Home » Blog » Marketing » How To Create A Basic Marketing Strategy

Plan your marketing efforts for maximum impact

How To Create A Basic Marketing Strategy

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

– a timeless proverb

One does not reap the benefits of a tree for several years after it is planted. The expectations of immediate results is born in the mind of a fool. And yet, the result of the patience demanded of nature is worth more than the cost of planting. A tree that bears fruit does so for many, many years.

What is the marketing equivalent? Is it banner ads? Social media likes? Branded merchandise? Guess again.

Marketing asset that keeps on giving is content. More specifically, evergreen content.

What Is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is web content that is always relevant, and is not made worthless by a short passage of time. Just like an orchard of trees is expected to produce fruit, a website’s evergreen content is expected to produce visitors. With the right approach, visitors can be converted into leads. The right leads turn into customers. And customers are the key to success. But how do you get your content in front of the right people who could turn into leads, and later, into customers?

Market Your Content

This is where strategy comes in, starting with publicizing, SEO, and beyond. We will touch on three common approaches, each deserving greater attention than we have room for here.

Share On Social Media

The first way that comes to mind for many, is to share your content on social media. This is a great way to bring awareness to your business. Before you jump right in, take some time to figure out which platform your target audience uses most often, and consider how often they click through to external content.

While you could take the time to share a link to your article with an introductory paragraph on each and every platform, there are things you can do to spend less time getting the same amount of work done. Look into social media management platforms, for example. At Grey Leaf Media, we have a suite of tools to get it done automatically, so you never even have to think about it for most platforms.

Be Found On Search Engines

Another strategy is to write your content to be as useful, relevant, and actionable as you possibly can, given the subject and context. Once you’re happy with the quality of your copy, you can begin to make tweaks to maximize your Search Engine Optimization.

SEO, as it is called, is simply writing web copy strategically, so that it ranks as highly relevant by search engines. This is essentially free traffic, as you are not paying for ads to entice visitors to click through to your website. Google has a free keyword analysis tool, which is helpful. At Grey Leaf Media, we use a host of tools to help your content rank.

Email Your Subscribers

Most online businesses which depend on website visitors and sales use the email marketing strategy as a key part of their marketing efforts. In order to email a list of subscribers, you first need a list of subscribers. There are a few ways to build an email list, which is a topic in its own right. The key thing to remember is that you need to ask them to sign up somehow, and you need to make it worth their while. There are several online businesses who specialize in the management of email lists, and many offer free account levels.

The Takeaway

The first step is to create great copy. If you need help, feel free to contact us for a quote. This content will be indexed by search engines, and the more traffic you can attract from other sources (think social media and referrals from other sites), the more importance search engines will give your site.

The content strategy is the only future-proof strategy, and, like planting trees, it is playing the long game, building a solid foundation for future success.

Leave a Reply