What makes a quality content marketing strategy?

Content marketing is not all created equal. It can be difficult to find quality content marketing in a world that has so many brands creating content.

It takes a long-term, concerted effort. The ROI of a successful strategy is undisputed. Brands that excel at content marketing have higher visibility and engage more customers. They also perform better than their competitors.

We will be:

• To get started, you should learn some basics of content marketing
• Take a look at 6 characteristics of a high-quality content marketing strategy
• Find practical, real-world ways to improve content quality immediately.

Quick Takeaways

• 
  Marketing with quality content is 3X as effective and 6X more profitable than traditional methods.
  
• 
  Quality content marketing strategies should be customer-focused, consistent and frequent publishing, and a varied content library.
  
• 
  There are many ways to improve the quality of your content, including using a content calendar and data analytics tools.
  

What is content marketing? Why should you be doing it?

Content marketing refers to the creation of valuable content that attracts and engages new customers for a company.

Content offers brands a great opportunity to increase their visibility and reach in a world where search engines are used for more than 90% of online searches. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows brands to create content that will appear on search engine result pages (SERPs).

This has made it possible for all companies, regardless of size and industry to compete. In order to compete with other companies and be noticed by consumers, large marketing budgets were necessary. To execute your strategy, you will need a website and a team of content writers.

It is clear that content marketing has a high ROI. Research has shown that content marketing generates 6X more leads than traditional marketing methods, and at a cost of 62% less.

Image Source: Convince & Convert

Content marketing isn't a panacea for all marketing problems. It takes focus, execution of best practices and a commitment towards high quality. Publishing content that does not meet quality standards could actually be detrimental to your business. It can also suggest your products and/or services might have similar quality issues.

If you are a skilled professional, it is easy to implement a quality content strategy. These two sections will discuss 6 key characteristics of quality content marketing, and how you can achieve them with just a few steps.

Six Traits of a Quality Content Marketing Strategy

Customer-focused

The customer is at the forefront of quality content marketing. Every piece of content should address a specific customer problem or need. This is the best way for users to connect with you and your brand, and to show them why they are relevant.

It is simple to see it through the lense of benefits vs. features. Focusing on features can make your brand stand out and not connect it to customers' needs. Focusing on the benefits will help you get your customers' attention.

This example illustrates how you can use the concept to create your own offerings.

Image Source: Lightstream Group

Consistent, frequent

Google rankings are not something you can achieve overnight. Content marketing takes time.

HubSpot discovered that brands publishing between 11-6X and 4X per week earned more traffic than those publishing less often.

Image Source: HubSpot

Publishing at this speed requires effort, time and a solid plan. A content calendar, which we will discuss in the next section, can help you stay on track and accountable with your publishing schedule.

Original and creative

You know the feeling of being able to search for something and only find 5-6 articles that say the exact same thing. This happens all the time and can be frustrating when trying to learn more about something.

Do not be the brand that repeats the same things as your competitors. Your customers are most important topics. Let your brand personality shine through with tone, voice and design.

Diverse

Blogs are the most common way people think of content marketing. While a blog is an essential component of any content marketing strategy, it's not the only one. A diverse content library can help you expand your brand reach, engage different audiences across channels, and increase brand engagement.

There are many content types that you can choose from:

• Infographics
• Videos
• Whitepapers
• Ebooks
• Posts on social media
• Emails
• Case studies
• Guides

Each content type may not be right for every brand. It's also not a good idea trying to do too many things at once. Start with the content types that best align with your brand's strategy and start small. Then, build on your success.

Data-Driven

Marketers used to have to try and find the best deals. Marketing today is all about personalization and targeting data.

Brands have easy access data on everything, from user behavior and demographics to website performance and industry trends. Data-driven content marketing strategies use the power of data to create highly informed content marketing strategies that deliver high quality user experiences.

Technically sound

Quality content marketing must adhere to the basic standards of grammar and formatting. These standards are important for engaging audiences, even though they may seem obvious.

Websites with spelling and grammar problems had bounce rates that were 85% higher than websites with well-written content. Bad website design and formatting can also increase bounce rates, as it makes it more difficult for users to find the content they are looking for.

How to improve your content marketing strategy right away

Know your Content Pillars

Your content marketing strategy will be built on the content pillars. These are the most important topics for your brand. They are usually surrounded by pillar pieces that are backlinked to the niche pieces you create about their subtopics.

Because they help keep your content library coherent and your content marketing strategy focused, content pillars are essential. Each piece of content you create should be under one of your pillars. The ideal number of pillars is 3-5.

Marketing Insider Group has two content pillars: content marketing and search engine optimization. There are pillar pieces such as "What is Content Marketing?" or "What is an SEO Marketing Strategy?" We also have many articles on subtopics that fit under these pillars, like this article.

Create a Content Calendar

Your content calendar serves as a reference point for articles titles, deadlines and writers. To ensure you stay on track, your content calendar should be a central reference point.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel in order to create a content calendar that works well for you. There are many content calendar templates that can be used as inspiration, and many you can download and personalize to fit your brand.

Here's an example of the one Marketing Insider Group uses:

Image Source: Marketing Insider Group

Redesign old content

Did you know that content you have already created can bring back traffic to your website? This is also one of most effective and efficient ways to improve your content marketing. HubSpot discovered that updating old content to improve its relevance and quality gave their page an enormous boost. Today, 76% of their page views are from old content and 92% of their leads come from old content.

Data Analytics Tools

Nearly every platform that you use for your content marketing strategy, including email marketing platforms, CMS systems, social media, Google, and others, has data analytics tools. This allows you to analyze performance and gain insights that will help you drive your strategy.

These tools are essential for executing a content marketing strategy that is high quality.

Google Analytics is a great place to start if you only have one. It's easy to find tons of information in one place: user demographics, page performance, SEO performance, keyword possibilities, and many more.

You can also find tons of SEO-specific analytics tools such as Ahrefs and SEMRush that provide valuable data about your site and strategy performance for a monthly charge.

You can measure your progress

While looking at the data available is a good first step, you need to have a plan for measuring it and analysing it over time. A data dashboard, similar to your content calendar, is a great way to track and record the metrics that are most important. You can establish processes to ensure that your team meets regularly to review key KPIs, and takes appropriate actions if necessary.

More to you

You're not the only one who is looking for help with content creation if you want to kickstart your content marketing. Over 70% of businesses outsource their content creation to ensure they are able to execute a high quality strategy and remain focused on their core business.

Marketing Insider Group's team of SEO experts and writers can provide you with optimized content that is ready to publish every week for a year or more. For more information, please visit our SEO Blog Writing Service. Or schedule a consultation with me.