marketer should always be the customer and the experience the customer will have with the content. There is of course the desire to use content as a medium to creatively push the products and services of the organization. This type of salesy content marketing tactic focuses on discovering ways to say without saying that you are selling or offering something of value to the audience by showcasing those products and services, although tempting, this should not be your main content marketing strategy.

Building Awareness

To truly attract your target market when they are in the awareness or decision phases of the buying process your content should consist of valuable resources which solves the problems they themselves are facing. When the content you produce becomes the answer they were looking for, your target market will respond by consuming it. The more you create valuable content, the more it will attract visitors who will begin to see your work as a resource, when that happens the decision process is enhanced by your authority on that particular subject, making you foremost in mind when they are ready to make a purchase.

How To Incorporate Storytelling With Your Content Marketing Strategy

“A great content marketer is a fantastic storyteller. People love to hear a great story, think about some of the best movies you saw, the best book you read or the blogger whose content you always seem to gravitate to. What ties everything together is the use of storytelling and being able to convey ideas and introduce solutions through storytelling. Remember to write for your audience, be transparent, and use relevant experiences and anecdotes in the content.

For example, hold the attention of your audience by making it funny. Do you have any great anecdotes from childhood? A parent, grandparent or other family member who was famous for teaching you valuable lessons by telling you a story about someone who just so happened to be in the same situation you were in and how they overcame it or didn’t? Did you see the lesson in the story? 

If you can recall it no matter how weird, strange, horrifying or funny – it was effective. The same is true for content, part of creating an effective content marketing strategy is understanding who your ideal customer is and figuring out the best way to connect with them with your content. Your content marketing strategy should help you to attract prospects and convert them into loyal customers by driving profitable customer action.

Your content strategy is a road map which will lead your prospect through the buying process, from the starting point of awareness to the end goal of a purchase. Use your content as a guide, consistently sharing resourceful and valuable information which connects with the needs of your target market. To do that you have to establish and include the channels you plan to use to deliver information to your audience and inspire them to take the next step of an action which you have defined.” An excerpt from my upcoming eBook,“The Content Marketing Shero”