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Getting started with your content strategy

At Grey Leaf Media, we take content very seriously. We build beautiful, functional websites, but without valuable content, your marketing effort is only halfway done.

Content is extremely important, but if you’re reading this, you probably already knew that. Content marketing introduces your brand to the world in a very personal way, and it helps to convert visitors into paying customers.

Your content is going to do the heavy lifting for your brand in the digital world. It shows off your brand’s personality, and serves as its introduction to your potential clients. Your content, along with your website, is your digital identity that your current clients can share with potential referrals.

There is a lot of content out there, and most of it sounds exactly the same. Look at your competitors’ websites. Go ahead, go to their website, and check out their message.

 

It’s OK, I’ll wait. …

 

Now, you have probably noticed some similarities in their messages and what they are offering. Their approach to content and marketing is probably similar as well. Now, I want you to close those web pages and completely ignore your competitors. Seriously.

Together, we are going to do marketing differently. Your image is going to reflect your brand, and appeal to your clients. It can be easy to fall into the trap of copying your competitors when starting out. Their message might be great and effective for them, but it’s not your brand’s message. The problem is that if you don’t stand out and establish your own style, your message will get lost in the mix of competitors and advertisers.

This is why developing your content strategy is so important. Your content strategy will include all of your written words, descriptions, and images that portray your brand and carry it forward. For this post, we are going to focus specifically on blog posts to attract and keep your client base.

Getting Started With Good Content

Before you start writing, you need to brainstorm your topics. I don’t mean just writing down what comes to mind, although you should do that as well. You want topics that specifically target your audience. Your audience is your target customer base, and not everyone who reads your article will fit into that group. This is a crucial point to understand before you get started. Not everyone is your customer. Most people don’t want what you have to offer, but your target customers do. You want to attract the people who are excited about your product or service, not just anyone with access to a web browser. Your customers are actual people with real wants and needs, so it is important that you really figure out what they want.

Research Your Audience

What are your customer’s needs and wants? What is so unique about your brand that makes you able to meet those needs and wants?

If you’re not sure, ask your customers what it is that they want. People are usually willing to share, if you take the time to ask. If you have an email list, you can send them a quick survey or questionnaire.

If that’s not a possibility, browse or participate in forums related to your topic. Read the comments section of popular blog posts to see what questions or concerns are being raised there. Spend time with your customers in person, and ask the questions. You don’t need a focus group to go talk to your target audience. Ask people these questions at the gym, the coffee shop, at church, at sporting events, at conventions, or anywhere your customers might be. Build relationships and listen to their wants and needs.

This might seem like a lot of work to just get started, but trust me – the more time you spend understanding and perfecting your message, the more cohesive your content marketing plan will be. Do not try to skip or rush over this step. It will save you time and frustration in the future. Content marketing is not about getting the most page views per visit or the most traffic; it is about helping your ideal customer find you.

Help Your Audience

Now, while your competitors are targeting anyone and everyone, you are ready to start your targeted content marketing campaign. You now know what your customers want and need, and you know how your product or service can meet that need. You are not writing an advertisement with each article, you are providing valuable content that your ideal customer wants. You’re helping them learn that working with you or buying your product is a benefit to you both. Use this information to start creating your blog posts.

Your posts should be able to do some very important things:

  1. Answer your customer’s questions,
  2. Highlight your brand, and
  3. Show off your expertise.

Keeping those three points in mind, organize your notes into a list, and prioritize, and write down, your topics. At this point you should have a long list of topic ideas. Once you have your list finalized, decide how often you want to publish a new post. We recommend a weekly posting schedule, if you can manage it. Quality content will always win out over frequent and sloppy content, so don’t worry if you can only post once or twice a month when you are just getting started.

Organize Your Publishing Schedule

Now, you’re ready to set up your editorial calendar. Your editorial calendar is where all of your important publishing information will be listed for each of your topics. You can create your own calendar, or you can choose from the various options available online. For each of your topics, list your temporary title, some potential keywords, your writing and publishing dates, and how you will share your content. You can add more complexity and detail to each topic once you get more familiar with using your calendar. Your editorial calendar is going to help you stay on track with your marketing plan. It will also help you keep track of your keywords and your working headline while you’re conducting keyword research to optimize your post. We’ll discuss how to set up your editorial calendar and SEO optimization in later posts.

