Why Content Strategy is a Vital Part of Your Marketing Plan

Create, edit, revise, and repeat. That’s the content strategy mantra we live by. Content is a vital part of marketing strategy that’s often overlooked; particularly after the initial push of launching a site or app. 

Most successful launches follow the same pattern: an initial period of hard work to gain users, followed by a ‘viral’ or ‘coasting’ period when new users come to the app or site via word of mouth or brand recognition.

After content creation is completed, your team is tasked with SEO, paid search, and direct marketing for the content. With all that to think about, why add original content to the mix at all?

Because content allows you to move from that ‘coasting’ period into a more solid position. It means users will be drawn to your site on an ongoing basis, in all the ways you want them to — and they’ll be drawn there consistently. 

What Does Content Look Like?

Good content should be logically arranged in a content hub — a ‘News’ section, for example, or a blog. This is the best way to showcase content and keeps the site clean, organized, and easy to navigate.

Wherever you decide to house it, content needs to be both relevant and compelling. Updates on industry breakthroughs, blog posts by various team members, spotlights on new features — the options are endless. You can also tie in world events, trending news, holidays, and things like ‘International Hat Day’ or ‘Dog Appreciation Week,’ depending on your industry. You’re writing for both current and potential users of your site and, of course, for Google. 

The other thing about good content? It needs to be regular. The initial launch should contain about four blogs with two to five monthly after that. Though it may seem like extra work, the upfront commitment will make your marketing strategy more effective in the long run.

Why Bother With Constant Content?

Producing content is, as mentioned, an ongoing job. The best way to manage its regular creation is to keep a content schedule, with plans and outlines for blogs for up to six months in advance. By doing this, you’ll be sure to capture all those tie-in events and release your content in a logical manner.

It’s essential to plan — and not miss posting dates — because blog post traffic is compounding. This means organic search results build over time. Post regularly and you’ll get more views and more recognition. 

What comes next?

The possibilities are endless. Consistent content creation could result in higher search engine results, and more organic traffic. This is what we are striving for! We know from experience that more than two-thirds of of all clicks on a Google Search result page goes to the top three organic results. Fall below this mark or not on the first page? Consider a stronger content strategy.

You won’t see any of these benefits if you’re just posting the odd repetitive blog. And you won’t see them with low-quality content, either. 

What Content Can Do for You

Do you want to use SEO to your advantage? You need great content, optimized for keywords but not overly saturated. Search engines reward websites that regularly post high-quality blog content with higher ranking search results. This means more organic traffic.

But people are very aware, today, of what good and bad content looks like.

Bad content looks like users scrolling through 1,300 words of keyword-stuffed copy to get to what they actually want. Avoiding keyword-stuffing encourages users to return to your content rather than scrolling briefly and clicking off your page, which raises your page bounce rate.

It’s Worth Paying for Professional Content

Your content marketing strategy, particularly the writing part, should be placed in the hands of professionals. This means employing a full-time content writer if you’re a large business or paying a professional marketing agency to plan and write your blogs.

You’ll get regular, SEO-friendly content that aligns with your business’ goals and draws users in. While Google’s algorithm is the ultimate referee of where you’ll end up on those search pages, you won’t get the clicks, views, and sustained time on pages needed to encourage organic growth.

Planning ahead for regular content creation puts your company in a place to add more facets to your marketing strategy. It’s also a sustainable, low-cost option for increasing organic growth.

Ultimately, content marketing needs to have strategy and research behind it. Let us use our expertise to guide yours.