If you’re waiting for someone to come ‘round and declare the end of content, today is not that day. Rather, today is the day to come to terms with the simple truth that content isn’t going anywhere. It can’t. Otherwise, what would anyone read, watch or listen to?
See? This stuff we call content, and this thing we call content marketing, really isn’t going away, so it’s time to make peace with it. To put a content marketing strategy in place. To show the world you really know a thing or two about… what ever it is that you do.
Ready to get started? OK, here’s how:
The content you create can do anything – drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, answer questions, entertain, or all of the above – the question is, what do you want it to do? What do you need it to do?
To answer this question, you might have to do some digging. Specifically, ask yourself:
Remember that this doesn’t have to be written content. It can be video content, image content, it can be a new mobile app, it can be a brand new website. Don’t be afraid. It’s time to dream.
Once you have some idea of what kind of content you should be creating, it’s time to get realistic, at least in the short term. Specifically, what do you need to do first?
For most companies, this process usually begins with creating an in-depth content strategy that seeks to:
Now it’s time for a hard truth. Many content strategies fail because they don’t have the right team behind them. At the end of the day, most businesses are busy doing the thing that they do, and they don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to the whole content thing. But, just a few minutes ago, you made peace with the fact that content isn’t going away. Right? Right.
So, how do you put that team in place? You have a few options:
You feel better already, don’t you?