For now, stick to the plan. You will not see an immense amount of growth overnight, but, when done correctly, you will reap the benefits of your content for years to come.

Sailing into the sunrise

Boats, Business, and Market Growth

The rising tide lifts all boats.
Henry B. F. McFarland

Have you enjoyed the rise of a niche market as it grows into maturity? Have you also noticed that some businesses seem to enjoy enhanced buoyancy compared to others? What about in search results?

Do All Boats Rise?

If you are a legitimate player in your niche industry, it is expected that your business will experience growth when your industry’s market gains in popularity. This is the “rising tide.” A rising tide raises the market equally, however it often appears that some “boats” enjoy greater “buoyancy” than others in this period of growth.

Some Rise Less

There is something to be said for the lean startup. When it comes to managing cashflow, business is just like your personal life. It pays to keep costs down, and to be careful with investments. People who have not learned this lesson in their personal lives often find themselves drowning in debt. So, too, with businesses.

Lesson 1: If you want your boat to rise with the tide, cutting unhelpful costs is like throwing extra weight overboard, and eliminating debt is like plugging holes. A tight ship floats well.

Some Rise More

You may be the best, but how many people in your market know you? Of that number, how many know that you are the best? Have you told them? This is where brand identity and public relations play their part. Customers and clients are aware only of their perception of quality. What have you done to encourage the right perception?

Marketing has the power to transform your merely floating vessel into one that has the ability to rise higher. The message you send out to potential customers is a key part of this. If you are a restaurant, have you talked up the quality of your ingredients? Have you bragged of the flavor combinations in tantalizing detail? Has your staff provided the service that delivers on guests’ expectations of quality? If you have not, now you know what to do.

What Not To Do

What you don’t do can be just as important as what you do. Take note.

Don’t Talk About Your Competition

Think about whose business you want to be promoting. When you talk about your competitors, you take the focus off of your business. When you speak negatively of them, you portray yourself as judgmental, or lacking confidence. If someone else mentions another business to you, briefly say something kind, and tastefully divert the attention back to your own business. Portraying your competitors positively only makes you look better, and referring to your own business in the same context shows that you are confident in your venture. Both are good for cultivating a positive perception of your business.

Don’t Stray Off Course

Many businesses are founded with a specific mission. Anything worth doing for long is bound to become tedious, boring, aggravating, frustrating, any combination of these, and more at some point in the journey. In the beginning, what brought you to the path of entrepreneurship? What sparked the passion and confidence to strike out on your own; to show the world what you’re made of? Remind yourself of why you chose this path often, and grasp tightly to it as though it were your life line — in many ways, it is.

Don’t Lose Confidence

Entrepreneurship is often the surest, and rockiest path to wealth in the United States today. It also carries the risk, some might say the promise, of failure. This is where we recognize one trait that all successful entrepreneurs have in common: persistence.

Bad times are just part of the game, and the secret to success is to never lose confidence in yourself, your product (or service), or the future. Remembering why you initially had the courage and faith in your idea can be a huge help for staying the course.

Mistakes will be made, and the rate of future success is determined by how much you have determined to learn from your failures, and how much you have determined to never give up.

Marketing and Visibility “Salts the Sea”

Successfully establishing and developing your brand identity is of great importance. Can you think of any brands that everyone seems to know? Of those you thought of, which bring to mind a certain feel? When you see certain colors, fonts, ideas, or situations, do certain brands or products come to mind? These automatic triggers give those brands an undeniable advantage. Remembering our floating vessel analogy, marketing is like adding salt to the sea in which you are floating: it increases your buoyancy, making it easier to rise more.

The Power of Marketing.

Marketing is making your ideas, your products, your solutions, and your availability publicly known. To market effectively, you should have a distinct voice for your brand. Your ideas should be clear, and communicated so that they resonate with your target audience. Your visual identity, your logo, colors, and designs, should work towards inspiring others to adopt your the ideas. If the ideas are already common in your market, your brand should inspire confidence and agreement. You want your customers to take up the mantle of your mission, and to wave your banner proudly.

If you do not already have a distinct voice, work on developing one. If you need a stronger logo, get one. If you need a more cohesive message, work on clarifying your mission. If nobody knows about you or what you’re offering, speak up.